LIMBOsevic lied abt Marseillaise with English lyrics

[UTUSN]

Yesterday, a great day when LIMBOsevic was arrested (and coinky-dinky he was doing fundraising for charity), he claimed that the Star Spangled Banner ought not to be sung in other languages because "the French would NEVER let La Marseillaise be sung in English." All the top Google hits have English versions. I dedicate this to the ARREST of LIMBOsevic.

*******QUOTE*******

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/MOD/marseill.html

Allons enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arriv鮼br> Contre nous, de la tyrannie,
L'鴡ndard sanglant est lev鬼br> l'鴡ndard sanglant est lev鬼br> Entendez-vous, dans la compagnes.
Mugir ces farouches soldats
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Egorger vos fils,
vos compagnes. Let us go, children of the fatherland
Our day of Glory has arrived.
Against us stands tyranny,
The bloody flag is raised,
The bloody flag is raised.
Do you hear in the countryside
The roar of these savage soldiers
They come right into our arms
To cut the throats of your sons,
your country.
Aux armes citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons.

To arms, citizens!
Form up your battalions
Let us march, Let us march!
That their impure blood
Should water our fields


Amour sacr頤e la Patrie,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs,
Libert鬠libert頣herie,
Combats avec tes def鮳eurs;
Combats avec tes d馥nseurs.
Sous drapeaux, que la victoire
Acoure ࠴es m⬥s accents;
Que tes ennemis expirants
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! Sacred love of the fatherland
Guide and support our vengeful arms.
Liberty, beloved liberty,
Fight with your defenders;
Fight with your defenders.
Under our flags, so that victory
Will rush to your manly strains;
That your dying enemies
Should see your triumph and glory
Aux armes citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons.
To arms, citizens!
Form up your battalions
Let us march, Let us march!
That their impure blood
Should water our fields


Here is an alternate English Translation, perhaps more singable!

Ye sons of France, awake to glory!
Hark! Hark! the people bid you rise!
Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary
Behold their tears and hear their cries!
Behold their tears and hear their cries!
Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding,
With hireling hosts a ruffian band
Affright and desolate the land
While peace and liberty lie bleeding?
To arms, to arms, ye brave!
Th'avenging sword unsheathe!
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On liberty or death.

Oh liberty can man resign thee,
Once having felt thy gen'rous flame?
Can dungeons, bolts, and bar confine the?
Or whips thy noble spirit tame?
Or whips thy noble spirit tame?
Too long the world has wept bewailing
That falsehood's dagger tyrants wield;
But freedom is our sword and shield
And all their arts are unavailing.
To arms, to arms, ye brave!
Th'avenging sword unsheathe!
March on, march on, all hearts resolved
On liberty or death.

********UNQUOTE*******

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. The translation is there...

so people who speak English and not French (these being English-language sites, I'm assuming) can get the sense of the words. You can't SING the English translation. Not to the same tune. Replacing 'Allons, enfants de la Patrie' with 'Let us go, children of the fatherland' won't work; it doesn't scan.

[UTUSN]

2. Reminds me of the joke about the wino and the barkeeper

A wino was dozing at a table. The barkeeper went over to him, shook him by the shoulder, and said, "You KNOW you can't sleep in here!"

The wino said, "It's not that I CAN'T sleep--it's that you won't LET me!"

[Spider Jerusalem]

3. That makes absolutely no sense at all, but...okay

[tocqueville]

4. there are plenty of versions of the Marseillaise in several languages

see my previous posts on this matter

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2596161&mesg_id=2596199


''Would the French accept people singing the La Marseillaise in English as a sign of French patriotism? Of course not.'' -- Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies

Unofficial versions

Yannick Noah, "Oh Reve"
Django Reinhardt, "Echoes Of France"
The Beatles, as part of "All You Need Is Love"
In 1978, Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae version, "Aux Armes et cetera," with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley in the choir in Jamaica, which resulted in him getting death threats from right-wing veterans of the Algerian War of Independence.

(true but Gainsbourg was considered as kind of a "hero" by the majority of the French specially after that incident).

Allan Sherman, "You went the Wrong way Old King Louie"
The Brisbane Lions Australian rules football (AFL) team theme song "The Pride of Brisbane Town".
The carillon of the town hall in the Bavarian town of Cham plays the Marsaillaise every day at 12.05 p.m. to commemorate the French Marshall Nicolas Luckner, who was born there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseillaise

this Krikorian quote shows how little a "head of the Center for Immigration Studies" knows about some foreign countries

the French would be very very touched if someone sung the Marseillaise in English to express support for France.

and this thread shows that the US national anthem is sung in French at the Maine legislature (and the Marseillaise in English)

http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Hou...

"The day began with Fort Kent’s 10-year-old singing sensation Melanie Saucier, who serenaded the House and Senate by singing the national anthems for the United States, Canada and France, in French and English."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1051692&mesg_id=1051692

Star Spangled in French :

Oh ! Regardez dans la clarté du matin
Le drapeau par vos chants célèbre dans la gloire
Dont les étoiles brillent dans un ciel d'azur
Flottant sur nos remparts annonçant la victoire.
L'éclair brillant des bombes éclatant dans les airs
Nous prouva dans la nuit cet étendard si cher !
Que notre bannière étoilée flotte encore,
Emblême de la liberté, de la liberté.
Sur les côtes obscures à travers le brouillard épais
Quand l'ennemi hautain, dans le silence arme;
Quelle est cette douce brise qui doucement s'élevait
Nous le fit découvrir dans le lointain caché !
Les premières lueurs de l'aurore matinale
Rayons de gloire brillèrent au lointain.
Que notre bannière étoilée flotte longtemps
Sur le pays de la liberté, au pays des braves !
Oh ! Toujours tant que l'homme libre vivra
Entre son foyer et la désolation de la guerre
Béni par la victoire et la paix, secouru par le ciel
Célébrons le pouvoir qui a su préserver la nation
Et confiant dans la justice de notre cause
Répétons notre devise "En Dieu est notre espoir".
Et la bannière étoilée en triomphe flottera
Sur le pays de la liberté au pays des braves !

http://www.amb-usa.fr/az/h/hymne.htm

all this shows that people that assert that the "French would never..." know very little about France and the French (and about the real America for that matter...)

[UTUSN]

5. Thank you for a THOUGHTful riposte n/t