• Waking Up As A Free Country

    Music & lyrics by Ingrid Courrèges translated by Ey@el

    Original en français

    I'm taking up the presidential challenge!

    The aim is to get 10 million views to force President Macron to invite me at the Élysée. I'll take this opportunity to sing him this little song expressing all OUR demands without resorting to neither arms nor violence.

    Spare no effort !!! Come on, go and share massively! I'm counting on you. Also, my friends, please, do not reupload. You need to share directly from this page otherwise it won't work.

    Thank you for your support. Hang in there! I love you.

    Ingrid

    No, Ingrid does not pay me to promote her videos — even though I thank her for following me on my spare Twitter account (the first got suspended during the great purge in January). I know I don't usually share two music videos in a row (especially of the same artist), but it is a rather urgent matter and it's for a very good reason. So even if you're not French, please, go to Ingrid's channel on YouTube and share this pastiche cover of Charles Aznavour's "Emmenez-moi" to help her reach her target.

    Ey@el

    Libres au réveil

    – Good morning Mr. President!
    – Oh, you know the President?
    – No, but you know, it's about his challenge to YouTubers.
    – Yes, he did ask YouTubers to promote barrier gestures for free.
    – Oh!
    – And altogether, a cheap way to boost his popularity.
    – Sure, it's all about the forthcoming election.
    – Also given what happens to former presidents1, he'd better watch out his expenses.
    – So he asked youths to make a video.
    – For free!
    – Yes, but in return they will be invited at the Élysée!
    – Ah, so you want to go sing your song at the Élysée? You're not supposed to sing it in the street?
    – Yes, but it's because all the other venues have been closed.
    – Wait, there's a long way to go! You need to make ten million views. You need people to share, share...
    – Ah, it must be a lot of sharing!
    – So Mr. President, this song is about your barrier gestures to our freedoms which have been going on for months. If I can get ten million views as promised, I agree to come and sing this little popular ditty directly to you. Is that okay for you? And also, you don't want to miss the little extra in the end.
    – Here we go!

    Our world today is in shock.
    We're in a state of chaos,
    Every Tuesday they report new variants
    Which stay out of the subway.

    Knowing all these students,
    Alone in their campuses,
    Bound by the shackles
    Of their screens, isolated,
    Held hostages.

    And seeing all those
    Crowded department stores,
    Whereas when you want to
    Go for a beer, all you get is
    Vaccine soup.

    While our elderly, all alone,
    Exiled in their nursing homes,
    Are waiting patiently for the final blow
    With a shot of Rivotril.

    Bring me back to the Age of Enlightment.2
    Let's revive this sleeping country.
    And may France stand united
    To wake up as a free country.

    Hey you, ordinary citizen, it's your fault they say
    If there are so many deaths.
    It's been months LCI2 is telling us
    We're in Black Mirror.3

    Archaic measures
    Failing to decide
    To stop the wrecking
    And maiming
    In intensive care units.

    With your so many mistakes,
    We end up missing
    All your predecessors
    Who were no less wrong.
    I'm bagging!

    Stop it with all your fears and doubts
    When it's time to get your shot.
    Have you ever seen them getting off track,
    Urging us to go to the polls?

    Bring me back to the Age of Enlightenment.
    Let's revive this sleeping country.
    And may France stand united
    To wake up as a free country.

    Alone, in your restaurant,
    With tears in your eyes
    When they told you
    You were a danger
    To your customers.

    The days of warm food festivities
    With soulful entertainers,
    And our dreamy souls
    Being carried away,
    All seem long gone.

    They provided us with shackles
    And lost the key.
    “Watch TV
    And look at the figures!
    They tell us boldly.

    No more need for 49.3,4
    They got Covid 19.
    Will we have to go and take back our rights
    Like we did in '89?5

    Bring me back to the Age of Enlightenment.
    Let's revive this sleeping country.
    It won't be Voltaire's fault6
    If we're less peaceful when we wake up.

    Bring me back to the Age of Enlightenment.
    Let's revive this sleeping country.
    And may France stand united
    To wake up as a free country.

    Bring me back to the Age of Enlightenment.
    Let's revive this sleeping country.
    And may France stand united
    To wake up as a free country.
    It won't be Voltaire's fault
    If we're less peaceful when we wake up.

    © Ingrid Courrèges & Florian Martinez, 2021

    Translated from French by Ey@el
    © lapensinemutine.eklablog.com

    Endnotes

    1. ^ Former French president Sarkozy has just been sentenced to three years in prison for corruption and influence peddling.
    2. ^ The Age of Enlightenment is a reference to The Lumières (the Enlighteners), a cultural, philosophical, literary and intellectual movement beginning in the second half of the 17th century, originating in France and spreading throughout Europe. It included philosophers such as Spinoza, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Newton...
    3. ^ LCI is a French news TV channel.
    4. ^ Black Mirror is a British dystopian science fiction anthology television series.
    5. ^ With article 49.3 of the French Constitution which allows them to impose the adoption of a text by the Assembly, immediately and without a vote, the governments of the Fifth Republic are stronger than ever as it allows them to compel the majority if reluctant to adopt a text, and also to accelerate the legislative process, and in particular to end any obstruction from the opposition.
    6. ^ 1789, the year of the French Revolution.
    7. ^ A famous line from French musical Les Misérables based on Victor Hugo's eponymous novel.

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