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Translations : Nacer “Stop
that noise, please” Zourane
MANIFESTO
Nikkei, Nasdaq do the dance of figures
New economy, stock options, new Eldorado
Media, so free and conscious, sell the liberal creed
And the masses, under the charm, applaud the new gurus
I haven’t got the courage any longer to look at This world sparking with lights
(so sad I could cry) I sometimes want to quit
But a tiny voice urges me to bawl out " stop ! "
Unemployment, bad adventures, misery – slum areas
For offshoots excluded from the working class
smartness, swindling, trafficking are their only horizons
They are just like this world corrupted by money
I have no more the courage to look at This world which crumbles right before my
very eyes (so sad I could cry) I sometimes want to quit But a tiny voice urges
me to bawl out “stop it! "
I could steal or pursue a career in politics
And sell my soul to get a comfortable position
And invite the poor to have patience
Because some day, soon, they will also experience affluence
I still refuse to yield, to give in or to take advantage of it (I have my
pride) And when I have no more strength to fight A tiny voice will urge me to
bawl out " Fuck ! "
COMPETITION
Bend your head like a kilometer champion biker
Take your dope and take care of your condition
You have to be the first and get the leader
If you really want to get quick promotion
Courage son, you should always succeed
Learn your lessons and do think about your future
You have to be the ahead of the others
If you want really to get quick promotion
You’ll soon be thirty years, hurry up get married
settle down, copulate to start a family
and you’ll teach your blond offspring
How to survive in so cruel a world
THE GOVERNMENT OF FEAR
As if the evening had just fallen on the city
As a black mantle foreshadowing dramas of any style
A heavy burden, a nasty smell of fresh blood
A noise in the garden, a shadow behind the hedge
Ladies and gentlemen, danger is everywhere
It is probably at your doorstep, now
We ask you to be watchful, have confidence in the policemen
As if the evening had just fallen on the city
We only see cops on patrol setting up a tight control over the slums
Forgotten districts driven to despair
From which the middle classes definitely turn away
Ladies and gentlemen, danger is everywhere
It is probably at your doorstep, now
We ask you to be watchful, have confidence in the policemen
fearmongers
With law and order speeches! The hunt for the poor men has started
We live in an atmosphere of war Ladies and gentlemen, danger is everywhere
It is probably within you
We ask you to give up your precious rights
MONEY
cough up, fork out, , always pay - keep an eye on the till !
shell out, fork out, - keep a close watch on the stock exchange and sit tight !
Everything can be negotiated and sold, no slack on extortion
Sell off, calculate gamble on the stock exchange, and accumulate
everybody gloats over money, turns into a speculator
It is sheer madness, scramble, everybody wants to make a pile
cough up, fork out, , always pay - keep an eye on the till !
shell out, to fork out, - mind the stock exchange and sit tight !
Thanks to the magic of Internet, follow the market prices without delay
Always be on the watch, ready to pounce, to grab stakes
You can bargain and sell everything, no respite with money
vigilance is necessary if you want to avoid hitting rock bottom
The nose up in the stars / To shout your love to the wind
To caress a petal / And sleep for a while
cough up, fork out, , always pay - keep an eye on the till !
shell out, fork out, - mind the stock exchange and sit tight !
If you want to live happy, it is necessary to invest your money
To make money out of money, that is the new religion
If you want to be recognized, you have to accumulate
Bullshit, goods, all these things that induce envy
cough up, fork out, , always pay - keep an eye on the till !
shell out, to fork out, - mind the stock exchange and sit tight!
you can stand gaping, but time is money
Your position is ridiculous and hopeless, the splendid future will be
mercantile
Forget your stale ideas and join the scramble quickly
For, since the beginning of time, there’s no money for everybody !
Free space, win a bit of time
look at yourself in the mirror, and consider yourself different
from that stupid idiot puffed up with pride
which he put deep inside his wallet
free space and to fight constantly
look at yourself in the mirror, and feel alive
WATRIN
(1886)
Welcome to Decazeville, with its coalpits and its graveyard
Where the miners have just taken out the flags of anger
Listen to this story, think it over
It was written in red and black,
On a background of misery and shout
In the seedy shanties, they share a chunk of bread
The Company doesn’t give a damn about it,
They treat them like dogs
Listen to this story, think it over
It was written in red and black ( x2 )
But Watrin, the silly sod, doesn’t care
he gets a percentage on the starvation wages
he does not want to talk to the rallied strikers
But the miners do not want to let themselves be pushed around
They are not dogs one could kick around
If he does not want to hear, then he will not hear any more
The window is opened, Watrin is pushed out
He was a true robber but he did not know how to fly*
Listen to this history, think it over
It was written in red and black, On a background of misery and shout
And as a conclusion, if this story needs a moral
The worst scoundrel was not a minor
Listen to this story, think it over
It was written in red and black ( x2 )
play on words which can’t be translated: “voler” in French, both means “rob”
and “fly” (like a bird)
PROGRESS
From the polished stone to the nuclear power stations
to the miracle bomb which sweeps off the dust
there’s no mystery, the human being Adam,
has come a damn long way
Let us glorify progress which brings so many things
Genetic engineering, digital entry phones and Madeira sauce powder
Let us prostrate ourselves before so much smartness
Let us prostrate ourselves and let us shout " Long life to God, Kapital
and us ! "
Addicted to television screens
Ultimate heavy policing of our pathetic lives
We live the world by proxy
Unable, without image, to experience emotion
Let us glorify progress which brings so many things
Dvd, digital entry phones and Madeira sauce powder
Let us prostrate ourselves before so much smartness
Let us prostrate ourselves and let us shout " Long life to God, Kapital
and Us ! "
Let us glorify progress which brings so many things
And works all these dream factories
Without them we would sink into neurosis
And neurosis is bad for God, Kapital and Us !
YUPPIE YUPPIE OUT !
Mister Bank Charges works relentlessly(he’s a trader)
Makes money out of money (free market for ever)
He is a middle-class hero (he loves money)
In these zero conscience times (ground zero)
he works, calculates
He strives and speculates
Indifferent to the world, proud of his straightforwardness
He is at the right place in this merciless world
He is part of the caste and we are all untouchables
Slavish manager put under stress (Gimme a pill !)
Buzzing about every day (Gimme a reason !)
That is the price you pay (what price happiness !)
For comfort, security (what a waste !)
he works, calculates
He strives and speculates
Indifferent to the world, proud of his straightforwardness
He is at the right place in this dull world
Where submission leaves the door wide open to “happiness”
The night has just fallen, he’s got to go home
And join his family in his secure district
But in this life, everybody knows it, one feels much less secure
Especially when a free bird has just shat on his head
Mister Bank Charge cannot bear (he’s fucking upset !)
The unexpected, this certain something ( Major disturbance!)
Messing up indistinctly (Even the monkeys)
any asshole’s head(A Bird shits everyday)
He bawls, he roars
Belches and gesticulates
In the middle of the street, pathetic, ridiculous
He didn’t see the unemployed requisitioned bus
Compelled to pittance work
What a horrible death ( Poor Mister Bank Charge)
That system is tough ! (yuppie yuppie Out !)
OP.IRAI FRE OIL / PROSPECT AND ENSLAVE
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
in the name of a omniscient money colored god
in the name of the Christian and mercantile civilization
a hand on the bible, the other on the holy barrel
in the name of the Father, Son , big business and
The steamroller called neo-liberalism
in the name of concrete and glass civilization and
the trashcan culture overrunning the universe
chorus: prospect and enslave
in the name of the International Monetary Fund and
the World Bank, the multinational companies
in the name of the supermarket trolleys to be filled up, thoughts to be
occupied and
the sacrosanct killing market rules
in the name of the general interest, generally specific,
specifically those who exploit, humiliate and swagger about
In front of the wretched who are against the Trade kingdom
III-In the name of profits and interest rates
Of land conquest and of the theory
That says work makes free and brings dignity
Provided it doesn’t kill you
In the name of the right to pollute and to merchandize everything
Nothing should be out of market control
Which alienates and fits tightly around the world
And turns criticism into an ad
IV- In the name of humiliated fathers hanging their head, keeping their mouth
shut
In the name of mothers who have shouted themselves hoarse
In the name of children buried because put on diet too long
And did not get proper care
one man's joy is another man's misery
I hate those sharks who wallow in luxury
Worthless hedonism sold with bar-codes
Our freedom, Comrade, has the taste of corpse
ROGUE STATE (OF MIND)
I have met so many people whose wounds had been salted
Their shouts of anger, smothered behind
The padded walls of a psychiatric hospital, oozing wall factories
I have met so many people with chaotic existence
stretching out their hand to get a bit of this fucking money
from those, better off, who would just look away
I have met so many people with unfeigned arrogance
Accumulating possessions so as to avert the fear
They would, some day, face their vacuity
I have met so many people whose motto would be
“work and family”, and on Saturdays, they’d push the supermarket trolley
And find it normal and they’d vote when authorized
I have met so many people who refused to ask
The existential question which one never hears on TV
Who am I, where to, would I exist without this damned purse?
Nacer, notre inestimable traducteur, lors d'une manifestation
anti-globalisation capitaliste et anti-OGM
[Nacer,our translator, during a
demonstration against the WTO]