by
Max Jacob (1876 - 1944)
C'est pour aller au bal
Language: French (Français)
Available translation(s): ENG
C’est pour aller au bal,
au bal, au bal, au baïkal allah!
au bal allah à la balalaïka
Rades du tyran
terre du Levant
Baron du devant tirades
nomme azur ce que
la dame mazurke
je t’assure que
cette danse est turque nomades
Est-ce bal à bord
Est-ce bu en bottes
on chante un foxtrotte
les phoques se trottent
faux nègres et, fausses notes
Escouade
Pars à des requins
que fait Arlequin
Pars en rat, pas rare sequin
repas rare Parade
C’est pour aller au bal,
au bal, au bal, au baïkal allah!
au bal allah à la balalaïka
Authorship:
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Laura Prichard) , "It’s time to go to the ball", copyright © 2018, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this page: Laura Prichard
[Guest Editor] This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 99
It’s time to go to the ball
Language: English  after the French (Français)
It’s [time] to go to the ball,
to the ball, to the ball, to [Lake] Baikal by God, let’s go!
to the ball by God, let’s go to the balalaika
Harbors of the tyrant
land of the Levant
Baron of the speeches in front
called blue so that
the lady mazurka
I assure you that
this dance is nomadic Turkish
Is this ball on board
Is it drunk in boots
someone sings a foxtrot-song
the seals dance a seal-trot
false Negroes and false notes
Squadron
Go to the sharks
what's Harlequin doing
Go like a rat, not a rare sequin
repast rare Parade
It’s [time] to go to the ball,
to the ball, to the ball, to [Lake] Baikal by God, let’s go!
to the ball by God, let’s go to the balalaika!
Translator's notes:
This is Cubist poetry, playing with the sounds of the words and re-ordering syllables for comic effect. The sound of the French poetry is more important to the comic flavor of the poem than the literal meaning. Max Jacob was a roommate of Pablo Picasso in Montmartre.
Line 2, passim : "allah" is a comic portmanteau here: "Allah" with a capital A refers to the Arabic name of God, and "allons" is French for "Let’s go."
Authorship:
- Translation from French (Français) to English copyright © 2018 by Laura Prichard, (re)printed on this website with kind permission. To reprint and distribute this author's work for concert programs, CD booklets, etc., you may ask the copyright-holder(s) directly or ask us; we are authorized to grant permission on their behalf. Please provide the translator's name when contacting us.
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Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Max Jacob (1876 - 1944), appears in Ballades, first published 1938
This text was added to the website: 2018-01-04
Line count: 23
Word count: 133