La Bohème Lyrics in English L.E.J.

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song La Bohème by L.E.J. from French to English.

I'm talking about a time

that people under twenty

can't know

Montmartre back then

hung up its lilacs

right beneath our windows

And if the humble room

that served us as a nest

didn't look like much

that's where we met

I was starving

and you posed nude

Bohemia

it meant

we're happy

Bohemia

We ate

only every other day

In the nearby cafés

there were a few of us

waiting for fame

And though penniless

with empty bellies

we never stopped believing

And when some bar

for a good hot meal

took one of our canvases

we recited verses

gathered around the stove

forgetting winter

Bohemia

it meant

we're happy

Bohemia

We ate

only every other day

I often used to

in front of my easel

spend sleepless nights

touching up the drawing

of the line of a breast

the curve of a hip

And only in the morning

did we finally sit down

over a café crème

exhausted but thrilled

we must've loved each other so

and loved life

Bohemia

it meant

You're pretty

Bohemia

and we had

we all had genius

Bohemia

it meant

we're happy

Bohemia

We ate

only every other day

When by chance one day

I go for a stroll

to my old address

I don't recognize anymore

the walls or the streets

that saw my youth

At the top of a staircase

I look for the studio

of which nothing's left

In its new decor

Montmartre seems sad

and the lilacs are dead

Bohemia

it meant

we're happy

Bohemia

We ate

only every other day

Bohemia

We were young

we were crazy

Bohemia

It doesn't mean

anything at all

Did you like these lyrics?

SONG MEANING

La Bohème invites us to wander back to Paris in the days when painters, poets, and dreamers filled the steep streets of Montmartre with color and hope. The singer remembers a tiny, shabby room that felt like a bird’s nest of creativity: he was a starving artist, she was a nude model, and together they lived on coffee, lilacs, and big dreams. Money was scarce, meals were skipped, yet happiness overflowed because every brushstroke, poem, and friendship promised future glory.

Years later he returns, only to find the old studio vanished and the lilacs gone. Success might have arrived, but the carefree spirit of la vie bohème has faded. This bittersweet contrast—joyful past versus changed present—reminds us that true wealth can be found in passion, love, and youthful madness rather than in comfort or fame.

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L.E.J. La Bohème Lyrics