A very entertaining song by Charles Aznavour, based on cross-language puns. A Frenchman tries to court an English-speaking
girl, but his knowledge of the language is very limited. So his English phrases tend to shift phonetically to French. Example: for me ->
formidable (fantastic). Here is the song, with my translation of French words:
For me Formidable
(Charles Aznavour, 1964)
You are the one for me, for me, for me, formidable
fantastic
You are my love very, very, very, véritable
true
Et je voudrais pouvoir un jour enfin te le dire
And I wish I could tell you one day
Te l'écrire
Write you
Dans la langue de Shakespeare
In Shakespeare's language
My Daisy, Daisy, Daisy, désirable
desirable
Je suis malheureux d'avoir si peu de mots
I'm unhappy because I have so few words
À t'offrir en cadeaux
To give you
Darling I love you, love you, darling I want you
Et puis c'est à peu près tout
And that's about all
You are the one for me, for me, for me, formidable
fantastic
You are the one for me, for me, for me, formidable
fantastic
But how can you
See me, see me, see me, si minable
so pathetic
Je ferais mieux d'aller choisir mon vocabulaire
I'd better choose my vocabulary
Pour te plaire
So you may like me
Dans la langue de Molière
In Molière's language
Toi, tes yeux, ton nez, tes lèvres adorables
You, your eyes, your nose, your adorable lips
Tu n'as pas compris tant pis
You couldn't understand, it's ok
Ne t'en fais pas et viens-t-en dans mes bras
Never mind, come to me
Darling I love you, love you,
Darling, I want you
Et puis le reste on s'en fout
And we don't care about anything else
You are the one for me, for me, for me, formidable
fantastic
Je me demande même
I even wonder
Pourquoi je t'aime
Why I love you
Toi qui te moques de moi et de tout
Since you're laughing at me and everything else
Avec ton air canaille, canaille, canaille
You're such a little rascal1
How can I love you
Of course it's better with Aznavour's voice. You can hear a part of it at http://www.mcm.net/mobile/mcm-services.php?id_sample=470.
1: Thanks stupot for suggesting this translation!