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 been replaced by (...)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 sentence that follows la phrase qui suivra
 The man who picks up the L'homme qui capte le
 (guy) and whose (mec) et dont le nom
 name has a double a possede un double a
 The fence (...) crossbow La barriere (...) arbalete
 Which (...) Qui (...)
 Which is (the approach) Qui est (l'abord)
 for decades depuis des decennies
 It runs off with on my soul Une main basse sur mon ame
 so that he slows down pour qu'il avance au ralenti
 But the great manitou, Mais le grand manitou,
 handles everything, (...) manie tout, (...)
 Of the masks, Des masques la musique
 the music has cloaked the place, a masque la place,
 one mortgages then on hypotheque puis
 * Writes down in italics Inscrit en italiques
 * on his agenda sur son agenda
 * The top list of the (stuffs) Le top des (trucs ?)
 he doesn't like qu'il n'aime pas
 In brief, to be Bref, pour etre clair
 clear-cut et net
 * the belly-tail (????) Le ventre-queue
 * is accompanied by s'accompagne
 * an ear plug (used by TV hosts to get info) de l'oreillette
 Exactly like, to my ears, Tout comme a mes
 'my fly' [of trousers] oreilles, 'ma braguette'
 Teams up and rhymes S'acoquine et rime
 with 'obsolete' avec 'obsolete'

 Verse Three:

 Obsolete is also Obsolete est aussi
 the teaser who l'allumeuse qui
 Wore a hair-net and Portait des bas resilles
 * bas =pantyhose
 stenched patshleaf et empestait le patchouli
 For done services Pour des services
 she says to me rendus elle me dit
 ''I pay you in kind'' ''Je te paye en nature''
 And I stay stoic Et je reste stoique
 when she holds out jams quand elle me tend
 to me des confitures
 This is forgotten when Ceci est oublie quand
 on the month of december au mois de decembre
 She telephones and says Elle me telephone et me
 ''Come pick me up'' dit ''Passe me prendre''
 In brief, I abuse of her Bref, j'en abuse
 with a delectable feeling avec delectation
 (...) like some mead, (...) comme de l'hydromel,
 I am in affection je suis en affection
 * Then i slide, intrude Puis me glisse, m'immisce
 between the smooth thighs entre les cuisses
 of the miss lisses de la miss
 Her eyes wrinkle, Ses yeux se plissent, et
 and she says ''Stop your vice'' elle dit ''Stop ton vice''
 I am like a ball, Je suis comme une balle,
 she plays the role of elle joue le role
 * the racket d'une raquette
 The luller [!], teaser, L'endormeuse, allumeuse,
 fancies herself for a starlette se prend pour une starlette
 Message which, in the 'cinematheques' Desuettes, sont classees
 Fallen in disuse, are classified in dans les series B,
 B-series, at the department 'obsolete' au rayon 'obsolete