Sympathique

I agree that the prostitute take is interesting, but I more get the feeling she's been hurt and now spurns love. The flowers are only a reminder of what she once had and is now made sick by their scent, the memory of that love.

I think she HAS enjoyed true intimacy and is now tortured by its absence. I also think it's a bit of a stretch to assume she's selling her body just because she doesn't want to go to work, or isn't proud of her life. I hate coming to work daily, but because I feel like I've sold my soul... not my body. ;)

Translated into english that means:

My room is a cage The sun streams through the window, the bellhops are at my door like those little soldiers who want to take me away.

I don't want to work, I don't want to lunch I only want to forget and so I smoke.

Long ago I knew the smell of love, a million roses didn't smell as sweet. Now a single flower in my way makes me sick.

Chorus

I am not proud if this life that wants to kill me. It's magnificent to be sympatico but I have never known this.

Chorus

I always thought the bridge/2nd chorus was "c'est magnifique et tres sympathique" ("It's magnificent and very nice"). I could be wrong, but it makes more sense, i think.

it's so sad everyone here (I just moved cross country) seems to have not heard of Pink Martini and I have taken it upon myself to enlighten them - this is really the best song, French is so beautiful.

magnifique !!

I got the lyrics off of their website so I assume that they had it right.

etre is right, I think. this song is fantastic

this song is great i luv it i heard it in french class and i luved ever since

my french friend played this song once and i totally liked it although i didn't know what it means.. i'm taking french now and finally i can understand. the feeling is great!

btw someone used this song as a background song to a video showing zidane's infamous headbutt on materrazzi. it was on youtube then, not sure if it's still there though.

In terms of that translation, it was more or less correct. However, "chasseurs" translates to "hunters", not "bellhops". And 'sympatico' is not a word in English.

"Etre" is the correct lyric, not "et tres". Thus, it means "It is wonderful to be nice/likable, but I have never known it." (ie: she has never known what it's like to be nice or sweet).

Also, the translation "The sun streams through the window" doesn't fully capture the poetic intentions of that lyric. A better translation would be "The sun passes his arm by the window".

Now that we know what it says, let's talk about what it means.

Think about these points and what it says about what kind of a woman she must be. . .

1) The scent of roses, which represent love, has been tainted to her and now makes her sick. (She clearly has negative associations with love. She is unable to enjoy true intimacy. . .perhaps because of negative experiences related to intimacy?)

2) She doesn't see her self as nice, sweet, or refined (all acceptable translations of 'sympathique').

3) Her reflections on the fact that her lifestyle is going to kill her. She's clearly not proud of what she's doing.

4) She doesn't want to 'work'. What line of work do you suppose she's in that makes her disgusted with her self?

5) She just wants to forget about work and smoke. (Smoking...what one does after sex)

5)Her bedroom, like a cage.

6) The men, like hunters, want to take her.

C'mon folks. It's so clear -- she's a prostitute!