Dan rij ik naar Parijs en onder een brug trakteer ik alle clochards op wijn en op drugs

Met dit zinnetje begon een discussie op msn met een Fransman. Hij dacht dat ik een statement maakte over de Franse politiek. Toen ik hem uitlegde dat het een zinnetje was van een liedje van Bart Peeters, begonnen we muziek uit te wisselen. (Intussen hield hij vol dat het politiek gezien nog zo geen slecht idee zou zijn.) Hij liet me later weten dat hij het moeilijk vond het liedje te appreciëren omdat hij geen clue had van wat er gezegd werd. Daarop zond ik hem een mail met een poging tot een vertaling van en een apologie voor het liedje. Uittreksels hieronder.

all because of you

if one day you left me
then i would let you go
if no way to talk it over existed

then i will get lost in the cold
and that would then be all your fault
then i would get myself drunk each day
and only eat chocolate anymore

did i ever admit to you
that i suffer from fear of desertion
being honest lasts, although it is only shortly
the longest

then i will get lost in the cold
and that would then be all your fault
then i would get myself drunk each day
and only eat chocolate anymore

then the chickens don't get food
and the cats don't get fodder
then the decadence is lurking with wet lips
i live off biscuits and whisky
off gin and beer
i hook it, i hook it
i go on the loose forever

wa! then i buy a porsch
or such a bad jaguar
i call myself benoit or i call myself george
and i dye my hair blond
then i drive to paris
and under a bridge
i stand all clochards
wine and drugs

if one day you left me
then i would for sure let you go
if no way to talk it over existed

then i will get lost in the cold
and that would then be all your fault
then i would soak myself each day
and only eat chocolate anymore

then i chat up bad chicks
moreover, get them pregant
and then when those whenches give birth
i don't even want to see them babies
i put black ants with red ones
until no single one survives
and i tell all children that santa
has terminal cancer

i infiltrate in the zoo
inject heroine in a giraffe
i only visit old spinsters
and wheedle their legacy out of them
i take my brains out of service
i like all the dingy jokes
i vote for zero tolerance
and buy a kalashnikov

if ever you left me
then i will really let myself go
if no way to solve it existed...

this singer, bart peeters, is a famous presenter on the flemish public tv channel. i can't stand his way of presenting. it is as if he is acting a role all the time, he makes stupid jokes, get's his own level so low and moreover, has a really irritating voice. but many people like him. in fact, he is quite popular. although only few people know he is a singer too. this means that he is not profiting on his reputation of tv presenter. he is a singer because he likes writing songs and singing. and he has a special talent for it too, although he will never admit that. as a singer, he has got a good deal of the begian modesty. his first cd was called: "the little disc of bart peeters", suggesting it was just an occasional recording of what he is occupied with in his leisure time. most of the songs on this disc were about his personal life, often very touching but still down-to-earth and in simple language, just the product of honest emotional flows. (and when i say emotional, i don't mean sentimental, but moving in a rather dry way) 'allemaal door jou' is from his second cd, which is called 'smarter than the singer'. the first song is the title track and gives a number of instances in which the song is smarter than the singer who never learns from his mistakes and won't take good advice. it is so recognizable to all people who are honest with themselves.
i think i made the point now that the songs of this exceptional singer are very down-to-earth samples from the daily life of a self-respecting, yet self-knowing, (self-)critical intelligent and life-enjoying reflecting human being. yet, each song on its own is original in topic as well as in language and music. the song "allemaal door jou" expresses, as i told you before, the singer's fear of the possible moment when his wife would leave him. it is not a love song, yet it expresses love, it is not a melancholically sad song, yet, it expresses melancholy and it is not a joke, yet unmistakingly funny. moreover, it expresses also fear, threatening, desperateness, realism. but above all, it is so honest, so plausible (although the deeds he suggests are exaggerated, it's the feeling that matters and that is not exaggerated at all).

Ik vond dat het liedje het best waard was dit op het www te zetten. Wat vinden jullie van het liedje, voor hen die het kennen en voor hen die het niet kennen: probeer er aan te geraken voor bovenstaande redenen!