La Mer Lyrics in English Cécile Grace

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song La Mer by Cécile Grace from French to English.

These lyrics have verified word for word translations. Click any lyric word to see the translation and hear the pronunciation!

Lying in the dark

In my room at the convent

Of Sainte Croix

I hear echoing

The sisters' choir

Deep inside me

And they sing

Ave Maria

And I dance to forget

The tears that quietly fall

I grew up deep in a city

Of dust and stars

At night in the kitchen

My mother told us the story

Of that woman

Gratia Plena

In her room under the stairs

She sometimes cried

I'm here

In the sadness of a life

We'll forget

In my room I slip away

And vanish softly

And France

Telling me my dreams

My childhood

In the café downstairs, she gets drunk

And collapses in silence

And the sea

That loves us, that finishes us

In her salt dress

I see her bow

Dragging herself

And standing back up

Lying in the dark

I remember that house

Under the trees

You came home at night

Drunk with caresses

And with women

We listened

Ave Maria

To the radio then you'd fall asleep

In the hollow of my arms

You know well though

That I loved you

Despite everything, despite that

The booze flowed

Along your dreams

Along our sheets

You smiled at me

Gratia Plena

Then you left

Like a bird that flies off

That goes away

I'm here

In the sadness of a life

We'll forget

In my room I slip away

And vanish softly

And France

Telling me my dreams

My childhood

In the café downstairs she gets drunk

And collapses in silence

And the sea

That loves us, that finishes us

In her salt dress I see her

Bowing, dragging herself

And standing back up

And the sea

I would've so wanted

You to hold me

In your arms and tell me

My love I'm here

Forever and ever with you

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SONG MEANING

La Mer paints a bittersweet portrait of a young woman who drifts between sacred hymns and stormy memories. From the quiet of her convent room she hears the nuns’ Ave Maria, yet she dances in the dark to drown out hidden tears. Childhood flashes by: a dust-covered city, her mother’s kitchen tales of the Virgin Mary, and the ever-present hum of France itself, buzzing with cafés, dreams, and quiet heartbreaks. All the while, the sea hovers in the background like a mysterious companion—sometimes comforting, sometimes merciless—its “robe of salt” mirroring life’s mix of tenderness and pain.

Cécile Grace then shifts to a tender love story that unravels under the weight of alcohol and unkept promises. A lover stumbles home, lulled to sleep by Ave Maria on the radio, only to vanish “like a bird.” Left behind, the narrator slips into solitude, trying to disappear as France and the sea echo her own rise, fall, and resilience. The song is a poetic blend of faith, nostalgia, and longing—a reminder that, like the sea, we are held, broken, and lifted again by the same waves.

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Cécile Grace La Mer Lyrics