Dégéneration
Sep. 17th, 2017 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinAnother year, another Québecois song leaps out from the bush and flattens me. This one is ... basically my family history but written by complete strangers??
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-père, il a défriché la terre
Ton arrière-grand-pere, il a labouré la terre
Et pis ton grand-pere a rentabilisé la terre
Pis ton pere, il l'a vendu pour devenir fonctionnaire
Et pis toi mon p'tit gars, tu sais pu c'que tu vas faire
Dans ton p'tit trois et d'mi ben trop cher, frete en hiver
Il te vient des envies de dev'nir propriétaire
Et tu reves la nuit d'avoir ton petit lopin de terre
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-mere, elle a eu quatorze enfants
ton arrière-grand-mère en a eu quasiment autant
Et pis ta grand-mere en a eu trois c'tait suffisant
pis ta mere en voulait pas, toi t'tais un accident
Et pis toé ma p'tite fille, tu changes de partenaires tout l'temps
Quand tu fais des conn'ries, tu t'en sauves en avortant
Mais y'a des matins, tu te reveilles en pleurant
Quand tu reves la nuit d'une grande table entourée d'enfants
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-pere, y'a vecu la grosse misère
Ton arrèire-grand-pere, il ramassait les cennes noires
Et pis ton grand-père, miracle, y'est devenu millionnaire
Ton père en a hérité, il l'a tout mit dans ses REERs
Et pis toé p'tite jeunesse tu dois ton cul au ministère
Pas moyen d'avoir un prêt dans une institution bancaire
Pour calmer tes envies de hold-uper la caissière
Tu lis des livres qui parlent de simplicité volontaire
Tes arrières-arrières-grands-parents ils savaient comment fêter
Tes arrières-grands-parents ça swingnaient fort dans les veilles
Pis tes grands-parents ont connu l'poque yé-yé
Tes parents c'tait les discos c'est là qu'ils se sont rencontrés
Et pis toé mon ami qu'est-ce que tu fais de ta soirée
éteins donc ta T.V. faut pas rester encabané
Heureusement que dans vie certaines choses refusent de changer
Enfiles tes plus beaux habits car nous allons ce soir danser
My best cobbled translation, mainly the one in the video with help from the comments, but some slight shifts of emphasis entirely from my own hubris.
Your great-great-grandfather, he cleared the land;
Your great-grandfather, he worked the land;
And your grandfather paid off the land.
But your father, he sold it to become an office worker.
And then you, my little guy, you don't know what to do
In your small one-bedroom, much too expensive and cold in winter ...
There come to you visions* of becoming a landowner,
And you dream in the night of having your little plot of land.
Your great-great-grandmother, she had fourteen children;
Your great-grand-mother had about the same;
And then your grandmother, she had three, that was enough;
And you mother didn't want you, you were an accident.
And now you, my lass, you change partners all the time.
When you get in trouble, you save yourself with an abortion.
But there are mornings you wake in tears
When you dream in the night of a big table surrounded by children.
Your great-great grandfather, he lived through the Great Depression.
Your great-grandfather, he collected black pennies. [was a miser?]
And then your grandfather, miracle! became a millionaire –
Your father inherited it, he put it all in an RRSP.**
And now you, little youth, you owe your butt to the government,
Not able to get a loan from a banking institution.
To allay your visions* of holding up a cashier,
You read some books about voluntary simplicity.
Your great-great-grandparents, they knew how to party.
Your great-grandparents swung hard through the night.
And your grandparents knew the age of rock-n-roll.
Your parents, there were discos, and that's where they met.
And then you, my friend, what are you doing with your evening?
Turn off your TV then, don't stay at home.
Happily, in life, certain things refuse to change
Put on your best clothes, because tonight we're going dancing.
*this isn't a direct literal translation, but closer in sense if you think of "envies" as yearning desires and fantasies
**Registered Retirement Savings Plan, a sort of Canadian IRA.
So I guess I'm not the only one, then.
(Definitely more on the lopin de terre side than entourée d'enfants, though – happy to leave that much behind.)
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-père, il a défriché la terre
Ton arrière-grand-pere, il a labouré la terre
Et pis ton grand-pere a rentabilisé la terre
Pis ton pere, il l'a vendu pour devenir fonctionnaire
Et pis toi mon p'tit gars, tu sais pu c'que tu vas faire
Dans ton p'tit trois et d'mi ben trop cher, frete en hiver
Il te vient des envies de dev'nir propriétaire
Et tu reves la nuit d'avoir ton petit lopin de terre
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-mere, elle a eu quatorze enfants
ton arrière-grand-mère en a eu quasiment autant
Et pis ta grand-mere en a eu trois c'tait suffisant
pis ta mere en voulait pas, toi t'tais un accident
Et pis toé ma p'tite fille, tu changes de partenaires tout l'temps
Quand tu fais des conn'ries, tu t'en sauves en avortant
Mais y'a des matins, tu te reveilles en pleurant
Quand tu reves la nuit d'une grande table entourée d'enfants
Ton arrière-arrière-grand-pere, y'a vecu la grosse misère
Ton arrèire-grand-pere, il ramassait les cennes noires
Et pis ton grand-père, miracle, y'est devenu millionnaire
Ton père en a hérité, il l'a tout mit dans ses REERs
Et pis toé p'tite jeunesse tu dois ton cul au ministère
Pas moyen d'avoir un prêt dans une institution bancaire
Pour calmer tes envies de hold-uper la caissière
Tu lis des livres qui parlent de simplicité volontaire
Tes arrières-arrières-grands-parents ils savaient comment fêter
Tes arrières-grands-parents ça swingnaient fort dans les veilles
Pis tes grands-parents ont connu l'poque yé-yé
Tes parents c'tait les discos c'est là qu'ils se sont rencontrés
Et pis toé mon ami qu'est-ce que tu fais de ta soirée
éteins donc ta T.V. faut pas rester encabané
Heureusement que dans vie certaines choses refusent de changer
Enfiles tes plus beaux habits car nous allons ce soir danser
My best cobbled translation, mainly the one in the video with help from the comments, but some slight shifts of emphasis entirely from my own hubris.
Your great-great-grandfather, he cleared the land;
Your great-grandfather, he worked the land;
And your grandfather paid off the land.
But your father, he sold it to become an office worker.
And then you, my little guy, you don't know what to do
In your small one-bedroom, much too expensive and cold in winter ...
There come to you visions* of becoming a landowner,
And you dream in the night of having your little plot of land.
Your great-great-grandmother, she had fourteen children;
Your great-grand-mother had about the same;
And then your grandmother, she had three, that was enough;
And you mother didn't want you, you were an accident.
And now you, my lass, you change partners all the time.
When you get in trouble, you save yourself with an abortion.
But there are mornings you wake in tears
When you dream in the night of a big table surrounded by children.
Your great-great grandfather, he lived through the Great Depression.
Your great-grandfather, he collected black pennies. [was a miser?]
And then your grandfather, miracle! became a millionaire –
Your father inherited it, he put it all in an RRSP.**
And now you, little youth, you owe your butt to the government,
Not able to get a loan from a banking institution.
To allay your visions* of holding up a cashier,
You read some books about voluntary simplicity.
Your great-great-grandparents, they knew how to party.
Your great-grandparents swung hard through the night.
And your grandparents knew the age of rock-n-roll.
Your parents, there were discos, and that's where they met.
And then you, my friend, what are you doing with your evening?
Turn off your TV then, don't stay at home.
Happily, in life, certain things refuse to change
Put on your best clothes, because tonight we're going dancing.
*this isn't a direct literal translation, but closer in sense if you think of "envies" as yearning desires and fantasies
**Registered Retirement Savings Plan, a sort of Canadian IRA.
So I guess I'm not the only one, then.
(Definitely more on the lopin de terre side than entourée d'enfants, though – happy to leave that much behind.)
no subject
Date: 2017-09-18 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-11-29 06:55 pm (UTC)Was it written recently? The sentiments almost seem old fashioned. I feel like hardly any of my contemporaries share my aspirations. Nobody seems to want kids anymore. Most people I know with them, seem to have acquired them casually through happenstance. And I wish more people aspired to live in a beautiful place out in the country. Everyone seems fine renting an apartment (and sometimes sharing with roommates). I enjoyed such circumstances as a young adult, and can endure them (somewhat begrudgingly) now, but I can't imagine a life of it! I hope it is merely their circumstances that causes most millennials to focus on more immediate, practical goals; and not the loss of that classic dream of success!
no subject
Date: 2017-11-30 05:42 pm (UTC)I wonder how much of the anti-kids feeling in Millennials is actually down to having too unsettled a lifestyle, that the parenting instinct doesn't have room to kick in. Some of my peers (the senior end of the generation) are starting to have kids, who I never thought were interested, because they've finally got far enough in their careers that they have some semblance of job security, and many have bought a house. They're the very small percentage who have fought/risen/ended up at the top – fantastically successful by Millennial standards – but the fact these extremely career-oriented people are now starting families might suggest that is a sentiment that might change in others if they had a more family-friendly reality.
I think quite a few people would like to live in a beautiful (even tiny) place in the country, there just aren't any jobs (and in the US, 'the country' is full of racists, xenophonbes, and fundamentalists). You go to college to get a good job, then the only jobs that pay enough to pay off your student loans are in cities, so you have to live in the city to earn enough money, but housing prices have boomed in the last 20 years, so even your well-paying job doesn't leave you much for rent after your other financial obligations, and you really don't have enough to save pretty much anything. Millennials don't talk about 'a place in the country' any more than Londoners talk about their dream home, because it's just so far from being a possibility that there's no point wasting brain cells on it. I don't think anyone wants to stay in a shared flat for the rest of their life, they just can't see a way out, and it's a sacrifice they're willing to make in favour of other things which are more important in their lives.
We all 'dream of success' but the road is a lot longer and steeper now than it was in the past, so the definition of 'success' has been mitigated in order to be achievable. Once upon a time, a dream might have been a big house with a big yard and kids and a dog and going on a luxurious holiday once a year; now, most people would be ecstatically happy to have a job they weren't afraid of losing, a place to live that was decent and cost less than 1/3 of your income, and a meal out every so often. That was normal thirty years ago, but it's 'success' now. Once people get that they can set their sights higher.