[Verse 1] Pull up a chair at the kitchen table, grab your notepad and your pen These folks were born between thirty and sixty, learn to hear them now and then Monsieur Tremblay's got mal au cœur — that ain't his heart that's achin' It's nausea, friend, don't reach for the chart, that's a rookie mistake in the makin' He's got le sucre, fait de la pression, been brûlé since before your birth Worn down to the bone in la shop all his life, gave that factory everything's worth He'll say c'est de valeur when the news comes hard, means a shame, not a price tag talkin' And être rendu — he's reached a point — hear the weight in every word he's walkin' [Chorus] Pantoute means not at all, y'a rien là means small Avoir de la misère — he's struggling through the hall Être tanné — fed up — les p'tits outside playing ball Mon vieux, ma vieille — love without a wall Read the sacre like a thermometer, calibrate the call Tabarnouche is mild, tabarnak stands tall — know the difference or you'll fall [Verse 2] She's avoir les nerfs but don't jump to anxiety quite yet Could be any mental trouble that she ain't named to a stranger she just met Une dépression still carries shame from a generation ground by silence Tranquillisants she whispers low, she learned discretion was compliance Achaler means to bother, and her grandson sure does plenty She'll call his toys des bébelles, got a drawerful, got twenty Se faire du sang de cochon — worrying herself hollow and thin A tour de rein put her flat last March, and the doctor didn't listen again [Chorus] Pantoute means not at all, y'a rien là means small Avoir de la misère — she's struggling through the hall Être tanné — fed up — les p'tits outside playing ball Mon vieux, ma vieille — love without a wall Read the sacre like a thermometer, calibrate the call Tabarnouche is mild, tabarnak stands tall — know the difference or you'll fall [Bridge] He worked the English factory floor forty years without a manual Checker, boss, la shop, overtime — the anglicisms aren't accidental Un lift, les brakes, le windshield — borrowed words from the foreman's tongue Smatte means clever, cute means kind, être fucké means something's sprung He's not swearing at you, he's talking to you — hear the register shift En beau fusil means fury, en maudit's the same — learn to feel the drift La veillée's the evening gathered round — that world still lives in his chest He'll open up when you speak his language, put your textbook French to rest
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