Le pays d’à côté [English translation]

When the earth split apart

It was under the reign of bandits

Who had disfigured everything

Every town surrounded by

Its cortege of hangars

Its rows of car parks

The motorways were full

Of lorries in Indian-file

Of convoys jammed to the toll-gates

We hardly spoke to one another

And everyone hurried about

Their screen held in front of their face

The neighbouring land is covered by clouds

We separated by belief

Lessons in self-defence

Roads marked ‘no entry’

Smoke or fog

Impossible to tell

Every evening heavier

We were drowning in plastic

From convenience foods

That the sea threw onto the beaches

Good men, dignitaries

Everyone let it happen

For profit of lack of courage

The neighbouring land is covered by clouds

Under the hurried feet, a herd of the panicking sheep

The kneeling shepherd searching for the compass

And the starving wolves who wait at the wire fence

Fallen in the middle of a school playground

The unseated rainbow lying on the ground

And everyone believe childish nonsense

The neighbouring land is covered by clouds

Covered by clouds

When the earth split apart

It was under the reign of bandits

Who had planned it well

They'd hogged the duvet well

Profited from nature

And disappeared, one knows not where

Under the headphones and the speakers

Of the never switched off tellies

The same message rolled by

Forgive me for repeating it but

There is no cause for concern

The neighbouring land is covered by clouds

There is no cause for concern

It’s the neighbouring land

The neighbouring land that's covered by clouds

Never be like those panicking sheep

Said the kneeling shepherd searching for the compass

The neighbouring land is covered by clouds

• Artist:Francis Cabrel
• Album:In Extremis