For the second time this week I sat down to work on one song, just to have YouTube show me a song that seemed far more pertinent to everything going on in the world right now. After more than a week of protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement, this video really spoke to me. The video clip accompanying the song evokes the battles against segregation in the US South and Apartheid in South Africa to address themes of racism, suffering, and police brutality. But just a word of warning, this video isn’t for the faint of heart.

Released in June of 2018, “Station 13” was the third single off of Indochine’s 2017 album 13.

Note regarding lyrics

The lyrics for this song vary between the album version and the video clip version. I have tried to address both versions here. In the video version the chorus changes slightly the second time, and the section “oui, oui, oui, c’est moi, oui, oui, oui, voilà” only appears at the end. The sections that appear in the album version have been included in the lyrics, but placed in triple brackets. If you would like to hear the other version, it can be found here.

Song information from Wikipedia.

About the Artists

Indochine (French for Indochina) is a French rock/new wave band formed in 1981 by Parisians Dominique Nicolas and Nicola Sirkis. In April of 1982, the group opened on tour for Taxi Girl. However, they gained popularity with each show and were eventually pulled from the tour as it was feared that their popularity would eclipse that of the headliners. Their first album L’Aventurier was released in November of 1982, selling more than 250,000 copies. The single of the same name was a huge hit in the summer of 1983 and sold more than 500,000 copies. Their popularity continued throughout the ’80s, both in France and internationally, with hits such as “3 nuits par semaine”, “3e sexe”, “Tes yeux noirs” and “Canary Bay”.

Although the ’90s would lead to a period of decline in popularity, the band would make a comeback with the release of their 2002 album Paradize. Led by the single “J’ai demandé à la lune” it entered the French sales charts at number three and would go on to sell more than a million copies, earning Diamond certification. This album won Indochine an MTV Europe Music Award for Best French Act, a Victoire de la musique award for Best Pop/Rock Album, and an NRJ Music Award for Best French Language Album.

With more than 13 million albums sold, they are the highest-selling French group ever. They were the first French rock group to fill the Palais Omnisports in Paris-Bercy in 2003 and the Stade de France in 2010. In 2011 they were awarded a Victoire d’Honneur (Victory of Honnor) at the Victoires de la musique awards ceremony to celebrate their 30-year career. In 2017 they received the Award d’honneur (Honor Award) at the NRJ music awards to crown their 36-year career.

Biographical information from Wikipedia.

Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations

‘se raccrocher à’ – The verb ‘raccrocher’ means ‘to hang’, or ‘to hang up’. ‘Se raccrocer à’ means ‘to hang on to’ or ‘to cling to’.

‘ne … que’ – This is a common form of negation. Used in the same way as ‘ne … pas’ (sandwiched around the verb), it means ‘only’.

‘tant pis’ – Literally translating as ‘so much worse’, this phrase means ‘never mind’, ‘too bad’, ‘what a shame’ or ‘oh well’.

‘avoir tort’ – This is one of the many phrases that uses ‘avoir’ in French. Meaning ‘to be wrong’, it translates literally as ‘to have wrong’.

‘j y ai dansé’ – This song has examples of both uses of the adverbial pronoun ‘y’. The first use replaces a place. and is most commonly equivalent to ‘there’, for example ‘j’y ai dansé’ means I danced there. In this song the ‘there’ is never defined, however in normal speech it often is. For example ‘Je suis allé au club et j’y ai dansé’ (I went to the club and I danced there).

‘je m’y accroche’ – This is an example of the second use of the adverbial pronoun ‘y’, when it is used to replace the object of the preposition ‘à’. In this use it is often translated as ‘to him, her or it’, ‘at him, her or it’, or ‘about him, her or it’. For example ‘je m’y accroche’ means ‘I cling to it’. As with ‘y’ meaning ‘there’ above, the ‘it’ here is left undefined. To try and give it an example, it could replace something like ‘je m’accroche à mon rêve’ (I cling to my dream).

‘s’accrocher à’ – While the verb ‘accrocher’ means ‘to hang’ or ‘to hang up’, ‘s’accrocher à’ means ‘to cling to’.

‘aller + inf’ – The verb ‘aller’ means ‘to go’. As in English, when this verb is used with a place, it implies movement towards that place. But when it is used with another verb, it implies that that action will be preformed in the future. For example ‘I am going to the store’ ‘(je vais au magasin’) vs ‘I am going to eat’ (‘je vais manger’).

‘descendis’ – This is an example of the passé simple tense, which is the literary equivalent of the passé composé. It is used predominantly in formal writing, and for most French learners simply being able to recognize it is sufficient. It is rather uncommon to see it in a song like this.

‘Judas’ – This is a reference to Judas Iscariot, one of the original Twelve Disciples of Jesus Christ. It was Judas who betrayed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane by kissing him and addressing him as “rabbi” thus revealing his identity to the crowd who had come to arrest him.

‘faux frère’ – Literally translating as ‘false brother’, this is usually translated as ‘false friend’ or ‘traitor’.

‘Bénis soient’ – The verb ‘soient’ is the third person plural subjunctive form of the verb ‘être’. While the majority of the time the subjunctive follows the conjunction ‘que’, there are a few verbs that can be used in the subjunctive without ‘que’ as a polite or literary way to give commands or express wishes. The verb ‘être’ is one of those verbs. ‘Bénis soient’ means ‘blessed be’.

‘se raccrocher à’ – Like ‘accrocher’ above, the verb ‘raccrocher’ means ‘to hang’ or ‘to hang up’, and ‘se raccrocher à’ means ‘to hang on to’ or ‘to cling to’.

‘en train de’ – If someone is ‘en train de’ faire quelque chose it means that they are in the middle of doing that action at that moment. “En train de’ will always be followed by an infinitive. For example ‘je suis en train de manger’ means ‘I am eating’ (at this moment).

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.

Stationstationstop, bus stop, station | noun | fem sing 13treizethirteen | adj

[Verse 1]
JejeI | pron | first pers sing suisêtreto be | verb | first person sing pres cecethis, that | dem adj | masc sing quequethat, than | conj jejeI | pron | first pers sing savaissavoirto know | verb | sec pers sing impera
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. dansédanserto dance | verb | pp lalathe | def art | fem sing nuitnuitnight | noun | fem sing
L’le, lathe | def art | masc or fem sing, shortened to l' before vowelsespritespritmind; sense; spirit, ghost | noun | masc sing parfoisparfoissometimes, occasionally | adv retrouvéretrouverto find | verb | pp
Etetand | conj parfoisparfoissometimes, occasionally | adv c’cethis, that, it | pron | shortened to c' before a vowelestêtreto be | verb | third pers sing pres | aux verb used with pp in p.c. finifinirto finish | verb | pp
JejeI | pron | first pers sing mememe | pron | dir and indir obj, reflex, first pers sing raccrocheraccrocherto hang (up) | verb | first pers sing pres | se raccrocher à = to hang on to, cling to ààat, to, in | prep qui?quiwho, which, that | pron | interr or rel
Toustousall, all of, every | adj mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem plural héroshéroshero | noun | masc sing and pl sontêtreto be | verb | third pers pl pres mortsmortdead | adj | masc sing
Nenenot, no | adv | used with another neg term, such as 'ne … pas' restentresterto remain, be left | verb | third pers pl pres quequethat, than | conj | | ne … que = only mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem plural ennemisennemienemy, foe, adversary | noun | masc or fem pl
Tanttantso much; so (adj) … that, such (noun) … that | adv | | tant pis = never mind; too bad; what a shame; oh well pispisworse | adj | | tant pis = never mind; too bad; what a shame; oh well sisiif | conj j’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsaiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. euavoirto have | verb | pp | avoir tort = to be wrong torttortwrong | noun | masc sing | avoir tort = to be wrong
JejeI | pron | first pers sing suisêtreto be | verb | first person sing pres cecethis, that | dem adj | masc sing quequethat, than | conj jejeI | pron | first pers sing savaissavoirto know | verb | sec pers sing impera
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. baignébaignerbathe; be immersed | verb | pp leslesthe | def art | masc and fem pl soirssoirevening | noun | masc pl

[Verse 2]
JejeI | pron | first pers sing senssentirto feel; to smell | verb | first pers sing pres quequethat, than | conj touttouteverything; anything | pron vaallerto go | verb | third pers sing pres changerchangerto change | verb | infin
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsaiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. vuvoirto see | verb | pp lelethe | def art | masc sing cielcielsky | noun | masc sing sisiif | conj basbaslow | adj | masc sing
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsaiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. traversétraverserto cross; to penetrate, go through; to experience, live through; come to mind; survive, endure | verb | pp leslesthe | def art | masc and fem pl viesvielife; lifetime | noun | fem pl
Toustousall, all of, every | adj mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem plural héroshéroshero | noun | masc sing and pl sontêtreto be | verb | third pers pl pres mortsmortdead | adj | masc sing
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. vuvoirto see | verb | pp lelethe | def art | masc sing videvideemptiness, void, vacuum | noun | masc sing
JejeI | pron | first pers sing m’meme; myself | pron | first pers sing, dir obj, indir obj, and reflex | shortened to m' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv accrocheaccrocherto hang (up); hook up to | verb | first pers sing pres | s'accrocher à = to cling to encoreencorestill, yet; again | adv
JejeI | pron | first pers sing suisêtreto be | verb | first person sing pres cecethis, that | dem adj | masc sing quequethat, than | conj jejeI | pron | first pers sing savaissavoirto know | verb | sec pers sing impera
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. dansédanserto dance | verb | pp ununa | indef art | masc sing soirsoirevening | noun | masc sing

[Chorus]
JejeI | pron | first pers sing descendisdescendrego down; get off | verb | simp past toutestoutall | adj | fem pl leslesthe | def art | masc and fem pl rivièresrivièreriver | noun | fem pl
Loinloinfar, distant | adv desdessome | indef art | masc and fem pl JudasJudasJudas | prop noun | name etetand | conj desdessome | indef art | masc and fem pl fauxfauxfalse, wrong, deceitful | adj | masc sing and pl | faux frère = false friend frèresfrèrebrother | nouns | masc pl | faux frère = false friend
Ililhe, it | pron | | il y aura = there will be yyhere, there | adv | | il y aura = there will be auraavoirto have | verb | third pers sing fut | il y aura = there will be ununa | indef art | masc sing paspasstep; footprint; speed, pace | noun | masc sing dedeof; from | prep toitoiyou | pron | sec pers sing, informal
Quandquandwhen | adv, conj lalathe | def art | fem sing nuitnuitnight | noun | fem sing tomberatomberto fall | verb | third pers sing fut prèsprèsnear, close to | adv dedeof; from | prep nousnouswe, us | pron | first pers pl
[[[Oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv c’cethis, that, it | pron | shortened to c' before a vowelestêtreto be | verb | third pers sing pres moimoime | pron | dir and indir obj, first pers sing
Oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv voilàvoilàhere is/are; there is/are; this/that is; there you go, there you have it | adv]]]*

[Verse 3]
JejeI | pron | first pers sing saissavoirto know | verb | first and sec pers sing pres quequethat, than | conj touttouteverything; anything | pron vaallerto go | verb | third pers sing pres changerchangerto change | verb | infin
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. dansédanserto dance | verb | pp lalathe | def art | fem sing nuitnuitnight | noun | fem sing
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsaiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. espionnéespionnerto spy on; track, monitor, keep tabs on | verb | pp tanttantso much; so (adj) … that, such (noun) … that | adv quequethat, than | conj jejeI | pron | first pers sing pouvaispouvoirto be able to | verb | first pers sing imperf
Etetand | conj maintenantmaintenantnow, right now; today, these days; from now on | adv jejeI | pron | first pers sing saissavoirto know | verb | first and sec pers sing pres
JejeI | pron | first pers sing mememe | pron | dir and indir obj, reflex, first pers sing raccrocheraccrocherto hang (up) | verb | first pers sing pres | se raccrocher à = to hang on to, cling to ààat, to, in | prep qui?quiwho, which, that | pron | interr or rel
Toustousall, all of, every | adj mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem pl héroshéroshero | noun | masc sing and pl sontêtreto be | verb | third pers pl pres mortsmortdead | adj | masc sing
Nenenot, no | adv | used with another neg term, such as 'ne … pas' restentrestert remain, be left | verb | third pers pl pres quequethat, than | conj | | ne … que = only mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem pl ennemisennemienemy, foe, adversary | noun | masc or fem pl
Bénisbéniblessed | adj | masc pl soientêtreto be | verb | subj mesmesmy | poss adj | masc and fem pl remordsremordsremorse | noun | masc pl
Touttouteverything; anything | pron estêtreto be | verb | third pers sing pres enento, in | prep traintrainseries; sequence of events; speed, pace, rate | noun | masc sing | en train de = doing dedeof; from | prep changerchangerto change | verb | infin
JejeI | pron | first pers sing voisvoirto see, watch | first pers sing impera lelethe | def art | masc sing cielcielsky | noun | masc sing sisiif | conj basbaslow | adj | masc sing
JejeI | pron | first pers sing suisêtreto be | verb | first person sing pres cecethis, that | dem adj | masc sing quequethat, than | conj jejeI | pron | first pers sing savaissavoirto know | verb | sec pers sing impera
J’jeI | pron | first pers sing | shortened to j' before vowelsyyhere, there | adv aiavoirto have | verb | first pers sing pres | aux verb used with the pp to form the p. c. dansédanserto dance | verb | pp ununa | indef art | masc sing soirsoirevening | noun | masc sing

[Chorus 2]
JejeI | pron | first pers sing descendisdescendrego down; get off | verb | simp past [[[Ononone, people, you, someone; we | pron | following verbs conjugate in third pers sing, even when used colloqually to mean 'we' descendradescendrego down; get off | verb | third pers sing fut]]]* toutestoutall | adj | fem pl leslesthe | def art | masc and fem pl rivièresrivièreriver | noun | fem pl
Loinloinfar, distant | adv desdessome | indef art | masc and fem pl JudasJudasJudas | prop noun | name etetand | conj desdessome | indef art | masc and fem pl fauxfauxfalse, wrong, deceitful | adj | masc sing and pl | faux frère = false friend frèresfrèrebrother | nouns | masc pl | faux frère = false friend
Ililhe, it | pron | | il y aura = there will be yyhere, there | adv | | il y aura = there will be auraavoirto have | verb | third pers sing fut | il y aura = there will be ununa | indef art | masc sing paspasstep; footprint; speed, pace | noun | masc sing dedeof; from | prep toitoiyou | pron | sec pers sing, informal
Quandquandwhen | adv, conj lalathe | def art | fem sing nuitnuitnight | noun | fem sing tomberatomberto fall | verb | third pers sing fut prèsprèsnear, close to | adv dedeof; from | prep nousnouswe, us | pron | first pers pl
Oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv c’cethis, that, it | pron | shortened to c' before a vowelestêtreto be | verb | third pers sing pres moimoime | pron | dir and indir obj, first pers sing
Oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv oui,ouiyes | adv voilàvoilàhere is/are; there is/are; this/that is; there you go, there you have it | adv

*See note regarding lyrics above

Lyrics with Translation

Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.

Station 13
Station 13

[Verse 1]
Je suis ce que je savais
I’m what I knew
J’y ai dansé la nuit
I danced there at night
L’esprit parfois retrouvé
The spirit sometimes found
Et parfois c’est fini
And sometimes it’s over
Je me raccroche à qui?
Who do I hang on to?
Tous mes héros sont morts
All my heroes are dead
Ne restent que mes ennemis
Only my enemies remain
Tant pis si j’ai eu tort
Too bad if I was wrong
Je suis ce que je savais
I’m what I knew
J’y ai baigné les soirs
I bathed there in the evenings

[Verse 2]
Je sens que tout va changer
I feel that everything is going to change
J’ai vu le ciel si bas
I saw the sky so low
J’ai traversé les vies
I’ve endured lifetimes
Tous mes héros sont morts
All my heroes are dead
J’y ai vu le vide
I saw the emptiness there
Je m’y accroche encore
I’m still clingng to it
Je suis ce que je savais
I’m what I knew
J’y ai dansé un soir
I danced there one night

[Chorus]
Je descendis toutes les rivières
I went down all the rivers
Loin des Judas et des faux frères
Far from the Judases and the false friends
Il y aura un pas de toi
There will be a footprint of yours
Quand la nuit tombera près de nous
When night falls near us
[[[Oui, oui, oui, c’est moi
Yes, yes, yes, it’s me
Oui, oui, oui, voilà
Yes, yes, yes, there you go]]]*

[Verse 3]
Je sais que tout va changer
I know that everything is going to change
J’y ai dansé la nuit
I danced there at night
J’ai espionné tant que je pouvais
I spied as musch as I could
Et maintenant je sais
And now I know
Je me raccroche à qui?
Who do I cling to?
Tous mes héros sont morts
All my heroes are dead
Ne restent que mes ennemis
Only my enemies remain
Bénis soient mes remords
Blessed be my remorse
Tout est en train de changer
Everything is changing
Je vois le ciel si bas
I see the sky so low
Je suis ce que je savais
I’m what I knew
J’y ai dansé un soir
I danced there one night

[Chorus 2]
Je descendis [[[On descendra]]]* toutes les rivières
I went down [[[We’ll go down]]] all the rivers
Loin des Judas et des faux frères
Far from the Judases and the false friends
Il y aura un pas de toi
There will be a footprint of yours
Quand la nuit tombera près de nous
When night falls near us
Oui, oui, oui, c’est moi
Yes, yes, yes, it’s me
Oui, oui, oui, voilà
Yes, yes, yes, there you go

*See Note regarding lyrics above