Marianne Lyrics in English Kery James
Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Marianne by Kery James from French to English.
If I told you Martin had a dream
I had a nightmare where every detail scarred me
It's carved in my memory
I bolted upright with that strange feeling
Of not being able to tell reality from the dream
2024, barely two years after little Napoleon got elected President
His Islamophobia's no longer rhetoric
It's a way to govern, it's policy
Meant to great-replace the RN, weaken them and get Emmanuel re-elected
He was just a pawn, everything was planned
At least that's what they thought, but he was elected
The country's on the verge of blowing up
The poor are poorer, the yellow vests are blood red
He crushes the movement brutally
Proves to the naïve you can be xenophobic and liberal
The beggars who trusted him must admit
They've swapped puppets but not master
Little Napoleon doesn't set foot in the provinces anymore
But he pampers the very rich who funded his campaign
The rappers are busted flat
Little Napoleon can't stand that hood music
So he shuts Skyrock down and suddenly, since they ain't making cash anymore
They all go back to conscious rap
Up steps young Maryam, forced by a new law to get renamed Marianne
Heart warmed by faith in an icy France
Marianne's made her choice, she wants to wear the veil
Her folks oppose it, not from conviction
But in this new France when you're Muslim
You gotta hug the walls, stay tiny
Don't show you fast, never say you pray
That day Marianne comes back from university
Her turquoise blue hijab, she had to take it off at the entrance
Then put it back on as she left, headed to the stadium
A moment's escape, running makes her less gloomy
Marianne blows everyone away in the 100 meters
Over that distance in France no girl can match her
But in little Napoleon's republic
Athletes like Marianne get banned from competition
Marianne settles at the back of the bus, pulls a book from her bag
She's supposed to get off at the terminus, she's cramming for her exam
But the bus stays put, Marianne wonders what's up
His heart poisoned, his face made ugly
The driver shows off, turns toward her and says
'Ma'am, this is France
You should keep your beliefs in the private sphere
If you don't like our ways, be coherent
Grab your slippers and your stuff, go back live in Algiers
Yes, I'm talking to you
In this bus you're the only one with a rag on your head
Either you take off your veil or you get off
I won't drive this bus while you're in it'
Those are the words he throws in her face
Misunderstanding and fear disfigure her
Nobody flies to her rescue
Through her, it's Islam they want to settle with
Things spin out, since the bus won't move the riders are on edge
They tell her to get off, hurling rage at her
A woman who calls herself feminist spits right in her face
Marianne feels humiliated, hears bursts of laughter she'll never forget
She struggles under the blows and insults fly
A man rips off her veil before she leaves the bus
The scene gets filmed, posted online
Marianne turns into a symbol, the video goes viral
The fascosphere cuts loose in the comments
Kindness seldom hides in hearts of stone
The country's on edge
We're waiting for the next address
From the president of all the French
Hoping that for once he'll show some compassion
Not a single word for Marianne, nothing
He goes further, pays tribute to Marshal Pétain
Then millions of French pour into the streets
To protest a France they don't recognize anymore
I catch myself thinking we can still be different and French
Hypocrites like Éric Naulleau are kicked out of the march
Accused of complicity, passive racists
The movement's pacifist but disturbed by pro-Napoleonists
On the fringes they assault Lassana
Who'd been forced to change his name, renamed François
François isn't some average Frenchman, the whole country knows his face
'Cause only a few months earlier, at the risk of his life
He'd saved Madame France from a fire
Yet Madame France never hid
That she shared the same ideas as little Napoleon
When she was saved Madame France made her mea culpa
And the naïve believed again in reconciliation
That's the end of a symbol
Drowned in his blood, François lies on the ground
The 'Great Replacement' is no theory anymore
Like in New Zealand it spawns massacres
Lassana's blood makes the cup run over
Worse than 2005, the projects ignite
Identity crews meanwhile get organized
Government lets it happen, France balkanizes
From all over Europe, ultranationalists turn France into a battlefield
Battle-hardened, the weapons stock comes from Ukraine
Where there's war there's gun-running at the cost of our tears of pain
Meanwhile our hoods are boiling
I call for calm but I feel like nobody hears me
Homemade bombs replace the cocktails
The melody the kalash' sing is deadly
Little Napoleon declares a curfew
On his orders the French army moves into the projects
Holed up in the Élysée with a grin on his face
He counts the dead in the civil war he dreamed of
Extremists lying in wait spring into action
They see in this a chance to split the country
Claiming they wanna avenge Muslim blood
They carry out the deadliest attack of the decade
Bodies pile up by the hundreds
I feel helpless faced with so much pain
My hopes for peace vanish
Even the most pacifist folk radicalize
Add to that a new pandemic
Way deadlier than the last one
In a war where we're our own enemies
Where every coming day is way worse than yesterday
I had a nightmare
I've got blood all over my memory
I wake up drenched in sweat
Is the real world any better?
Marianne
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