[Verse 1]
Behind your eardrum, a tiny blacksmith's shop,
Three bones in a chain that never stop,
Malleus first, they call it the hammer,
Strikes the drumskin with a delicate clamor,
Next incus waits, the anvil so neat,
Catching vibrations like a drummer's beat,
Last comes stapes, shaped like a stirrup small,
A saddle-bone whisper at the end of it all.
[Chorus]
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Hammer, anvil, stirrup — écoute, mon chéri,
Three little bones in a bridge of sound,
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Turning a whisper into something profound,
C'est la chaîne qui fait chanter l'oreille.
[Verse 2]
Stapes is tiny, three millimeters wide,
The lightest bone in your body, nothing to hide,
Just milligrams, yet it carries the weight
Of every sound wave knocking at the gate.
These bones are levers, stacked in a row,
Squeezing the pressure before it can go,
Twenty times stronger when it hits the oval door,
Pushing the fluid waves toward the shore.
[Chorus]
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Hammer, anvil, stirrup — écoute, mon chéri,
Three little bones in a bridge of sound,
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Turning a whisper into something profound,
C'est la chaîne qui fait chanter l'oreille.
[Verse 3]
Go back the ages, to a reptile's jaw,
Two of these bones were hinges you saw,
Reichert and Gaupp traced the slow-shifting plan,
Jawbone to ear bone, the mammalian span.
Watch an embryo, tiny and curled,
Cartilage drifting, reshaping its world,
Ce n'est pas de la magie, c'est l'évolution,
Bone by bone, a quiet revolution.
[Bridge]
But sometimes stapes gets stuck, frozen in place,
Otosclerosis slows the whole chase,
Doctors slip in a tiny prosthesis instead,
Stapedectomy wakes the sound in your head,
Chirurgie fine, un étrier nouveau,
Restores the tick of your inner piano.
[Chorus]
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Hammer, anvil, stirrup — écoute, mon chéri,
Three little bones in a bridge of sound,
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Turning a whisper into something profound,
C'est la chaîne qui fait chanter l'oreille.
[Verse 4]
Two tiny muscles stand guard in the dark,
Tensor tympani, stapedius spark,
They tighten the chain when the world gets too loud,
Shielding the stirrup from the roar of the crowd,
A reflex so fast, quicker than fear,
Guarding the whisper that travels to the ear,
Réflexe acoustique, protection discrète,
Keeping the music soft and complete,
A silent sentinel, steady and true,
Standing between the storm and you.
[Outro]
Marteau, enclume, étrier,
Three little bones, forever they stay,
Hammer, anvil, stirrup — remember today,
From jawbone drift to the sound you hear,
L'oreille qui chante, ne s'arrête jamais,
Si petits ces os, mais jamais effacés.