Nathalie [English translation]

The Red Square was empty

Nathalie led the way

She had a beautiful name, my guide

Nathalie

The Red Square was white

The snow carpeted the floor

And I was following on that cold Sunday

Nathalie

She was talking in plain sentences

About the October Revolution

I was already thinking

That after the tomb of Lenin

We would go to Café Pushkin

Drink a hot chocolate

The Red Square was empty

I took her arm, she smiled

She had blond hair, my guide

Nathalie, Nathalie...

In her room at university

A gang of students

Was impatiently waiting for her

We laughed, we talked a lot

They wanted to know everything

Nathalie was translating

Moscow, the plains of Ukraine

And the Champs-Elysées

We mixed it all together

And we sang

And then they uncorked

While happily laughing

Some champagne from France

And we danced

And when the room was empty

All her friends had left

I stayed alone with my guide

Nathalie

No more plain sentences

No more October Revolution

That was behind us now

No more tomb of Lenin

Café Pushkin's hot chocolate

Was far away already

How empty my life feels now

But I know that one day in Paris

I will be her guide this time

Nathalie, Nathalie

• Artist:Gilbert Bécaud