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Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile.
And I'll gamble away my fright.
And I'll gamble away my time.
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well, it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
Nobody raise your voices
Just another night in Nantes
Nobody raise your voices
Just another night in Nantes
We saw,
Parl�© en fran�§ais (Extrait de "Le M�©pris"/Godard)
Ah non, j't'en prie. Mais �§o(�§a), �§a me facine
Je t'assure que
Non! Laisse-moi!
Qu'est-ce que tu as aujourd'hui?
J'ai que les hommes me d�©go�»tent.
Vous pensez qu'� �§a.
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile.
And I'll gamble away my fright.
And I'll gamble away my time.
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well, it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
Since I've seen you smile.
And I'll gamble away my fright.
And I'll gamble away my time.
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well, it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
Nobody raise your voices
Just another night in Nantes
Nobody raise your voices
Just another night in Nantes
We saw,
Parl�© en fran�§ais (Extrait de "Le M�©pris"/Godard)
Ah non, j't'en prie. Mais �§o(�§a), �§a me facine
Je t'assure que
Non! Laisse-moi!
Qu'est-ce que tu as aujourd'hui?
J'ai que les hommes me d�©go�»tent.
Vous pensez qu'� �§a.
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile.
And I'll gamble away my fright.
And I'll gamble away my time.
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well, it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
Lyrics submitted by bollywoodtoile
Track duration: 03:50
"Nantes" as written by Zach Condon
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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«Well it's been a long time, long time now / since I've seen you smile.»
If the author meant to mentioned an aspect of the person that he misses, I think saying «since I've seen your smile» seems clearer. Following my interpretation, it seems the relationship has soured to the point where there is not much happiness left and no one is doing much smiling.
«And I'll gamble away my fright / and I'll gamble away my time.»
The author is apprehensive to leave, but stays in the relationship due to fear of ending it and some hope that it might get better.
«And in a year, a year or so / this will slip into the sea.»
The author really knows, however, that the relationship is slowly eroding, and it will eventually collapse into the sea.
«Oh non je t'en prie, nous ne sommes pas chez nous.
Oh je t'assures que ce n'est pas grave.
Non laisse-moi !
Mais qu'est-ce que tu as aujourd'hui?
J'ai que les hommes me dégoutent. Vous ne pensez qu'à ça»
The excerpt in French emphasizes the aspect of an unhappy relationship.
«Nobody raise your voices / just another night in Nantes.»
This is the most depressing line, I feel. The author has resigned himself to his fate. He finds no reason to celebrate or be boisterous, life just continues as usual. I imagine the author drinking someplace surrounding by people having a good time unable to enjoy himself due to the sorry situation he finds himself in.
It's been a long time since I've seen your smile
"smile" refers to the beauty of the city, and the man is visiting the city after a long time.
I'll gamble away my fright, I'll gamble my time
suggests that his worries and concerns go away whilst in this town, and that his time runs out quickly (referring to how quick money is lost in an actual gambling situation)
In a year, a year, or so this will slip into the sea
suggests that in about a year, the man will return to his former location and his joy and happiness will "slip" away, and he will live again his old (miserable?) conditions once more
Nobody raise your voices, just another night in Nantes
suggests that one should not yell as there are people sleeping, and the town is quiet; a beauty seen in Nantes perhaps, as opposed to the busy streets of Paris?
As for the French conversation, I have no clue.
Perhaps my interpretation may open some views on the song.
It sounds to me as though the narrator's lady friend left him a while ago, and he's reminiscing about her smile. He's dealing with the breakup by gambling and living indulgently hoping that eventually he'll be in a better place.
But I also am taking my cues from sources outside of the song too. The whole "nobody raise your voices- just another night in Nantes" part sounds a lot like that line, "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Which make me feel like this isn't a hopeful song at all.
And, if this song can be at all connected to the feeling of the take-away show and a few other songs on the album, and the french film quoted in the song, it seems like the lady might have left him for his bad behavior in the first place. The whole trope of the drunk, womanizing french sailor, gambling away his money and time.
Also, in one live version, he very specifically changed the line "gambling away my fright" to "gambling away my friends", which leads me to feel even more as though he was messing with the idea of a man in a sort of downward spiral.
And of course the strongest part, Zach's voice.
possibly, it can also be a love story. i think the narrator is a WW2 soldier in Nantes possibly missing his lover back home
I love the live version of this on LA BLOGOTHEQUE. Plus the violinist girl is way cute.
I was just thinking that the last line in the song could serve as a doppelganger. It could mean two things: the first explanation which I mentioned above and also as a statement to himself. While in the state of mind he is in at the end of the ordeal, he realizes that he himself has not smiled in years. The former gives us a sense of hope at the end of it all and the latter, a sense of hopelessness. There could be two ends to the story and based on how it resonates with the listener, you decide his fate.
Listening to this song was like the first time I appreciated Shakespeare (which was Macbeth junior year =p). I've never done this before, but I felt compelled to try to analyze the song for myself. I was listening to it right before I was to start working on blogs, and I felt I needed to write something about it.
The band apparently is the solo project of a man named Zachary Condon who is the sole creative force in the group and it's vocalist. Each song on the album is meant to evoke a different French city, in this case Nantes. Each city, in turn, represents a certain story that embodies, what Condon believes, to be the spirit of the city. The normal musical arrangement of the band focuses on the Ukelele, but for this album Condon began to take on musical instruments and styling inspired by French Chanson music which is any lyric driven French song. The other main stylistic influence of the album comes from a musician named Jacques Brel who is not widely known in English speaking countries because his music was done almost exclusively in French. His influence on American music was wide though, with artists such as David Bowie, Ray Charles, The Dresdon Dolls, Frank Sinatra, and Dusty Springfield.
As for the inspiration for the album, Condon cites a hot air balloon festival in the early 1900's in Paris. It was also influenced by a photo from the World's Fair, one of the first color photos ever made, that depicts all of these hot air balloons about to ascend in the middle of Paris. Condon found the photo to be stunning and one of the most surreal images he had ever seen.
Now that the the sound and material of the album is understood, I feel I can examine the song.
"Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
And I'll gamble away my fright
And I'll gamble away my time
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile"
This is the first stanza of the song. I believe the song to be about World War II, specifically an American soldier who is traveling to France by boat. Nantes is very very close to the Atlantic coast and soldiers there would have arrived by sea. He has arrived to Nantes and is thinking about the woman he left behind on the home-front. Her smile gets him through the hell he must witness. He is frightened by what he sees and in his spare time he beds with another woman (explained in the chorus). "...in a year or a year or so" means that whenever the war is over, he feels that everything he has done in Nantes, both the war and his affair, will be absolved by the sea. He finishes by once again, reflecting on his loved ones smile.
"Nobody raise your voices
Just another night to mourn to
Nobody raise your voices
Just another night to mourn to"
This is the chorus to the song. The line "Nobody raise your voices" could mean two things. Either he is so sickened by his transgression that he doesn't want anybody to be too loud, should his lover hear his sin from all the way across the Atlantic. He could also be trying to rationalize his actions, by stating that what he is doing is no reason for anybody to get upset or "raise their voices" he is just doing what he must to survive the horror of war. Whatever it may be, his actions have become habit for him now and possibly an addiction. He feels helpless to control this fate that has been set for him, and although he realizes that these nights are in need of mourning, he feels like a bystander in his life unable to control the outcome.
- Oh non je t'en prie, nous ne sommes pas chez nous.
- Oh je t'assures que ce n'est pas grave.
- Non laisse moi!
- Mais qu'est-ce que tu as aujourd'hui?
- Je sais que les hommes me dégoutent. Vous ne pensez qu'à ça...
Translation:
(-Oh no please, we're not at home.
-I'm telling you, it's allright.
-No, let me go!
-What is wrong with you today?
-I know the men disgust me. You all just think about one thing...)
This is a recording of a dialogue from the French film La Bête Humaine(1938)("The Human Beast"). The movie is a chilling psychological drama, considered to be ahead of its time, that has become a cult classic. The dialogue mean to represent a specific moment in the main characters life in Nantes. He attempts to redeem sexual favors with his mistress in a place that is public, or at least not "home". It is at this point that he realizes what he has become during his time away from home. War and separation from the things he cherishes have sent him into a state where he can't recognize his former self. This dialogue represents the definitive moment of clarity in his life. He realizes the repercussions of what he has done.
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
And I'll gamble away my fright
And I'll gamble away my time
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well it's been a long time, long time now
Since I've seen you smile
This is the third and final verse of the song. It is an exact repeat of the first, but it takes on a different meaning here. He has been back from the War for some time now, but rather than tell the truth and face his lover so that he may begin anew, he is consumed by guilt and does not see her upon his return. It has thus "been a long time" since he has seen her smile. He wishes to come to terms with his "fright" so that he may face her again but all he has accomplished is to "gamble away my time". He wants time to heal what has occurred, that it will simply "slip into the sea" but he knows in his heart that something that is so profound is not healed by time alone. This is illustrated by the fact that he is unsure of how long it may take(a year or a year or so). It ends with a small sliver of hope. He has fixated on her smile. It is a beacon that through everything, the war, his affair, his depression and loneliness, he could have her again. It isn't just her he wants back, it's his humanity; his soul.
Nantes: Nanh-tuh.