Dance: French Cha Cha Cha Songs - Part 1 of 2

My articles are to inspire creativity by engaging readers in a thought-provoking dialogue in an entertaining and uniquely memorable way.

Introduction

Ten French pop songs and some of their tempo-controlled versions suitable for Cha Cha Cha.

This article may serve as means to improve your dancing, French and broaden your musical horizons.

You May as Well

1. Watch videos

2. Sing along

3. Read lyrics in French and English

4. Dance (we won't know)

5. Participate in a few polls

6. Take a pop-up quiz at the end

7. Have fun

8. Leave a comment or a suggestion at the end

Pop Versions

La Compagnie Créole specializes in make-you-feel-good music. "La Bonne Aventure" is a song that gives energy from the very first beat. It's dynamic, but not overpowering.

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Is there a better way to begin a journey than by learning that your good fortune is guaranteed (or money back)?

Mademoiselle Clémence

is a multifaceted fortune-telling specialist with a good reputation and excellent references

Come closer, ladies and gentlemen!

Mademoiselle Clémence will tell you your good fortune.

In the palm of your hand she sees your destiny

Through a crystal ball she sees your feelings

In the coffee grinds she sees your health

Tarot cards tell how soon Lady Luck will smile on you

We’ll tell you everything! Everything!

Yes, You Can

If you sing with her, Mademoiselle Clémence

will tell you your fortune free of charge

Coffee is on the house regardless

It will take one minute

Listen for the Underlined Words

Dans les lignes de la main
Elle peut lire ton destin,
Dans la boule de cristal
Elle voit ton ciel sentimental,
Dans le marc de café
Elle peut prédire la santé,
Dans le jeu de tarot
Elle voit si la chance est pour bientôt
Oh! Oh, si la chance est pour bientôt
Vénus est au carré de votre soleil natal,
Vous allez rencontrer le partenaire idéal,
Le partenaire idéal

Mademoiselle Clémence is a Factotum

Her skill set includes, but not limited to:

1) Palmistry (also known as Chiromancy) aka palm-reading

2) Crystallomancy aka seeing through a crystal ball

3) Tasseography (also known as tasseomancy or tassology) aka interpreting patterns in coffee grounds, tea leaves or wine sediments

4) Taromancy: reading a fortune by using Tarot cards

5) Pyromancy aka gazing into fire

6) Curse removal

7) Positive psychology

8) Entertainment

9) She is fully bilingual

In short, she is a factotum, a do-it-all, a jack-of-all trades.

Vous allez rencontrer le partenaire idéal

Life, love, death have no secrets from her

She lights a fire and frees you from all curses!

When Venus is in the right position, you will meet the ideal partner

Throw in the position of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto

And everything else will be fine

Now how about that great journey?

Fasten Your Seatbelts

= Attachez Vos Ceintures

If instead of "fasten your seatbelts" you remember it as "attach your seatbelts" or even "attach your centures" - you are less likely to forget this essential phrase. On a plane, it constitutes half of the relevant French vocabulary.

• Paroles La Bonne Aventure - La Compagnie Creole (traduction et lyrics)
  French lyrics for "La Bonne Aventure"

Here is the deal: if you are not so very happy with your life and current conditions, there is this magical boat that has everything you need. In this version the song has tempo of rumba, that’s why it is so relaxing. I imagine rumba as the tides and ebbs – back and forth, back and forth... Just listening to the music, imagining yourself on a boat, having sun-fun has a therapeutic effect in itself...

Qualification Survey

More Than Zéro

half of the lines end with an "o"

out of which 75% words you already know

--- un robot
--- un oiseau (bird)
--- un rodéo

--- zéro
--- la météo (weather)
--- boulot (job)

Peso - Casino

There is peso and there is peso

Check out peso is in the video

I did not get that at first either

--- casino
--- peso (currency)
--- impôts (taxes)
--- qu'il te faut (what you need)

--- bateau (boat)
--- recto verso (both sides)
--- stéréo
--- calypso
--- ce qu'il faut (what’s needed)

Anna Melnikova

And even if tomorrow you lose everything in casino

If you are down to your last peso

If you were asked to pay too many taxes

I have what you need

======================

Et même si demain tu perdais tout au casino

Si au fond de tes poches il ne restait qu'un peso

Si jamais on te réclamait bien trop d'impôts

J'ai ce qu'il te faut

Come to my boat

= Viens sur mon bateau

Get a tan (on both sides)

Get fresh air and live in stereo

Forget about time

Enjoy music

On my boat

There is everything you need

Viens te faire bronzer recto verso
Sur mon bateau changer d'air

et vivre en stéréo
Sur mon bateau oublier le temps

sur un calypso
Sur mon bateau y a tout ce qu'il faut

A Word to the Wise

Don't forget to keep a diary and take pictures.

Nobody will believe that you had so much luck.

• Alain Morisod & Les Sweet People - Sur Mon Bateau Lyrics
  French lyrics for "Sur Mon Bateau"

Drama

How Do You Pack?

I always take what I won't need

and never what I will

Once upon a time, a young girl wears a bikini for the first time. She is afraid to take off her robe because she doesn't want to shock and disturb her neighbours. She thinks other people on the beach might disapprove of her choice. If the story amuses you, the singer will sing it again. Otherwise the song is finished anyway.

The chorus sounds half-English, so you won’t have any trouble singing along.

Chorus

one two three,

she was trembling to show them what?

her tiny itsy bitsy teeny weeny

very very small bikini

that she wore for the very first time.

an itsy bitsy teeny weeny

very very small bikini

a red bikini with yellow little dots

one two three here is what happened next.

Lyrics

I understand the heroine. I never had a figure for bikinis. I wore one when I was a teenager in the “ugly duckling” stage and it did not flatter me at all. I wished my “shocked, disturbed and annoyed” neighbours (aka my mother) would have pointed it out to me, but she did not. When I became slightly older, I got my lovely curves and bikini was out of question. But they are not practical anyway, are they?

• Itsy bitsi petit bikini lyrics + English translation (Version #2)
  Translation of 'Itsy bitsi petit bikini' by Dalida from French to English (Version #2)

Romantic Take

Slow Enough

It may very well be

that your French teacher sings it in class

Song is as repetitive as it is addictive

Tonight,

I will dance the Mambo

At the Royal Casino,

under the rococo paneling

Verse 1 - 1

Ce soir,

j'irai danser le Mambo

Au Royal Casino,

sous les lambris rococo

Verse 1 - 2

The night

will make me forget

You'll make me dream

Like

summer songs

Verse 1-2

La nuit

viendra me faire oublier

Tu me feras rêver

Comme les

chansons d'été

Song Structure

Verse 2-1

The sea,

when vacation time comes

It's the time of the dance

In your arms, every night

La mer,

quand vient le temps des vacances

C'est le temps de la danse

Entre tes bras, toutes les nuits

Verse 2 - 2

And if

my heart turns

There I will kiss you

Until

the summer's end

Et si

j'ai le coeur tout retourné

Là je t'embrasserai

Jusqu'à la

fin de l'été

Comedic Take

Chorus

It's the love at the beach

And my eyes in your eyes

Kisses and shells

Between you and the blue

C'est l'amour à la plage

(aou cha-cha-cha)

Et mes yeux dans tes yeux

(aou aou)

Baisers et coquillages

(aou cha-cha-cha)

Entre toi et le bleu (aou aou)

It May as Well

This is a song with a very clear Cha Cha Cha rhythm. Every other verse starts with Dans ta chambre (In your room). So, what happens in that lovely room of hers? To begin with, telephone rings... But sun may as well rise and a telephone may as well ring (with the permission of the singer both events happen), but he will stay in bed, close blinds and shutters and stay away from the world.

The sun may as well rise and glare

I prefer to lie and stare,

loll in bed, I'm gonna prepare

coffee and french toasts a pair

Le soleil peut bien se lever

je préfère rester couché,

reste au lit, je vais préparer

du café, des toasts grillés

Breakfast Is Taken Care of

Meanwhile he will make coffee and French toasts (it’s comforting that breakfast is taken care of). The telephone, of course, rings, but he unplugs it. Cleary the song was written before the age of cell phones and internet. There are no blinds and shutters that can keep the world at bay. If you want your beloved to keep their sanity intact, don’t unhook anything.

Other than that, they are going to loll in pleasure, luxury, calm and beauty.

• Dans ta chambre lyrics + English translation
  Translation of 'Dans ta chambre' by Dany Brillant (Daniel Cohen-Biran) from French to English

Jessica Paré

is a Canadian actress and singer

As a Canadian I feel proud

as if I had anything to do with her success

In the bushes under the August sky

Lovers on tip-toe stealing by

Like birds they've got their rendez-vous

Everywhere you hear

Oh kiss kiss

Oh kiss kiss,

my God they're soft

Dans les buissons sous le ciel du mois d'août

Les amoureux glissent à pas de loup

Comme les oiseaux ils ont rendez-vous

On l'entend partout

Zou bisou bisou

Zou bisou bisou,

mon Dieu qu'ils sont doux

But no need for bushes in the month of August

When you kiss me softly upon my neck

It's quite funny, you know, I confess

I feel oh kiss kiss all over

Mais pas besoin des buissons du mois d'août

Quand tu m'embrasses doucement dans le cou

Car c'est curieux tu vois je l'avoue

Ça me fait partout zou bisou bisou

Here Is a Simple Idea for You

Heavenly music and only for two

Don't need the words

They get in the way

That's what you say...

Fairy Tales Go Wrong

A sweet and disturbing song performed by Serge Gainsbourg tells a story of an older man inviting a young girl to sit on his lap and listen to a nice story that his nanny used to tell him.

Once upon a time a little girl went to a forest and met a wolf, a big bad wolf.

You are just like that little girl, but I am not a big bad wolf, so...

Tu es encor à l'âge
Où les filles ont peur de nous
Tu es bien trop sage
Pour venir sur mes genoux
Mais je t'aime bien,
Ne crains rien

You're still of the age

when girls are afraid of us,
You are too good

to come sit on my lap,

But I like you,

don't be afraid

Sweet As It Is

I have a couple of questions

• How young is the girl?
• How old is the wolf?
• How is it possible she doesn't know classical literature?
• In what forest or castle or institution did she hide?
• If there is nothing to fear why does he mention the relationship between girls and wolves at all?

Come closer,
I won't eat you.
Don't be cruel,

come into my arms, love,
Come a little closer, my beauty,

Don't tremble so,
I won't do you any harm,

I'm not
The big bad wolf at bay,

Approche-toi
Je ne te mangerai pas
Ne sois pas cruelle
Viens dans mes bras ma jolie
Viens plus près ma belle
Et ne tremble pas ainsi
Je ne te ferai aucun mal
Je ne suis pas
Le grand méchant loup aux abois

Colour Confusion

There must be a reason

why this story outlived many a girl and many a wolf

Maybe it's ever-green

Maybe it's ever-red

• Serge Gainsbourg - Cha cha cha du loup (English translation)
  Do you know this tale that my nanny used to tell me, It's a lovely tale that I listened to on her knees?

Listen well what I tell my darling

I walked the streets of Paris

A real musician with green eyes tells me

Reach up quickly without fear my pretty

He told me to go with him

That he was going to change my life

Making love with and drinking coffee

This story is completely finished

U u this look seduces me

In this regard,

U makes me tremble like this

écoute bien ce que je raconte ma chérie

je marchais sur les rues de Paris

Un vrai musicien aux yeux verts me dit

Rapproche toi vite sans peur ma jolie

Il me disait de partir avec lui

Qu'il allait me changer la vie

Faire l'amour avec et boire du café

Cette histoire est complètement finie

U u u ce regard me séduit

U u u ce regard me séuit

U u u me fait trembler ainsi

This song has a good rhythm, but little substance. No beating around the bush, no circumlocution, no sweetening the message - the guy is super blunt - only girls interest me, everything else doesn't matter. Such philosophy won’t get him many of them, but that is of no consequence. He is too busy singing.

Watch Out

Here comes Casanova, Don Juan and Dany Brilliant

There is in them so much grace,

So much beauty on their face.

Love, I made it my law.

Everything else does not matter.

Il y a en elles tant de grâce,
Tant de beauté sur leur face.
L'amour, j'en ai fait ma loi.
Tout le reste ne compte pas.

• Paroles Y a qu'les filles qui m'intéressent. par Dany Brillant - Paroles.net (clip, musique, traduct
  French lyrics for Dany Brillant - Y'a que les Filles qui m'intéressent.

A Woman like You

Yet another Canadian artist from Montreal, a bad boy and a pop singer-songwriter Cyril Kamar of Lebanese origin better known as K-Maro. Canadians have a reputation of being "too nice". This "too niceness" is a mystery to me, but here it is at least one example of badness.

"Femme like U" is one of K-Maro's most successful songs. It's dynamic and engaging.

What's it about? Mostly about how he feels when he sings with her, how sexy she is, how they feel like soul mates. I think on stage there is too much testosterone and adrenaline rushing though one's veins and it's hard to say... That's what the song is about. This feeling that music gives you.

Song Structure

Sing with Me, Baby

You can do it!

Give me your heart baby,

your body baby hey

Give me your good old funk

Your rock baby,

ta soul baby hey

Sing with me,

I want a woman like you

To take me

to the end of the world

A woman like you, hey hey

Give me your baby heart,

your baby hey body

Give me your good old funk

Your rock baby, ta soul baby hey

Sing with me

I want a man like you

Bad boy you know you like me

A man like you, hey hey

Donne moi ton coeur baby,

ton corps baby hey
Donne moi ton bon vieux funk
Ton rock baby,

ta soul baby hey
Chante avec moi,

je veux une femme like you
Pour m'emmener

au bout du monde
Une femme like you, hey hey
Donne moi ton coeur baby,

ton corps baby hey
Donne moi ton bon vieux funk
Ton rock baby, ta soul baby hey
Chante avec moi

je veux un homme like you
Bad boy tu sais que tu me plais
Un homme like you, hey hey

Colour Confusion on Top of Gender Ambiguity

It’s a bizarre song featuring how women sound to men when they whine for no reason. Lyrics sound like a compilation of cliché phrases all women use. Overall, women say that all men are insensitive bastards. Women would not complain the way they complain if men were not that bad all in the same manner.

The video clip is truly creative – Stromae plays both a she and a he depending on the light. Green light – he is a he; pink light – he is a she. But what makes the situation piquant is that there are more than two people in a couple. It’s a ménage a trios – Stromae changes his gender at will.

Hardwired to Complain

Guys are all the same

Macho but cheap

Group of cheating bastards

So predictable, nah,

you don't deserve me

The only eternal woman is Kate Moss!

Ugly or dumb, it's never good!

Dumb or beautiful, it's never good!

Beautiful or me, it's never good!

Me or her, it's never good!

Schedule legal hearings for that time of the month

The ever-green palette comes with no explanation, but the ever-red got an honourable mention. Stromae says, “See you at the next hearing, see you at the next either a hearing or menstruation or hearing that has to fall on that time of the month. Play on words is intentional, but I am nowhere near that level of French to tell you for sure.

D.side dance studio

Ever-Colour

All I can say with a certain degree of certainty – women have menstruation; therefore they are in the ever-red zone. However, Stromae, regardless of the colour scheme, isn’t. He might be ever-green, he might be ever-purple, but ever-red? Hardly.

Where is Yellow?

The colour of happiness,

the colour of insanity, where is it?

When the Colour is Right

Quiz time!

Quiz

For each question, choose the best answer. The answer key is below.

1. Who is the fortune teller here?
   • Mademoiselle Clémence
   • Hillary Clinton
   • Oracle of Delphi
   • Nostradamus
   • Helen of Troy
2. What is the name of the boat that has everything you need?
   • Titanic
   • Adventura
   • Russian battleship Potemkin
   • Aurora
   • Argo
3. Which bikini does a young and shy girl wear?
   • Blue with white stripes
   • Yellow with red dots
   • Red with yellow dots
   • Green with yellow dots
   • Floral with non-descript pattern
4. What is the name of the band which plays "Love on the Beach"?
   • Victoria
   • Volga
   • Seljalandsfoss
   • Niagara
   • Blue Nile
5. "In Your Room" what does all the action revolve around?
   • Jupiter
   • Toaster
   • Cell phone
   • Stove
   • Bed
6. Who sings "Zou Bisou Bisou" in English?
   • Sophia Loren
   • Audrey Hepburn
   • Joan of Arc
   • Penélope Cruz
   • Mark Twain
7. In "Wolf's Cha Cha Cha" who tells the story first?
   • The older brother Grimm
   • Wolf's nanny
   • Hans Christian Andersen
   • Karl Marx
   • Søren Kierkegaard
8. Dany Brillant is best described as?
   • Casanova
   • Don Juan
   • Existentialist in disguise
   • Genghis Khan
   • Womanizer
9. What K.Maro is after?
   • Heart
   • Body
   • Soul
   • All of the above
   • Real estate
10. What does Stromae complain about?
    • Slow Wi-Fi
    • Peace of Westphalia
    • Bad hair day
    • Canadian geese
    • People are all the same

Answer Key

1. Mademoiselle Clémence
2. Adventura
3. Red with yellow dots
4. Niagara
5. Bed
6. Sophia Loren
7. Wolf's nanny
8. Existentialist in disguise
9. All of the above
10. People are all the same

Interpreting Your Score

If you got between 0 and 3 correct answers: You are a good sport with a good sense of humour!

If you got between 4 and 6 correct answers: You are a curious type!

If you got between 7 and 8 correct answers: You do pay attention to details!

If you got 9 correct answers: Well done!

If you got 10 correct answers: Wow! Even I don't know all the answers!

On a Final Note

If dancing is your primary objective

you need tempo-controlled songs

Strictly Cha Cha Cha

Some shoes are better than others

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”

― Osho

End of Part 1

Two Part Series

• French Cha Cha Cha Songs - Part 2
  Forty French pop songs suitable for Cha Cha Cha, including some tempo-controlled versions.

Dancing with the Stars

• French Cha Cha Cha Songs in Dancing with the Stars. Part 1 of 2
  French pop songs used for Cha Cha Cha in the French version of Dancing with the Stars show (Danse avec les Stars). Meet French stars, learn new songs and have fun.
• French Cha Cha Cha Songs in Dancing with the Stars. Part 2 of 2
  French pop songs used for Cha Cha Cha in the French version of Dancing with the Stars show (Danse avec les Stars). Discover new songs, meet French celebrities, pick up some French and have fun.

My Youtube Collection

• Cha Cha Cha French - YouTube
  Playlist for dancing Cha Cha Cha: French songs and French versions of songs from other languages including some originals.

My Hub Articles

• Italian Cha Cha Cha Songs
  A collection of Cha Cha Cha songs in Italian language for you to discover old and modern songs, meet Italian celebrities and learn some lyrics to sing along.

© 2017 kallini2010

Comments

kallini2010 (author) from Toronto, Canada on April 09, 2017:

Thank you, Flourish, for your comment.

There good news - you won't need 1,000 repetitions, you'll get curious long before that.

The better news - you don't know French only because you don't need it, to you it's irrelevant like the rest of them.

That's the reason I don't know French either. I have studied it for about three months with the group and for some time alone. I can't say I don't know anything - enough to understand and navigate if necessary, but I won't be able to say anything unless I have memorized it. This initial stupor - I know I know it, but I cannot recollect it, when a French-speaking person is right across... so, I am stuck with some bleating routine "mmm... bbb... aaa..."

I've gone through that - I tend to freeze, but with time it is no longer a problem. For me, languages are more of a curiosity. By the way, after I said that I can mess with Chinese, I found a couple of ways how to handle certain things - it would not even occur to me to look them up if I was not careless enough to say that I would.

I did not plan to embark on Cha Cha Cha or French or both (I never do), but one thing led to another... and being odd that I am, I could not resist doing things outside mainstream.

If I understand correctly, you are interested (enough) in education. This TED talk changed the way I thought about language acquisition - I completely agree with the speaker - I know he is right because I had to learn the way languages are taught - in the most cumbersome and inefficient way. I am not saying you need this info because you are dying to conquer a foreign language, but if anyone in your circle has to and struggling, they should see the video. Plus it does not apply to language learning only - taken in broader concept - the education system is inefficient not to say ineffective.

In Canada, children in public schools take French for six years. How much, do you think, they know?

===========================

How to learn any language in six months

Chris Lonsdale - TEDxLingnanUniversity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0yGdNEWdn0

===========================

P.S. there are stranger things than French on this hub - HubPages disabled ads - I don't see anything wrong with it except for "bitches & bastards" mentioned twice, but it won't constitute a death penalty for hub, would it?

FlourishAnyway from USA on April 08, 2017:

I love peppy music, and I bet if I listened to this over and over (like 1000 times) perhaps some French would rub off on me. I took 2 years of high school French, but let's just say it's been awhile. Plus, learning Spanish from a Portugese teacher in college tended to get me confused when it was time for words to come out. I know just enough about both languages to get me in trouble when traveling. Thank goodness the French now speak a lot of English.

kallini2010 (author) from Toronto, Canada on April 08, 2017:

Thank you, Martie. I love them too. I sometimes choose one to set the mood, something to get me going.

As a side effect - I pick up some French. I have finally figured out that some translations on www.lyricstranslate done by someone who "knows" the language are worse than on Google Translate.

"We are going to enjoy our voluptuousness" - really?

It turned out - there is a context - it was not "voluptuousness", it was pleasure.

So, if you enjoy this - it's my pleasure (aka voluptuousness).

Have a great day!

Martie Coetser from South Africa on April 08, 2017:

I LOVE the songs in here! I could listen to them every day all day long.

Your translations make them even more enjoyable.