Ah ! Melody – Bilingual Lyrics French/English

• By: Serge Gainsbourg
• Album: Histoire de Melody Nelson

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into "Ah ! Melody" by Serge Gainsbourg, a concise yet captivating track from the legendary concept album "Histoire de Melody Nelson." This song, with its intriguing blend of lush orchestration, funk grooves, and spoken-word vocals, offers a unique window into French pop and storytelling. Learning the lyrics will not only expose you to Gainsbourg's poetic lyricism and wordplay but also immerse you in a complex, cinematic narrative that has influenced generations of artists. It’s a perfect entry point for understanding the sophisticated and often provocative artistry of one of France's most important musical figures.

[English]

Ah Melody

You’ve made me do some stupid things

Hue hue and ho

Riding piggyback on my back

Oh Melody

Love, you don’t know what it is

You told me so

But is everything you say true?

Ah Melody

You’ve made me do some stupid things

Hue hue and ho

Riding piggyback on my back

Oh Melody

If you’ve lied to me, I’ll make

A sickness of it

I don’t know what I’ll do to you

...

[French]

Ah Melody

Tu m'en auras fait faire des conneries

Hue hue et ho

À dada sur mon dos

Oh Melody

L'amour, tu ne sais pas ce que c'est

Tu me l'as dit

Mais tout ce que tu dis est-il vrai?

Ah Melody

Tu m'en auras fait faire des conneries

Hue hue et ho

À dada sur mon dos

Oh Melody

Si tu m'as menti, j'en ferai

Une maladie

Je n'sais pas ce que je te ferai

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
conneries kɔ.nʁi B2	noun - foolishness, stupid things, nonsense
dada da.da A2	noun - Dada (art movement), nonsense
amour a.muʁ A1	noun - love
sais sɛ A2	verb - know
vrai vʁɛ A2	adjective - true
menti mɑ̃.ti B1	verb - lied
maladie ma.la.di B1	noun - illness, disease
faire fɛʁ A1	verb - to do, to make
dos do A1	noun - back
l'amour la.muʁ A1	noun - love
dit di A2	verb - said
j'en ʒɑ̃ A2	pronoun - of it
ferai fɛ.ʁɛ B1	verb - will do
n'sais nɛ.sɛ A2	verb - do not know

Key Grammar Structures

• Ah Melody, Tu m'en auras fait faire des conneries

  ➔ Future perfect tense

  ➔ The phrase 'auras fait faire' uses the future perfect tense to indicate an action that will have been completed in the future. It emphasizes the consequence of Melody's actions.

• L'amour, tu ne sais pas ce que c'est

  ➔ Negation with 'ne...pas'

  ➔ The phrase 'tu ne sais pas' uses the negation structure 'ne...pas' to express that Melody does not know something. It is a common way to negate verbs in French.

• Mais tout ce que tu dis est-il vrai?

  ➔ Interrogative with 'est-il'

  ➔ The phrase 'est-il vrai' uses the interrogative form with 'est-il' to ask if what Melody says is true. It inverts the subject and verb to form a question.

• Si tu m'as menti, j'en ferai une maladie

  ➔ Conditional sentence

  ➔ The phrase 'Si tu m'as menti, j'en ferai une maladie' is a conditional sentence expressing a hypothetical situation and its consequence. It uses the past tense in the 'si' clause and the future tense in the main clause.