Lyrics for Serge Franklin / Karen Tungay - Sous les Bougainvilliers
(Not to be confused with Hector Zazou's song with the same title.)
French it's not my first language and trying to write the lyrics down by listening may not be a realistic option for me. Has anyone got them?
Update
The song was made for the 1989 TV series Bonne Espérance. My memory about its plot is very patchy. Jacques Beauvilliers has a farming estate called Bonne Espérance in south of Africa. He has 3 daughters and an illegitimate son Jean-Jacques with a slave. He catches them bullying him, he goes all protective about the boy (and the slave mother), while girls swear with blood to take revenge on the boy. Don't remember much after that. The boy grows up. Out of 3 girls, only one (I think Clara) still wants that revenge, reminding other 2 they swore it with blood.
Spoiler:
Clara arranges so Jean-Jacques gets killed. Jacques tells her the killer would be punished by death. She grows old and unhappy.
That's right. It plays through the closing credits of each episode. I've also found out that lyrics were written by Jean Pierre Lang (I'd ask him if I could, haha). All this I've only found on very few websites, but almost nothing on major sites like Wikipedia, YouTube and IMDB.
If you could point to an online recording, I'd offer to try and note down the lyrics from that. Jean Pierre Lang is still alive (aged 79) , so I guess contacting him is an option, although I don't know how you would. Article in FR wikipedia says he wrote the words for Céline Dion's first national/international hit, which I didn't know.
That would be great! You can listen to it on https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6OVMb9KoGR7M3RLSXJXQ2JBa0U
thanks. Very haunting, I can see why you like it.
I take it you like it, too? I've been trying to find this song (and the actual series or any useful information about it) for over 15 years. Only just got hold of it 2 weeks ago. I remember 25 years ago or so watching Bonne Espérance on TV and being mesmerised listening to this song while the closing credits of each episode rolled. And... I haven't a clue what the song is about.
yes, I like the song. From what I can make of the lyrics so far, they are sad, but they are a bit obscure, probably because I haven't got the right words yet.
J'ai vu le jour du côté des manguiers
Sur la terre de mon père
J'ai vu toujours mes parents travailler
Près des bougainvilliers
Ici chacun vit ou meurt
Et bâtit des barrières
Suivant l'ombre et la couleur
Suivant la lumière
Pourquoi faut-il du côté des manguiers
qu'il y ait cet air de fête ?
Moi, certains jours, j'ai envie de pleurer
Sous les bougainvilliers
Mon amour est un garçon
Que va prendre la guerre
Quand on sait, me faut-il donc
S'enfuir ou se taire ?
Alors j'écris du côté des manguiers
Mon journal solitaire
J'écris ma vie et mon coeur déchiré
Près des bougainvilliers
J'écris que le monde est fou
Que les hommes sont bêtes
J'écris notre pire amour
Et mes joies secrètes
Un jour, qui sait, du côté des manguiers
Tomberont les barrières
Et notre vie sera moins compliquée
Près des bougainvilliers
Près de mon cahier, ce soir
Où ma tête se penche
C'est la fin, je te reçois
Ma dernière, je planche
ENGLISH
I saw the day (was born) down by the mango trees
On a land of my father
I always saw my parents work
Near bougainvillea
Here everyone lives or dies
And builds fences
following shadow and color
following light
Why is there down by the mango trees
this air of celebration?
Some days I feel like crying
Under the bougainvillea
My love is a boy
that will be taken by the war
When you know, what should you do?
Run away or be silent?
So I write down by the mango trees
My lonely diary
I write my life and my torn heart
Near the bougainvillea
I write that the world is crazy
That men are beasts
I write love our worst
And my secret joys
One day, who knows, down by the mango trees
Fences will fall
And our life will be less complicated
Near bougainvillea
Near my notebook tonight
Where my head leans
This is the end, I get you
My last, I hesitate
ah, I wondered if mangoes came into it. this looks like a good answer. Chapeaux bas !
Thank you for both answers (here and on FB). I don't quite get the last two lines (in either language).
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Content dated before 7/24/2021 11:53 AM
Angst 6 years ago
For what it's worth, the song appears to have been composed by Franklin for the TV series "Bonne Espérance", 1989. Karen Tungay is listed as the singer.