Sweet Candies of the Past

Renaud - Mistral Gagnant (1985)

This the most famous song of Renaud (the tenderhearted rebel of French music) about himself telling his childhood to his daughter. The title of the song refers to a candy popular in the 70s, which could be "winning" (you got a new one for free). The rapper Booba sampled the song on his hit Pitbull.

The translation was requested in the comments of the blog, so don't hesitate to ask. I would do it (if I like the song) and it gives me ideas for upcoming post.

Lyrics of Mistral Gagnant

To seat on a bench for 5 minutes with you
Looking at the people as long as there are some
To tell you the good times which are dead or will be
Shaking in my hand your lil’ fingers
Then to feed silly pigeons
And to kick them for fake
And hear your laugh which cracks the wall
And can cure my injuries
To tell you a little how I was when I was a kid
The wonderful candies we used to rob at the shopkeeper
Car-en-sac and Minto, one franc fudge
And the winning mistral

To walk under the rain, for 5 minutes with you
And looking at the life as long as there's still some
To tell you the Earth, while eating you with my eyes
To tell you a little about your mom
And jump in the puddles to make her moans
To smash up our shoes and laugh
And to hear your laugh like some hears the sea
To stop and go back backward
Most of all, to tell you, the old carambars and the coco bohèmes
And the real roudoudous which cut our lips
And ruined our teeths
And the winning mistrals

To seat on a bench for 5 minutes with you
And looking at the sun fading away
To tell you about the good old days which are dead and I don’t care
To tell you that the bad guys are not us
That if I am nuts, it’s only of your eyes
Which have the advantage to be two
And to hear your laugh, flying off as high
As the calls of the birds fly off
To tell you at last that you’ve got to love life
And love it even Time is a murderer
And to take with it the laughs of children
And the winning mistrals
And the winning mistrals