Les Goémons Lyrics in English by Serge Gainsbourg
Goémons refers to a type of large seaweed or kelp, often found washed ashore after a storm. It's an uncommon word in everyday French, which makes it distinctive and gives it an almost poetic, old fashioned feel.
In Serge Gainsbourg's song, the word is repeated throughout to symbolize lost loves and faded memories, drifting and tangled like seaweed on the shore. It's a striking natural image used to capture something intangible and emotional.
Serge Gainsbourg’s "Les Goémons" is a really atmospheric song, using the image of seaweed to talk about lost love. He sees "Algues brunes ou rouges Dessous la vague bougent Les goémons" [Brown or red algae Beneath the wave move The seaweed] and immediately connects it to his past relationships. It's a pretty stark comparison, saying "Mes amours leur ressemblent Il n'en reste il me semble Que goémons" [My loves resemble them It seems to me there's nothing left But seaweed]. It's like his past loves are just these discarded, decaying things, much like seaweed that's been pulled from the ocean.
He continues this melancholic theme, describing them as "Que des fleurs arrachées Se mourant comme les Noirs goémons" [Only torn flowers Dying like the Black seaweed] and things "Que l'on prend, que l'on jette Comme la mer rejette Les goémons" [That one takes, that one throws Like the sea rejects The seaweed]. There's a particular memory of a woman, where he remembers her beauty and how she had "la langueur Et le goût et l'odeur Des goémons" [the languor And the taste and the smell Of seaweed]. It's a strange, almost unsettling way to describe someone, but it really sticks with you. He even says he took her innocence "À la sourde cadence Des goémons" [To the muffled rhythm Of the seaweed], which is a pretty blunt and evocative line, tying their intimacy back to this constant, almost indifferent movement of the ocean and its discarded plants.
