Regarde-toi Paname

Don't show off so much, Paname, I don't want to hurt you
But you can see the Seine flowing elsewhere than at the foot of Notre-Dame
From Châtillon to the estuary, it bathes many other places
Thanks be to God, there is more to the world than Paris

Paname, if you think you're beautiful, it's because you haven't looked at yourself
On the side of the Grenelle quay or Maubert/Mutualité
Paris in the evening Paris at night, you drink, you frolic, you gorge yourself
And you drown in the sound of the fifes, your solitude and your boredom

Paris, you're going to lose your line by biting into the cake
You're gaining weight at Rambuteau, you're less young and you resign yourself
Paname, you think you're a rogue, but you haven't looked at yourself
On the old Batignolles bridge, we haven't danced for a long time

You find poverty unwelcome but you wear your beautiful quarters
Like their rings and their necklaces, the old cowards without fortune
But three steps from your high marbles opposite the Quai de Passy
There are kids around here who have never climbed trees

Go get your fake poets dressed again, Paname you've lost your touch
You're better than the Americans who come to get drunk at your parties
Herd of roofs, quiet river, generous sky, stubborn cobblestone
Big mouth and easy virtue, Paname you are still my city

There are downsides to your medals, poor rhymes to your poems
For a hundred palaces for a hundred feasts, how many Lenten slums
And yet I don't want to drag my shoes anywhere else
This is where I started my life, this is where I will end it