La Marseillaise performed by Ken Carlter
I figured we’d honor le 14 juillet, France’s national holiday, with a Polynesian twist on the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. This version only contains the first verse and the chorus, but it’s the part of the anthem that most people know. It’s performed by Tahitian singer/songwriter Ken Carlter, and was released on YouTube on July 13, 2020.
About the Artist
Ken Carlter is a singer/songwriter and electronic music producer from Taravao, a municipality on the island of Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia. He became known in Polynesia between 2000 and 2009 as the leader of the Tahitian RnB group Metyss Tahiti. In 2010 the group broke up and he started a solo career, mixing traditional Polynesian dance with electronic music. His first single “Hot Summer with My Love” quickly became popular in the clubs and on Tahitian radio. Thanks to this single Carlter became the first Tahitian singer to reach number one on the Tahitian Top 30 chart as well as number one on the Top 20 chart for the Pacific.
Biographical information from Tahiti en France.
Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations
French Independance
‘La Mareillaise’ – La Marseillaise is France’s national anthem. It was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg, France. Originally titled “Chant de guerre pour l’Armée du Rhin” (War Song for the Army of the Rhine), it was written to be a marching song for the troops after France declared war on Austria. It became called “La Marseillaise” due to it’s popularity with volunteer army units from Marseille. It was accepted as the French national anthem on July 14, 1795, but was later banned by Napoleon and then Louis XVIII, was reauthorized after the July Revolution of 1830, and then banned again by Napoleon III. It was not reinstated again until 1879. It originally had six verses, although a seventh verse not written by Rouget de Lisle was added later. The first and sixth verses are the only ones usually performed at public events.
‘Le 14 juillet’ – Le quatorze juillet (July 14th), also called la Fête nationale (National Celebration) celebrates the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, a turning point of the French Revolution. While commonly referred to as Bastille Day by English speakers, you will never hear a French person refer to it in this manner. It is celebrated across France with military parades, fireworks and parties, including one of Europe’s oldest and largest military parades on the Champs-Élysées in Paris and a huge fireworks show at the Eiffel Tower.
‘La Bastille’ – La Bastille (the Bastille in English) was a medieval armory, fortress and political prison on the east side of Paris, and the former main jail of Paris. As it had been used for most of its history as a state prison by the kings of France, it had come to be seen as a symbol of the monarchy’s abuse of power and was attacked by revolutionaries on July 14th 1789. At the time of the attack it contained only seven prisoners, but the mob wasn’t demanding their release, rather they came demanding the huge stores of ammunition kept there. When the prison governor refused to hand over the ammunition the mob stormed the prison and took it over after a violent battle. The governor was killed and his head was carried on a spike through the streets. The storming of the Bastille came to symbolize the beginning of the French Revolution.
Song Grammar
‘est arrivé’ – While most verbs in the passé composé use the auxiliary verb ‘avoir’, there are a small number of verbs that take the auxiliary verb ‘être’. ‘Arriver’ is one of these verbs.
‘allons’ and ‘marchons’ – These are examples of the imperative mood in the nous form. While many people think of the imperative mood as being the command form, in the first person plural (nous) form it means ‘let’s’, for example here ‘allons’ means ‘let’s go’ and ‘marchons’ means ‘let’s march’.
‘Qu’un sang impur’ – When a phrase starts with ‘que’ as this phrase does, it is often understood to mean ‘may’ or ‘let’, as here ‘May impure blood water our fields’.
Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown
Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.
[Verse 1]
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
Lyrics with Translation
Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.
La Marseillaise
[Verse 1]
Allons enfants de la Patrie
Let’s go children of the fatherland
Le jour de gloire est arrivé !
The day of glory has come!
Contre nous de la tyrannie
Against us tyranny’s
L’étendard sanglant est levé
Bloody flag is raised
L’étendard sanglant est levé
Bloody flag is raised
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Do you hear in the countryside
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
The roar of these fierce soldiers ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
They come right into your arms
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !
To slit the throats of your sons, your companions!
[Chorus]
Aux armes, citoyens
Grab your weapons, citizens
Formez vos bataillons
Form your battalions
Marchons, marchons !
Let’s march, let’s march!
Qu’un sang impur
May impure blood
Abreuve nos sillons !
Water our fields!
[Chorus]
Aux armes, citoyens
Grab your weapons, citizens
Formez vos bataillons
Form your battalions
Marchons, marchons !
Let’s march, let’s march!
Qu’un sang impur
May impure blood
Abreuve nos sillons !
Water our fields!
