| Ma chérie | My cherished one, |
| Rien n’est plus fort que c’qui nous unit | Nothing on earth outweighs the force that binds our souls, |
| Attends-moi, je vais revenir | Wait for me, I shall return through dusk’s uncertain veil, |
| On aura un plus bel avenir, plus bel avenir | We shall inherit brighter dawns yet unimagined, brighter dawns ablaze, |
| Ma chérie | My cherished one, |
| J’l’ai fait pour nous et pour notre fils | All this—I bore its weight for us, for the son who bears our name, |
| Fallait faire ce sacrifice | This offering, this necessary flame, had to be cast, |
| Ne rien dire à la police, ouh-oh, ah, ah | Speak not a word to those who wield the law—hush, let silence bloom, |
| C’est la dernière fois que j’touche à tout ça | This is the last touch, the close of my shadowed dealings, |
| Fallait que j’paie nos dettes et que j’me refasse | I had to ransom our tomorrows, mend myself from ruin’s husk, |
| J’aimerais qu’cet épisode, de ta mémoire s’efface | If only this chapter could be lifted like fog from your remembrance, |
| Khlass, ghanim passé | Khlass, ghanim passé—time’s sand swept clean, |
| Bébé, oublie tout ça, ne t’fais plus de soucis | Beloved, cast away that iron weight, let worry fade into embers, |
| Cette séparation, tu la vis mal, moi aussi | This sundering tears at you as it tears at me—a wound beneath the skin, |
| Mais tant qu’on est en vie, crois-moi, on a vu pire | Yet while we walk in breath and light, believe me: we have braved deeper storms, |
| On a vu pire, non n’aie pas peur | We have withstood tempests; cast away that trembling, |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |
| Écoute-moi | Hear me— |
| Faut qu’tu m’croies | You must hold trust for me— |
| J’suis plus comme ça, ah-ah-ah-ah | I am not as I was—ah, let the old self fall away— |
| Non j’suis plus comme ça, ouais j’ai changé | No, that man has vanished; I have shifted shape beneath the stars, |
| J’suis devenu un autre homme quand j’suis sorti | Freed, I found myself remade— |
| Peur qu’tu sois plus là, qu’tu sois partie | A tremor: the fear you are gone, fled beyond my reach, |
| Avec un autre, avec un autre | With another, some other— |
| Et tu sais qu’moi | And you know well that I, |
| Moi, moi sans toi | I—without you— |
| Comme le ciel sans étoiles | Am as the sky abandoned by its constellations, |
| Notre fils a grandi et dans ses yeux brille notre histoire | Our son, grown tall, carries our saga in the lantern of his gaze, |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |
| Moi j’ai compté les jours, eh | I have counted the days, |
| Les heures et les secondes, eh | And the hours and the seconds—each an ash falling, |
| Mais l’passé, c’est le passé | But the past is a river gone from its bed, |
| Bébé, viens m’enlacer | Beloved, come enfold me in your arms, |
| Moi j’ai compté les jours, eh | I have counted the days, |
| Les heures et les secondes, eh | And the hours and the seconds—each an echo fading, |
| Mais l’passé, c’est le passé | But the past is a river gone from its bed, |
| Bébé, viens m’enlacer | Beloved, come enfold me in your arms, |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Bébé, allô | Beloved, answer me— |
| Dis-moi, qu’est-ce qui se passe, qu’est-ce qui se passe? | Tell me, what unrest stirs now, what shadow stirs between us? |