Legendary Steve Nieve is recommending this song.
From Steve Nieve’s Facebook page:
So this first draft AI translation doesn't have any of the delicate poetry and brilliant wordplay of Souchon's text, but you will pick up on all that when you hear the song and the melancholy of his voice. "there's a story in his voice" ... Rive Gauche.
The songs of Prévert
Come back to me
And from VerLaine, the whispers
From Leo Ferré the cries
The storm
Boris Vian it is written
With a blast of trumpet
Left Bank in Paris
Farewell my country
Of music and poetry
The ill-behaved merchants
Who elsewhere have already taken everything
Come to sell their clothes in bookshops
In bookstores
As tender the night can be
It dissolves anyway
Oh my Zelda it is finished
Montparnasse
Miles Davis ringing
His Gréco
All the Morrison's
Their Nico
Left Bank in Paris
Oh my island, oh my country
Of music and poetry
Of art and freedom
She was taken, she is taken
She's going to die no matter what we try
And my song melancholizes her
Life is theater
And memories
But we are obstinate
Refusing to die
Hanging out on the shore
Come and see
It looks like Jane and Serge
On the Pont des Arts
Left Bank in Paris
Goodbye my country
Goodbye jazz goodbye night
A state in a state of mind
Treated with contempt
Like Quebec by the United States
Like us too
Ah, the contempt
Le Mepris
. . .
Steve Nieve says:
I would love my anglo friends to discover the songs of Alain Souchon. The lyrics and melodies of Souchon's chansons are so beautiful. He has one of the most moving singing voices. So... I want to share some of his songs here beginning with this one, Rive Gauche, which is about the poetry of the left bank of Paris which will soon disappear altogether, swallowed up by the commerce..
Here is the french lyric:
Les chansons de Prévert
Me reviennent
De tous les souffleurs de Verlaine
Du vieux Ferré les cris
La tempête
Boris Vian ça s'écrit
À la trompette
Rive Gauche à Paris
Adieu mon pays
De musique et de poésie
Les marchands malappris
Qui ailleurs ont déjà tout pris
Viennent vendre leurs habits en librairie
En librairie
Si tendre soit la nuit
Elle passe
Oh ma Zelda c'est fini
Montparnasse
Miles Davis qui sonne
Sa Gréco
Tous les Morrison
Leur Nico
Rive Gauche à Paris
Oh mon île, oh mon pays
De musique et de poésie
D'art et de liberté éprise
Elle s'est fait prendre, elle est prise
Elle va mourir quoi qu'on en dise
Et ma chanson la mélancolise
La vie c'est du théâtre
Et des souvenirs
Mais nous sommes opiniâtres
À ne pas mourir
À traîner sur les berges
Venez voir
On dirait Jane et Serge
Sur le pont des Arts
Rive Gauche à Paris
Adieu mon pays
Adieu le jazz adieu la nuit
Un État dans l'état d'esprit
Traité par le mépris
Comme le Québec par les États-Unis
Comme nous aussi
Ah! Le mépris
Ah! Le mépris