Leila Lyrics in English Indochine

Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Leila by Indochine from French to English.
Here's Leïla's story
That took place way over there
In the desert of Nordic snows
Was abandoned by her parents
Taken in by Jampo the Lapp
She grew up right beside him
Taken in by Jampo the Lapp
She grew up right beside him
And I want her in my arms
In a very, very cold setting
A Lapp girl in a pulka
Who slips into the woods
She's yours, Leïla
That girl with delicate charm
In the snow-frozen mountains
He taught her the Lapp life
The prettiest girl in the region
It was Leïla's sixteenth birthday
So Jampo decided
He introduced a handsome Lapp to her
But she didn't want him
Feeling too young for life
And I want her in my arms
In a very, very cold setting
A Lapp girl in pulkas
Who slips into the woods
She's yours, Leïla
That girl with delicate charm
I, Magdalena, want to say hi to my mom and my dad
And my big brother
And to my grandma in Skåne and the whole clan and all the buddies
She paddled downstream in her canoe
All the rapids in the country
Not caring about all the dangers
She becomes a liberated Lapp
Not caring about the gossip
She becomes the queen of all the Lapps
And that's how Leïla
Became the legend of a very cold land
And I want her in my arms
In a very, very cold setting
A Lapp girl in pulkas
Who slips into the woods
She's yours, Leïla
That girl with delicate charm
She's yours, Leïla
That girl with delicate charm
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SONG MEANING

Leïla whisks us away from Indochine’s Parisian roots to the snow-covered vastness of Lapland, telling a modern fairy-tale set to shimmering 80s synths. Orphaned in the “desert of northern snows,” the heroine is adopted by the kindly Sami hunter Jampo, who teaches her the rugged rhythms of life on sleds, skis and canoes. By the time she turns sixteen, her beauty and spirit have already become legendary, yet she refuses the traditional marriage Jampo arranges. Instead, Leïla chooses adventure: she steers her canoe through wild rapids, slips through forests on her pulka sled and wins the hearts of an entire people.

The song balances romance with empowerment. The singer repeatedly dreams of holding Leïla “in my arms,” but the lyrics celebrate her independence far more than any rescue fantasy. With a playful Swedish radio shout-out dropped into the middle, Indochine hints that this is more catchy pop myth than strict folklore. Ultimately, Leïla becomes “the queen of all the Lapps,” a symbol of self-determination who turns icy landscapes into a stage for freedom, courage and youthful rebellion.

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