Re: Vos Cerveaux
Whilst carefully avoiding the completion of “My Beige Bear” I found myself distracted by a little side project. I’ve always wanted to record a couple of the hits in other languages just to see what would happen. Jeremsoft (who is French, and judging from the name, an AI) sent me a French translation for “Re: Your Brains” just out of the blue, and while I don’t speak fluently enough to understand everything in it, I caught enough clever translation choices to make me think it was pretty good.
I took a few years of French in high school but never got very good at it. So I spent a lot of time this week mimicking Jeremsoft’s recorded pronunciation, reading a phoenetic version supplied by Rhiannon, eliding syllables past the point of reason, and eating as many snails as I could. While recording I couldn’t help but notice an opportunity in the third verse for a reference to “Alouette,” that famous old French song about plucking feathers off a bird. My first ever joke in French! Vive me!
The result is this new version of Re: Your Brains for French speaking zombies everywhere (yes, even Canada). I hope zat you like eet.
Special French lyrics can be found here.
Comments
winegeek says
Oh. Mon. Dieu.
C'est magnifique. Bon accent aussi. Les "r" sont tres bon.
James says
This is so funny! I actually had to buy it to listen to it (stupid computer!) but I'm so glad I did, its great!
Sobachatina says
Is the link broken? I get a 404.
randal says
Ce winegeek dit.
ouija repair says
Ha ! It's amazing how well it scans. What a great translation assignment for teachers of the French language to give their students.
jeremsoft says
hi ppl
well,15 days ago I discovered accidentally this incredible song,RE:Brains...and fell immediately in love with...
these creative 2 weeks were really a great experience(I pray for Jonathan has buried my first ever song recording...)
Seeing the result,I can only bow before the pronouncing and all the efforts Jonathan made,and of course its great musical style,humour and creativity.
thumbs up!
J...french packager
PS:I forgot to tell you that you have to BOIL the snails before eating...oops!
Idealistic Pragmatist says
This Canuck loves it! :-)
manstraw says
I was going to say c'est magnifique, but someone else did it in the very first comment. note to self, don't be writing songs, nothing original will come out.
Dave says
That was great!
I see what you mean about the reshuffling rather than just directly translating the lines, it fits very well.
Also, apologies if this has been noted elsewhere on this site (couldn't find any links to it myself) but have you seen this comic?
http://hijinksensue.com/2007/10/18/moist-and-delicious-cake/
Mystral721 says
That sounded great! It's about time the needs of the oft-ignored French Geek crowd were addressed. :P
Out of curiosity I did a quick cut/paste of the chorus into Google's language translator:
It just wants you to puff the brain
No, it's not so bete
Ca va pas t'couter the eyes of the head
It just wants you to puff the brain
We are stuck here
It could be a sort of compromise:
We Opens Door
K'on can you choper for you eat the brain
Mmm - puffed brains....
Shruti says
Would it be possible to get an english translation of the french lyrics? Babelfish does not do it justice.
T.J. says
Man...you are a musical and comedic genius.
Jen says
Je l'aime! C'est merveilleuse. (Bravo, traducteur!)
The bird-plucking zombies really make it. That, and your French "u".
Hey, doesn't Kashi make a variety of breakfast cereals from nutritious puffed brains?
jacob says
This recording now meets Canadian language requirements, and I am now by law allowed to enjoy that song.
Canada thanks you.
Roman V says
It's funny, actually, because for the past few days I've been singing "Todo que queremos es comer tu cerebros, no somos irrazonable, nadia va a comer tu ojos" but I never thought to finish it.
Roman V says
nadie*
frank says
mr. coulton, will you marry me? oh, wait, that's right: i can't marry a man in our country, and you're straight and married, anyway. dammit. well then, i'll just worship you from afar. thanks muchly for the new version au français. c'est tres magnifique!
jesss says
My son, who is obsessed with Spanish lately, wants a version in Spanish!
Pretty great. I too would love to see the translation as I know practically no French
Sujin says
I nearly pulled an all-nigher last night writing a French paper. This would have made it so much better. :) At least I have it now to listen to and make my JoCo experience bilingual!
Denis Moskowitz says
Congratulations - you've got your own "Komm, gib mir deine Hand".
Oromin says
Ça c'est hyper-chouette! J'adore le français et j'adore ta musique, alors tous les deux ensemble sont merveilluex. :)
M_pony says
Now when you finally come to Toronto (anytime now plz, kthx) I have yet another excuse to buy you une biere.
Bishma says
I like it. It recieves the Bishma seal of approval. But I watched you record parts of My Beige Bear and it's been stuck in my head ever since, so please finish that up. Pretty please with cake on top?
Zach says
Will Len provide a French album cover?
jacob says
Talk about an outrageous accent. Now all you need is an owl to wrangle.
Giggleloop says
Well done, I love it! :)
Bob says
Does it make me a massive geek that as I was listening to the song, I started to wonder if the mp3 standard supported locales? :-)
Joel Watson says
Hey Guys! Support JoCo and Digg this story:
http://digg.com/music/Jonathan_Coulton_s_Re_Your_Brain_redone_for_French_speaking_zomies
Rob L. says
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww oui. Vive le chason du zombies.
Rob L. says
Uh, "chanson," methinks. The le and the du are probably wrong too. Hell, it's the thought that counts.
MmeS says
This made my 19-hour French-teaching-followed-by-French-movie-event-technology-coordinating day so much more worthwhile. It brought a much-needed sourire to my visage, especially the homage to "Alouette". Any possibility for a special edition "Re: Vos cerveaux" shirt...?
Luke M says
Way to pre-empt people like me whining about the lack of completed Bearage. I will not misunderestimate you again, sir.
Miru Gai says
I wish to put you in a glass container and stick you in my basement, Mr. JoCo.
rhiannon says
hey there!
thanks a lot for putting a link to my myspace! (however it doesn't seem to work?) glad I was of help for the french version. jeremie and I had a lot of fun ! He's a great guy, very creative, and lots of talent!
I hope you had some time to check out my songs!
thanks once again!
rhirhi
Janet says
MUSICIAN BREAKS PROMISE TO INTERWEB
Interweb netizens cranky, having trouble getting to sleep. Meanwhile, household of interweb getting REALLY tired of hearing "songus interruptus" one more damn time. "My Beige Bear" interweb's very very favorite song. IPod of interweb feeling very very left out, about to get cranky despite superior Apple technology.
MUSICIAN FINISH SONG PLEASE.
Will Hindmarch says
You and Edith Piaf. That makes two. Oh, and Nouvelle Vague, I guess, but is she for real?
What is that very nice MP3 player you're using in this post?
Can we get you to do a song in Icelandic or Croatian, now?
rhiannon says
How about a song in welsh? I'm from wales... its a beautiful language!
Rhiannon
www.myspace.com/ukrhi
patrick says
This will go down in history as the best song translation since 99 Luftballons! God, I'm old...
andrine says
Tish! I love it when you speak French! Mwah! -Gomez
Chris Radcliff says
Great! Now people can sing along at the Paris concert. Zombies Sans Frontieres!
LoonieBin says
Oh man...I took French Immersion from kindergarten to grade nine (bastards canceled high school French, except the mickey-mouse second language classes) and your pronunciation and accent are better. Though it didn't quite rhyme, that's unbelievably well translated, except a couple parts could've been done better...For the benefit of those who don't speak French, I'll write down these lyrics in English. Maybe under user content somewhere...
Paul says
It's like Inspector Clouseau came back from the grave, as a zombie! Mon Dieu.
Yngve says
I don't speak a word of French, and it is still so, so awesome.
Q-gyver says
Now we've successfully won over Canada!
I say "ON TO MEXICO!!!"
Also, even if you don't speak French at all, it's still really cool.
Stephane D. says
Hahahahah... "Et la tete! Et la tete!"... Hahahaha.
I needed a few listens to recalibrate my brain to understand the accent. (It's closer to the European-french pronunciation to the Canadian-French pronunciation. Some expressions are also not used in Canadian-French which is another reason for my brain-recalibration to occur. It's akin to North-American English vs U.K. English. :P)
Roman V says
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/11/27/zombie-kiteh-want-brainz/
Oh and happy early birthday, Jonathan.
Florian says
Awesome song, the idea reminds of what the Beatles did with "Komm, gib mir deine Hand" and "Sie liebt dich". I don't speak German that well, but if the translation is good, it can have a very catchy quality (sometimes even more so). Very cool.
Florian says
Ehm, I meant German about the Beatles songs I referred to, I know this is French ;-)
Jim says
Translate this back to English and we get...
"It just wants you to puff the brain"
... wait.. what?
http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jonathancoulton.com%2Fsongdetails%2FRe%2520Vos%2520Cerveaux&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8
brady says
Excellent as always!
Len says
That was awesome. I forsee myself drawing some french zombies in the near future. :)
Kaethe says
That makes me so happy : )
Kaethe says
And I have copies of the Beatles in German. I wish they had recorded more, but they had so many problems with the pronounciation they only did the two. It's a pitty, they sound better in German, too.
WTL says
This is pricelessly awesome!
Ben says
Bonne anniversaire, JoCo!
Liza LS says
Viva you, indeed, JoCo! And a happy birthday, too!
^_^
Mike says
Re: Vos Cerveaux is amazing! It really is!
Justin says
Happy birthday, JoCo...
Come have some cake. It's so delicious and moist.
(^ you do know, of course, that you'll never live that line down.)
randal says
Now if we can only get Celine Dion to do a cover version...
Venom says
I have listen to your song on Wil Wheaton and it's great!
By the way, I'm from Belgium, and I speak French as a native language also.
Len says
Hey Happy Birthday! :)
I can't believe I am a month older than you. I thought you were older than me. :(
Katie o_O says
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr. Jonathan coulton! I just recently heard about your music and it's awesome, and you are a very talented musician and are amazing at your live shows :) I hope you have a great birthday!
Demetrius says
Happy Birthday, JC! - And, many returns of the day... Which you happen to share with my oldest brother - who is also a Jon! (well, John, anyway...)
Thomas says
Um ... Bon Anniversaire! Oui? Oui.
BucketHatBobby says
Can't wait for the Ukrainian version of "Shop Vac"
Jack F says
Brains just don't taste the same in heavy sauce.
Gle3nn says
Happy Birthday!
Happy JoCo Day!
Demetrius says
"Jack F Says:
December 1st, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Brains just don’t taste the same in heavy sauce."
Yes. The discriminating zombie prefers a nice Noisette Butter.
Carrie says
I've got a version in American Sign Language... kinda interesting if you ask me, but requires YouTube and I don't have time for that. Lol. Loved the French!
Leigh says
Does this post win the prize for most comments ever?
Janet says
Oh no, nowhere close. Consider October 15, 2007 (Still Alive); April 14, 2006 (Code Monkey) or October 14, 2005 (Baby Got Back). Robots, Monkeys, and Anatomy 101 trump French brains, ca veut dire. :-)
Justin says
That's awesome! I love it!
And just in case no one's brought this to your attention: "All we want to do is study your brains." -Sluggy Freelance
Jonnie Geetahr says
This is surreally awesome. I wish I had this to use back in my ol' language lab days in college! Thanks, Jon.
jack says
The only thing worse (better?) than having *yet another* JoCo song stuck in my head for days and days is having a JoCo song stuck in my head for days IN A LANGUAGE I CAN'T SPEAK!!! Wow, this is going to be a rough week.
Happy Birthday, Jonathan.
jeremsoft says
"song stuck in my head for days IN A LANGUAGE I CAN’T SPEAK!!!"
ahahah...its exactly what think the rest of the world with the hegemony of english music...sweet revenge...:P
JP says
Happy birthday dude. :)
Guinness says
Well done, jerem :)
and what a great result ! Excellent pronunciation, probably the best i ever heared for a non french speaking person !
electric desire says
As someone who teaches elementary French, and wonders why oh why don't my students get that this language is neat, this really made my day. Thank you for making a very long week end on a high note (so to speak).
Angelastic says
Maybe it's just that new song glow or the cute accent (well, I wouldn't know, I don't speak French natively either, but it sounds like a cute accent to me), but I think this is even more awesome than the original... I hope it will convince more people here in Geneva to request a concert. Bravo Jeremsoft (Have you ever read 'Le tombeau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language'?) and JoCo.
Now for the Japanese version... I bet the http://www.japlishpodcast.com/ guys will help.
Chevalier Bayard says
Awesome work !!
Chapeau bas monsieur ;)
Erica says
Merci Uncle Jon, Merci...
The_Dark says
That was great! I barely know any French, but it was still awesome.
Someone should write a Spanish version... I'd kill to hear that...
mac givré says
Génial, tout simplement
meliluc says
thanks, now I can share this great song with my "not fluent" friends
et l'accent est génial !
Sarah says
Ok so people have been asking for re-translations for this french song. I've taken a little "creative liberty" since a direct translation doesn't make sense for anglophones.
Hi Tom, it’s Bob. I’m working real hard in the bottom office
Cool just checking on you, how are you?
For me it goes, except that I’ve become a zombie
I’d be really happy if you’d let us enter
I think I speak for the world
I can say I understand
We legitimately expected your reluctance
But this is urgent, you’re all going to burst, yelling
(Chorus)
We just want to devour your brain
No this isn’t a stupid joke
We won’t cut the eyes out of your head
We just want to devour your brain
We’re jammed here
Perhaps we can do a kind of compromise:
Open your door
Then we can nab you to devour your brain
I don’t want to quibble, Tom, but what are you really doing?
Spend the rest of your life in your office?
You can maybe go on for now, but one day you will run out of food
…and extra ammunition
It’s clear you come to realize the end
This ambition, is truly what you’ve always lacked
But I have some for you
I’ll devour you slowly
(Chorus)
I would very much like to help you, Tom, one way or another
I actually appreciate our collaboration
I’m not a monster, Tom,
Finally, technically I am
Technically
I have another meeting, Tom
We’ll put this away
It’ll be easier to agree and finish this
I will pass this to my new colleagues
Who are in the process of gnawing your door
We’ll deal with this later
I’m happy to see you accept constructive criticism
Despite this, you are overbooked
I know it’s hell at the office
We’ll fix that later
When I open up your head
(And the head! And the head! Alouette! Alouette! Argh!)
(Chorus)
JoCo-Fan says
my top 5 JoCo songs
nr.5:Blue Sunny day
nr.4:Cruel Cruel Moon
nr.3:The Big Boom
nr.2:Creepy doll
nr.1:Re:Your Brains/Re:Vos Cerveaux
Matth says
La traduction laisse à désirer pour moi... Sinon la chanson est vraiment bien, mais on réalise que tu ne sais pas ce que tu chantes ! :)
The traduction isn't really perfect in my opinion...Whatever, the song is really cool, but I think you don't understand what you say when you sing ? I'm french and we can feel it :p
Last but not least, Very good job !!!!