Des nouvelles [English translation]

It's been 10 years since you died,

No, I don't say "gone"

I do say "dead".

I don't say "left",

I don't say "passed away"

No, I say "dead and buried",

That's not ugly, that's the way it is,

Not being anymore is part of life after all.

And I haven't forgotten how to speak to you, no

And I haven't forgotten how to think about you, no I didn't stop

Every day it's easy

Because you're everywhere I go :

You're the spirit of my childhood

Island, of my childhood memories.

Yet everything changed

Since you've ceased to exist:

Families have split,

Some are blended, and some are lost.

(We've known) successes, and defeats,

Complicated love stories

And way less parties

Since you're not here anymore to plan it all.

I'd like you to see the concerts I play:

There are plenty of people, not like yesterday,

You were so proud at the time

Even if you were almost the only one, always in the front.

This winter we play in big theaters,

And Zéniths this spring.

I've long hair, like singers,

And I take selfies, like singers.

They shared their memories, their knowledge and sense of direction with me,

But I don't know where to go anymore

Without my phone to give me the way.

And what's serious in all of this

Is that I'm very close to the age when

It's so easy to feel

Like it was better before.

From your era, there are always (always)

Radio going in the morning,

And fig scent in late august

To remind me the start of the school year ;

The glass of wine at 7PM

And hours of talking with my sister

Building castles in air like you said,

Oh yes we still do, I promise.

But from your era, we miss

The house which gathered,

Our beliefs have disappeared,

And every plan we made deceived us.

So we try hard to enjoy life

Just everyone in their own home, what a shame:

Happiness is private,

And misfortune public.

But love is still there,

No the way it used to be though.

Parents and grandparents

Tell their children they love them,

Even if I can't remember you saying 'I love you' to us,

But it's not as if saying it would repair it all.

Well, that's not better than hiding

Behind badly placed coyness.

And while I'm proofreading, I find myself

Alike lots of people

Saying "It was better before",

Even though lots of things got

Better, and the first of all is

How I'm feeling,

How I'm feeling.

• Artist:Ben Mazué
• Album:PARADIS Ré-édition (2021)