Lyrics Meaning

Hello, here's how far I could get translating these lyrics, would you please have a look and correct me?

1. Petit lapin ne vient pas à Paris
2. Petit lapin reste dans ta prairie
3. (Pourquoi?)
4. Va t'amuser avec tous tes copains
5. En plus de ça tu es végétarien
6. Paris vois-tu ça n'est pas fait pour toi
7. (Oh!)
8. Ce n'est que rues que bitume et que toits
9. Cent mille chauffards y circulent sans arrêt
10. Et pourraient bien t'écraser
11. (Ah! ben ça alors!)

Translation:

1. Small rabbit don't come to Paris
2. Small rabbit rest in your prairie
3. (Why?)
4. You will have fun with all your buddies
5. Paris, you see, is not suitable for you
6. (Oh!)
7. It is only asphalt streets and roofs
8. One hundred thousand road hogs circulating non-stop
9. And could well run over you
10. (Ah! Gosh!)

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1. Petit lapin ne vient pas à Paris
2. Y'a trop de monde et puis y'a trop de bruit
3. Le téléphone y résonne sans arrêt
4. Et t'en aurais les oreilles cassées
5. Ici en plus pour gagner sa salade
6. Faut travailler à s'en rendre malade
7. Et une fois que tu l'as bien gagnée
8. On vient t'en prendre la moitié
9. (C'est le destin!)

Translation:

1. Small rabbit don't come to Paris
2. There's too many people and then there's too much noise
3. The phone rings all the time there
4. And you would have the ears bruised
5. Here to make a salad more
6. Must work to make them sick
7. And once you've earned it
8. We just take half worry
9. (It's fate!)

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1. Petit lapin ne vient pas à Paris
2. Les gens ici ne sont pas tous gentils
3. Comme ils ne pensent qu'à s'entre-dévorer
4. Tu risquerais de finir en civet
5. (Qu'est-ce que c'est?)
6. Toute l'année toi tu es en vacances
7. (Oh! oui)
8. Tu te promènes et en plus le dimanche
9. Là où tu manges avec tous tes amis
10. C'est pas le coup de fusil!

Translation:

1. Small rabbit don't come to Paris
2. The people here are not all nice
3. As they only think of devouring
4. You may end up in stew
5. (What's this?)
6. Throughout the year, you are on holiday
7. (Oh, yes!)
8. You picnic not just on Sunday
9. Where you eat with all your friends
10. It's not the shot!

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1. Petit lapin ne vient pas à Paris
2. Écoute-moi moi qui suis ton ami
3. Reste où tu es car entre-nous crois-moi
4. Le plus heureux mais c'est toi
5. Reste où tu es car entre-nous crois-moi
6. Le plus heureux oui c'est toi
7. (Merci Henri)

Translation:

1. Small rabbit don't come to Paris
2. Listen to me, I who am your friend
3. Stay where you are because between us, believe me,
4. The happiest, but it's you
5. Stay where you are because between us, believe me,
6. Yes, it's the happiest, you
7. (Thanks Henri)

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on September 6, 2011 at 6:57pm

I think you've got the gist of most of it, with a few bits that aren't quite idiomatic English (e.g. "small" wouldn't be used as a diminutive in English: "little" would be used instead; "It's just..." would be used rather than "It's only..."; "between us" would usually be "between you and me", or indeed "entre nous" is used in French) but aren't really a matter of understanding, just of English, which I understand isn't your first language. But here are the main bits where I'm not sure you've understood:

"T'en aurais les oreilles cassées" implies something a bit stronger than "bruised"-- something more like "would blow your ears out".

By "gagner sa salade" they basically mean "earn a living"-- one idiomatic expression in English that keeps the food metaphore is "earn your crust". I suppose if you were translating this "properly" you might try something like "earn your liver" or "earn your crustaceon", to gain the same effect as in the French of making the listener expect one word ("vie") and then changing it at the last minute.

"s'entre-dévorer" means to devour one another (a play on words from "s'entre-tuer")-- I'm not sure this was clear in your translation.

In one place I think you have "rester" as "rest", whereas "stay" is usually the choice of English verb-- I wasn't sure if this was a misunderstanding or just a matter of English.

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Permalink Reply by Jervon Voltage on September 6, 2011 at 8:56pm

Thanks a lot, Neil!

Yes, English is not my first language, hence the translation being patched together here and there...

BTW, I wasn't really sure about this part when translating:

5. Ici en plus pour gagner sa salade
6. Faut travailler à s'en rendre malade
7. Et une fois que tu l'as bien gagnée
8. On vient t'en prendre la moitié

Thanks to your explanation, I can now get 'gagner sa salade' but am still having problems with these four lines and their meaning...