Le Diable (Ca Va) Lyrics in English Jacques Brel
Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Le Diable (Ca Va) by Jacques Brel from French to English.
Un jour
One day
Un jour le diable vint sur Terre
One day the devil came to Earth
Un jour le diable vint sur Terre
One day the devil came to Earth
Pour surveiller ses intérêts
To keep an eye on his interests
Il a tout vu le diable, il a tout entendu
The devil saw everything, the devil heard everything
Et après avoir tout vu
And after seeing it all
Et après avoir tout entendu
And after hearing it all
Il est retourné chez lui, là-bas
He went back home, over there
Et là-bas, on avait fait un grand banquet
And over there they'd thrown a big banquet
A la fin du banquet, il s'est levé le diable
At the end of the banquet the devil stood up
Il a prononcé un discours
He made a speech
Ça va
It's fine
Il y a toujours un peu partout
There's always, here and there
Des feux illuminant la Terre
Fires lighting up the Earth
Ça va
It's fine
Les hommes s'amusent comme des fous
Men play around like crazies
Au dangereux jeu de la guerre
At the dangerous game called war
Ça va
It's fine
Les trains déraillent avec fracas
Trains crash off the rails with a boom
Parce que des gars pleins d'idéal
Because guys full of ideals
Mettent des bombes sur les voies
Put bombs on the tracks
Ça fait des morts originales
That makes for one-of-a-kind corpses
Ça fait des morts sans confession
That leaves dead with no confession
Des confessions sans rémission
Confessions with no forgiveness
Ça va
It's fine
Rien ne se vend mais tout s'achète
Nothing's for sale yet everything's bought
L'honneur et même la sainteté
Honor and even holiness
Ça va
It's fine
Les États se muent en cachette
States quietly turn themselves
En anonymes sociétés
Into anonymous companies
Ça va
It's fine
Les grands s'arrachent les dollars
The big shots claw at the dollars
Venus du pays des enfants
Coming from the land of kids
L'Europe répète l'Avare
Europe replays The Miser
Dans un décor de mil neuf cent
On a stage set from nineteen-hundred
Ça fait des morts d'inanition
That causes deaths by starvation
Et l'inanition des nations
And the starvation of nations
Ça va
It's fine
Les hommes, ils en ont tant vu
Men have seen so much
Que leurs yeux sont devenus gris
Their eyes have gone gray
Ça va
It's fine
Et l'on ne chante même plus
And nobody even sings anymore
Dans toutes les rues de Paris
In every street of Paris
Ça va
It's fine
On traite les braves de fous
The brave get called crazy
Et les poètes de nigauds
And poets get called fools
Mais dans les journaux de partout
But in papers everywhere
Tous les salauds ont leur photo
Every bastard's got his picture
Ça fait mal aux honnêtes gens
It hurts honest people
Et rire les malhonnêtes gens
And makes the crooked laugh
Ça va, ça va, ça va, ça va
It's fine, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine
Lyrics and Translations Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
JACQUES ROMAIN G. BREL
Did you like this lyrics translation?
Did you know?
In addition to reading lyric translations, you can now learn French with music and lyrics from your favorite artists.
No more boring lessons. You can now learn with engaging and culturally relevant lyrics from the best artists.
Learn French with lessons based on similar songs!
Apple and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
MORE JACQUES BREL
iOS AppAndroid AppWeb LessonsFree PDF WorksheetsJoin ClassroomLyrics TranslationBlogAbout UsBuy as GiftLifetime