Bougez - English Version

[CharlotteL]

I haven't seen anyone try to write down the English lyrics for Bougez so I thought I'd give it a go.

I watched the videos from Amsterdam, Berlin and London and noticed that they all differ slightly in the verses. I wrote down a mixed version of the London and Berlin ones since I didn't understand them as well but they seem similar enough.

Please feel free to correct or add what I didn't understand 

 

 

Amsterdam:

 

Verse 1:
My dearly beloved, we're gathered here

A final ball to face our fears

Now's your chance to save your souls

All you gotta do is dance

 

Verse 2:

I raise my glass with you today

To make a toast à votre santé

To the non-believers, to the moral choir (???)

That tell you never to play with fire

I raise my glass with you today

To make a toast à votre santé

Who cares what language I may speak

When I move my wings, you move your feet

 

Bridge:

Up to the gates of paradise and god, he said to me

Here you're not allowed to dance, you'll rest eternally

I turned him down respectfully and said I'd take my chance

Cause I would rather be in hell where I can freely dance
 

 

London / Berlin:

 

Verse 1:
My dearly beloved, we're gathered here

A final dance to face our fears

On your tvs and on the radio

We hear these words to save our souls

 

Verse 2:

And we all beat from the very same drum (?)

From mother earth to kingdom come

So move your hands and move your feet

Open your heart and let it beat

I raise my glass with you today

To make a toast à votre santé

Who cares what language this bird may speak

When I move my wings, you move your feet

[CharlotteL]

I have to say that I adore these lyrics, they're so funny!!

They're really dark compared to the French ones but so fitting for the apocalypse theme. I'm obsessed with the bridge, it's genius and such a great set-up for the show. And almost feels like a little nod to npih.

And the lyric "who cares what language I / this bird may speak" is so ironic considering it's gotten all of us talking about his choice of singing in English rather than French. But at the end of the day he's right I suppose, no one at the gigs really cares. As long as he moves his wings... we move our feet!!  

 

 

[lormare73]

7 hours ago, CharlotteL said:

I'm obsessed with the bridge, it's genius and such a great set-up for the show.

 

I agree. I like it so much, especially his reply to God. 

Thank you for writing down the lyrics 

[TinyLove_CJ]

I'm really hooked on this version of the song also because of this:

 

8 hours ago, CharlotteL said:

They're really dark compared to the French

I like the dark contrast of the lyrics against the dance theme if the music, really any music like this and I'm bound to love it!

(says a lot about me I think )

 

I wonder if the English version will be released as a single, I certainly hope so!!!

[Kumazzz]

Full song video

 

Bougez in Amsterdam

 

 

Bougez in Berlin ( thanks @Anna Ko Kolkowska )

 

 

Bougez in London

 

 

[SusanT]

As I wrote in another thread, I sent the link for Bougez to the students and teachers of my French class the very first day QTTFT came out as a way of publicizing Mika’s new album.

 

Regarding these lines of the English version . . .

 

Up to the gates of paradise and god, he said to me

Here you're not allowed to dance, you'll rest eternally

I turned him down respectfully and said I'd take my chance

Cause I would rather be in hell where I can freely dance

 

Don’t know why Mika suggests that God (I’m using the name to refer to the divinity in the Bible) should be seen as rejecting dancing. When the Israelites manage to escape being re-enslaved in Exodus, Moses’s sister  leads the women in playing tambourines and dancing, which is regarded as a manifestation of joy  in other biblical books as well. For example, in Jesus’s parable, the prodigal son’s return home is celebrated with music and dancing.

 

Back in 2022 the Italian Cosmopolitan published an interview with Mika in which he said, “Se ci fosse un Dio, questo Dio sarebbe amore” (If there were a God, this God would be love). I like this idea of the divinity better than the suggestion that he/He is a killjoy. Perhaps though Mika’s dig in the English lyrics is directed more at organized religion than at a real or imaginary deity.

 

Getting back to the French Bougez, I prefer the humor of the original which jokes that you’re told continually to move for the sake of your health, even in “paradise.”  

 

 

[Kumazzz]

Bougez in London

 

 

 

[Arianne921]

The English version is also beautiful! Thank you @CharlotteL for this sharing and for the traslation! 

But...It's curious! I have learnt all the songs of French album in French, and now Mika starts to sing them in English...  

I think I have to start all over again, right?   

After all though, you're right, is not important the language which sing it in, it's always amazing! 

 

[Paoletta]