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(Not to be confused with Hector Zazou's song with the same title.)

French it's not my first language and trying to write the lyrics down by listening may not be a realistic option for me. Has anyone got them?

Update

The song was made for the 1989 TV series Bonne Espérance. My memory about its plot is very patchy. Jacques Beauvilliers has a farming estate called Bonne Espérance in south of Africa. He has 3 daughters and an illegitimate son Jean-Jacques with a slave. He catches them bullying him, he goes all protective about the boy (and the slave mother), while girls swear with blood to take revenge on the boy. Don't remember much after that. The boy grows up. Out of 3 girls, only one (I think Clara) still wants that revenge, reminding other 2 they swore it with blood.

Spoiler:

Clara arranges so Jean-Jacques gets killed. Jacques tells her the killer would be punished by death. She grows old and unhappy.

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8
  • For what it's worth, the song appears to have been composed by Franklin for the TV series "Bonne Espérance", 1989. Karen Tungay is listed as the singer.
    – Angst
    Apr 20, 2016 at 18:43
  • That's right. It plays through the closing credits of each episode. I've also found out that lyrics were written by Jean Pierre Lang (I'd ask him if I could, haha). All this I've only found on very few websites, but almost nothing on major sites like Wikipedia, YouTube and IMDB.
    – Heimdall
    Apr 21, 2016 at 9:49
  • If you could point to an online recording, I'd offer to try and note down the lyrics from that. Jean Pierre Lang is still alive (aged 79) , so I guess contacting him is an option, although I don't know how you would. Article in FR wikipedia says he wrote the words for Céline Dion's first national/international hit, which I didn't know.
    – Angst
    Apr 29, 2016 at 18:36
  • That would be great! You can listen to it on drive.google.com/open?id=0B6OVMb9KoGR7M3RLSXJXQ2JBa0U
    – Heimdall
    Apr 30, 2016 at 3:46
  • thanks. Very haunting, I can see why you like it.
    – Angst
    Apr 30, 2016 at 8:14

2 Answers 2

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2
+50

J'ai vu le jour du côté des manguiers

Sur la terre de mon père

J'ai vu toujours mes parents travailler

Près des bougainvilliers

Ici chacun vit ou meurt

Et bâtit des barrières

Suivant l'ombre et la couleur

Suivant la lumière

Pourquoi faut-il du côté des manguiers

qu'il y ait cet air de fête ?

Moi, certains jours, j'ai envie de pleurer

Sous les bougainvilliers

Mon amour est un garçon

Que va prendre la guerre

Quand on sait, me faut-il donc

S'enfuir ou se taire ?

Alors j'écris du côté des manguiers

Mon journal solitaire

J'écris ma vie et mon coeur déchiré

Près des bougainvilliers

J'écris que le monde est fou

Que les hommes sont bêtes

J'écris notre pire amour

Et mes joies secrètes

Un jour, qui sait, du côté des manguiers

Tomberont les barrières

Et notre vie sera moins compliquée

Près des bougainvilliers

Près de mon cahier, ce soir

Où ma tête se penche

C'est la fin, je te reçois

Ma dernière, je planche

ENGLISH

I saw the day (was born) down by the mango trees

On a land of my father

I always saw my parents work

Near bougainvillea

Here everyone lives or dies

And builds fences

following shadow and color

following light

Why is there down by the mango trees

this air of celebration?

Some days I feel like crying

Under the bougainvillea

My love is a boy

that will be taken by the war

When you know, what should you do?

Run away or be silent?

So I write down by the mango trees

My lonely diary

I write my life and my torn heart

Near the bougainvillea

I write that the world is crazy

That men are beasts

I write love our worst

And my secret joys

One day, who knows, down by the mango trees

Fences will fall

And our life will be less complicated

Near bougainvillea

Near my notebook tonight

Where my head leans

This is the end, I get you

My last, I hesitate

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2
  • ah, I wondered if mangoes came into it. this looks like a good answer. Chapeaux bas !
    – Angst
    May 5, 2016 at 17:44
  • Thank you for both answers (here and on FB). I don't quite get the last two lines (in either language).
    – Heimdall
    May 5, 2016 at 21:45
2 
"Sous les Bougainvilliers"
lyrics : (c) Jean-Pierre Lang
music  : (c) Serge Franklin

From the version sung by Karen Tungay 
used in the French TV series 
"Bonne Espérance", 1989

lyrics transcribed by Angst, Heimdall, ...

Work in progress. Lines with a . at the start are doubtful. Either not sure of words or sure of the words, but the meaning seems strange.

(used Audacity http://www.audacityteam.org/ to mess with the tempo, pitch etc to hear the words better)

(FR)
.J'ai vu le jour de côté des monnayés
Sur la terre de mon père
.J'ai vu toujours mes barques entrebaillées
Près des bougainvilliers

Ici chaque filou meurt
Et bâtit des barrières
Suivant l'ombre et la couleur
Suivant la lumière
.Pourquoi faut-il du beauté des manqués
.Qui veille cet air de fête ?
Quoi, certains jours, j'ai envie de pleurer
Sous les bougainvilliers

Mon amour est un garçon
Que va prendre la guerre
.Contons, hein, me faut-il donc
S'enfuir ou se taire ?
.Alors j'écris de beauté des manqués
Mon journal solitaire
J'écris ma vie et mon coeur déchiré
Près des bougainvilliers

J'écris que le monde est fou
Que les hommes sont bêtes
J'écris notre pire amour
Et mes joies secrètes

.Un jour, qui sait, de beauté, des manqués 
Tombent hors les barrières
Et notre vie sera moins compliquée
Près des bougainvilliers

Aide-moi, cahier, ce soir
Où ma tête se penche
.C'est la main, je te reçois
.Ma dernière queue je planche
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4
  • I've made some attempt, too. Mine is much worse in places, but... First line: "de beauté des manqués" or "de côté demander"? To me it doesn't sound like B (beauté) but like K (côté?). Also, I don't hear the K sound that would be in manqués. The end of the third line I made "mais va qu'on travailler". I have no idea which one looks better/right. Ici chaque (à?) filou meurt - missing the A sound. I made "Ici chaque avis ouvert". Pourquoi - what I said about first line. "cet air" - I made "sa terre". Mon amour - I made "... est un garçon". 2 lines down I made "Quand on c'est vos faut il dent"
    – Heimdall
    May 2, 2016 at 2:35
  • Alors j'écris - what I said about the first line. I haven't even attempted anything beyond this stanza, but my comments for the rest: ".Un jour" - what I said about the first line. Before "les barrières" I miss something sounding like "-oeur ou"
    – Heimdall
    May 2, 2016 at 2:51
  • In sung French, final 'e' is sounded unless next word begins with a vowel so "chaque" would have 2 syllables. I went through a lot of different vesions of line 1 and line 3, and still not 100% sure. Clearly this will be a work in progress for some time. Any clues in the subject of "Bonne Espérance" to some of the content in the song ? imdb says the series was about "3 generations of a French family in S Africa"
    – Angst
    May 2, 2016 at 7:59
  • I've added to the question what I remember about the series. Not sure whether or not any of it is relevant to the song. Also, instead of "J'ai vu" and "J'écris" I thought it said "J'ai cri", but I'm probably wrong. I had attempted to transcribe the lyrics using speech recognition software, that's how I got the fragments I mentioned in the 2 comments above.
    – Heimdall
    May 3, 2016 at 1:51

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