Banlieue [English translation]

In my suburban neighbourhood

There was plenty of action, when we were snotty

We played hide and seek on the neighbour's lawns

I stayed hidden quite a long time

In the hedge with miss Chartrand

When the weather was bad

There was Guilbeault's basement, we would play Coleco

We young guys went crazy for G.I. Joe's

And for Lavallée's sister, because she had big ones

And when the sun came out from behind the clouds

The whole neighbourhood came alive

You could hear the slap-shots on garage doors

And Lepage's mother screaming

The neighbourhood scattered

We got older, we made new friends

There were our first girlfriends, but they weren't too steady

Dede was the first to get his license

In his Volkswagen

We listened to Led Zeppelin

With our whole life ahead of us

But one damn evening towards the end of spring

Dede killed himself after a party

He fell asleep at the wheel

I will always remember that night

The Canadiens had just won the Stanley Cup

After his death we all sunk pretty low

I dropped out of Cégep in January

You arrived at the right time

You came out of nowhere

Like a flower that grows out of cement

And beneath the orange spotlights in Champigny Park

Was where we had our first great kiss

I think it was the best day of my life

I bought you lunch at Kentucky after

I drove you home with my chest puffed out

Damn I slept well that night

There were good times

But it seems happiness only lasts a short while

Because once, when I showed up at your place

I left like a boxer who had just taken a hit

Sitting on the picnic table

You told me you'd had enough, that you even had a new crush

I walked away without looking back

In your driveway I tried not to cry

It's as if you had taken a pair of cutters

And had cut through the rope of my heart

I wasted away for a couple of weeks

A guy needs to swallow his pain

Autumn returned through the back door

In my suburb the night is beautiful and there's hope

The full moon reflects like a mirror

On the water of the above-ground pools

Lay la lay ...

• Artist:Les Cowboys fringants
• Album:Motel Capri (2000)