Je me suis fait tout petit [English translation]

I had never dropped my hat

In front of anybody

Now I crawl and I sit up and beg

When she calls1

I was a bad dog and she makes me eat

in the palm of her hand

I had wolf fangs, I traded them

For toothypeg !

I laid low2 in front of a doll

That closes her eyes when you put her to bed

I laid low in front of a doll

That says mama when you touch her

I was hard boiled, she converted me

The smarty3

And I fell all steamy, all roasted

Against her mouth

That have baby teeth when she smiles

When she sings

And wolf fangs, when she's a fury

She is mean

I laid low...

I live under her rule, I keep a low profile

Under her influence

Even if she is jealous beyond imagination

And even worse

A pretty periwinkle4 That I reckoned

Was prettier than her

A pretty periwinkle one day died

Beaten by an umbrella.

I laid low...

All the sleepwalkers, all the wizards told me

Without malice

That in her arms as a cross, I will suffer my

Last ordeal

There is worse, there is better (fate)

But all considered

To be hanged here, to be hanged elsewhere

If you need to be hanged.

I laid low in front of a doll

That closes her eyes when you put he to bed

I laid low in front of a doll

That says mama when you touch her

1. Litterally, "when she rings".2. Litterally, "I made myself tiny".3. Litterally, "the fine fly".4. Hard to tell with Brassens's habit of calling women by flower names, but it could also mean "a meter maid" (Marie Pervenche).

• Artist:Georges Brassens