Translation of the song lyrics Le vent - René Aubry

Le vent (original)

Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent fripon*
Prudenc', prends garde à ton jupon*
Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent maraud*
Prudent, prends garde à ton chapeau
Les jean-foutre* et les gens probes*
Médis'nt* du vent furibond
Qui rebrouss'* les bois, détrouss'* les toits, retrouss'* les robes
Des jean-foutre* et des gens probes*
Le vent, je vous en réponds
S’en soucie*, et c’est justic', comm' de colin-tampon*
Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent fripon*
Prudenc', prends garde à ton jupon*
Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent maraud*
Prudenc', prends garde à ton chapeau
Bien sûr, si l’on ne se fonde
Que sur ce qui saute aux yeux
Le vent semble une brut' raffolant* de nuire à tout l’monde
Mais une attention profonde
Prouv' que c’est chez les fâcheux*
Qu’il préfèr' choisir les victimes de ses petits jeux
Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent fripon*
Prudenc', prends garde à ton jupon*
Si, par hasard
Sur l’Pont des Arts
Tu croises le vent, le vent maraud*
Prudenc', prends garde à ton chapeau

Le vent (translation)

Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a sly and puckish prince—
Beware, my prudent one, your skirt may not keep.
Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a vagrant, cunning knave—
Be wary, wise one, lest your hat take flight.
The wastrel brood and all the righteous ranks
Malign the wind, tempestuous in its spite,
That routs the forest, tumbles rooftop slates, and ruffles silks—
Both knaves and earnest folk alike,
The wind, I pledge, I know its many guises—
It heeds them little, and justly so, like Colin-Tampon’s jest.
Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a sly and puckish prince—
Beware, my prudent one, your skirt may not keep.
Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a vagrant, cunning knave—
Beware, my prudent one, lest your hat take flight.
Of course, if one sees only what the eye collects,
If dazzled by the surface of each fleeting thing,
The wind appears a brute, delighting to vex, to harry all beneath its wing.
Yet look with keener sense, in thoughtful, deeper gaze,
And proof emerges: among the dour and dourer kind,
It loves to choose its playthings for its idle maze.
Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a sly and puckish prince—
Beware, my prudent one, your skirt may not keep.
Should fortune lead you, by some winding chance,
Upon the Bridge of Arts, that suspended sweep,
If you meet the wind—a vagrant, cunning knave—
Beware, my prudent one, lest your hat take flight.