LES RIVIÈRES – Bilingual Lyrics French/English

• By: AaRON
• Album: ANATOMY OF LIGHT

Lyrics & Translation

[French]

[English]

J'avais le goût des grands dégâts de nuit

I've got the taste for big night damages

Tes bras avaient la taille de toute une vie

Your arms were the size of a whole lifetime

L'horizon coupé clean comme un Saint Laurent sur les épaules des grands soirs

The horizon cut clean like a Saint Laurent on the shoulders of great evenings

J'avais le goût du risque qui illumine

I've got the taste for risk that lights up

Alors j'ai plongé dans le noir de ta pupille

So I dove into the darkness of your pupil

J'ai glissé, comme glissent les rapides des rivières, jusqu'aux bras de la mer

I slipped, like fast currents in rivers, into the arms of the sea

Off we go

Off we go

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

It's dawn at global warming (off we go)

It’s dawn at global warming (off we go)

My blue jeans, your black dreams (oh go oh)

My blue jeans, your black dreams (oh go oh)

J'avais le goût des grands dégâts de nuits

I've got the taste for big night damages

Tes mots avaient la taille de toute une vie

Your words were the size of a whole life

L'horizon coupait clean d'un trait rouge de laser la surface de la Terre

The horizon cut clean with a red laser line across the surface of the Earth

Partout le goût du risque qui illumine

Everywhere the taste of risk that lights up

Alors je t'ai laissé dilater le vide de ma pupille

So I let you expand the emptiness of my pupils

Combien de vaisseaux, de radeaux, de bateaux échoués sur l'océan, mer de ta peau

How many ships, rafts, boats stranded in your ocean, sea of your skin

Off we go

Off we go

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

It's dawn at global warming (off we go)

It’s dawn at global warming (off we go)

My blue jeans, your black dreams (oh go oh)

My blue jeans, your black dreams (oh go oh)

Off we go

Off we go

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

Forget about tomorrow (oh go oh)

It's dawn at global warming (off we go)

It’s dawn at global warming (off we go)

My black jeans, your blue dreams (oh go oh)

My black jeans, your blue dreams (oh go oh)

Off we go

Off we go

Oh go oh

Oh go oh

Off we go

Off we go

Oh go oh

Oh go oh

...

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
dégât /de.ɡa/ B1	noun - damage, destruction
risque /ʁisk/ B1	noun - risk, danger
horizon /ɔ.ʁi.zɔ̃/ A2	noun - horizon, the line where the sky and earth appear to meet
plongé /plɔ̃.ʒe/ B1	verb (participe passé) - dived, plunged
glissé /ɡli.se/ B1	verb (participe passé) - slid, glided
mer /mɛʁ/ A2	noun - sea
dilater /di.la.te/ C1	verb - to dilate, expand
vaisseau /vɛ.sjø/ B2	noun - vessel, ship
radeau /ʁa.do/ C1	noun - raft
bateau /bo.to/ A2	noun - boat

Key Grammar Structures

• Tes bras avaient la taille de toute une vie

  ➔ Imperfect tense of 'avoir' (avaient) + noun phrase

  ➔ 'Avaient' indicates an imperfect past state of possession or characteristic.

• L'horizon coupé clean comme un Saint Laurent sur les épaules des grands soirs

  ➔ Simile with 'comme' (like/as)

  ➔ 'Comme' introduces a simile, comparing the horizon to something else.

• J'avais le goût du risque qui illumine

  ➔ Expression of 'avoir' + 'le goût de' + noun, plus relative clause

  ➔ 'Avoir' expresses possession of the 'taste for risk', with a relative clause describing it.

• Pour tout le goût du risque qui illumine

  ➔ Prepositional phrase 'pour' + noun phrase

  ➔ 'Pour' introduces purpose or reason, here specifying the reason for the 'taste for risk'.

• Off we go

  ➔ Imperative clause / idiomatic expression of movement

  ➔ An idiomatic or simplified phrase indicating beginning or proceeding.

• Forget about tomorrow

  ➔ Imperative verb 'forget' + prepositional phrase 'about tomorrow'

  ➔ 'Forget' is in imperative form, instructing to ignore or not worry about tomorrow.