Verse One:

English French

* Formerly the clercs Naguere les concierges

were in vogue etaient en vogue

From now on they've Desormais on les a

been replaced by (...) remplaces par des (...)

In my town there were Dans ma ville il n'y

no parking meters avait pas de parcmetre

I used to see Je voyais des ouvriers

workers eating manger des sandwichs a

omelet sandwiches l'omelette

(is omelet = to beatten eggs ?)

The past comes back to my mind Le passe me revient

like a cup-and-ball game comme un bilboquet

The presence of an omnipresent La presence d'un passe

past hasn't gone omnipresent n'est pas passee

The Halles, supplanted Les Halles, supplantees

by the (Coste ?) par le (Coste ?)

The allegory of the 'madeleines' L'allegorie des

* (of Proust / which makes him remember scenes of the past)

swifts away at the madeleines file a la

speed of Prost vitesse de Prost

* (AlainProst, formula 1 racing car world champion)

The air was pure there, L'air y etait pur,

Paris more beautiful Paris plus beau

Now, the subway fare rises Desormais le ticket de

like the metro augmente comme le

number of cars nombre d'autos.

Oh shit, there's no more Oh shit, a la tele

speakerine on TV y a plus de speakrine

There are B-series movies Y a des films de serie

that I estimate B que j'estime a

at four cents quatre centimes

(...) gives me two, (...) me file deux,

three little coins trois piecette

That I peep, and my intellect Que je mate, et mon intellect

find that they are obsolete constate qu'ils sont obsoletes

Verse Two:

Obsolete, but with much style, Obsolete, mais stylee,

the sent