The Little Piou-Piou
(The French "Tommy").
Oh, some of us lolled in the chateau,
And some of us slinked in the slum;
But now we are here with a song and a cheer
To serve at the sign of the drum.
They put us in trousers of scarlet,
In big sloppy ulsters of blue;
In boots that are flat, a box of a hat,
And they call us the little piou-piou.
Piou-piou.
The laughing and quaffing piou-piou,
The swinging and singing piou-piou;
And so with a rattle we march to the battle,
The weary but cheery piou-piou.
Encore un petit verre de vin,
Pour nous mettre en route;
Encore un petit verre de vin
Pour nous mettre en train.
They drive us head-on for the slaughter;
We haven't got much of a chance;
The issue looks bad, but we're awfully glad
To battle and die for La France.
For some must be killed, that is certain;
There's only one's duty to do;
So we leap to the fray in the glorious way
They expect of the little piou-piou.
En avant!
The way of the gallant piou-piou,
The dashing and smashing piou-piou;
The way grim and gory that leads us to glory
Is the way of the little piou-piou.
Allons, enfants de la Patrie,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé.
To-day you would scarce recognise us,
Such veterans war-wise are we;
So grimy and hard, so calloused and scarred,
So "crummy", yet gay as can be.
We've finished with trousers of scarlet,
They're giving us breeches of blue,
With a helmet instead of a cap on our head, -
Yet still we're the little piou-piou.
Nous les aurons!
The jesting, unresting piou-piou;
The cheering, unfearing piou-piou;
The keep-your-head-level and fight-like-the-devil;
The dying, defying piou-piou.
À la bayonette! Jusqu'a la mort!
Sonnez la charge, clairons!
poem by Robert William Service
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Related quotes
L'Image
Que pour d’autres l’amour rende triste l’aurore
Du regret frissonnant d’avoir hier aimé !
Pour nous, dans l’air palpite et se répand encore
La ténébreuse odeur dont tu l’as parfumé.
N’as-tu pas vu, en nous, se lever de l’étreinte
Un dieu né de notre âme et fait de notre chair,
Et qui, debout au seuil de la maison éteinte,
En la jeune clarté sourit au matin clair ?
Amour, prends aujourd’hui nos formes dans la tienne,
Prête-nous pour marcher dans l’herbe tes pieds nus
Et que, ce soir, tes pas par les nôtres reviennent
Au seuil mystérieux où nous t’aurons connu ;
Et laisse-nous, durant ce jour que tu nous donnes,
Sentir en lui ton feu, ta force et ta beauté
Et mirer dans les eaux qui reflètent l’automne
L’image en un seul corps de notre doubleété.
poem by Henri de Regnier
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Aux Feuillantines
Mes deux frères et moi, nous étions tout enfants.
Notre mère disait: jouez, mais je défends
Qu'on marche dans les fleurs et qu'on monte aux échelles.
Abel était l'aîné, j'étais le plus petit.
Nous mangions notre pain de si bon appétit,
Que les femmes riaient quand nous passions près d'elles.
Nous montions pour jouer au grenier du couvent.
Et là, tout en jouant, nous regardions souvent
Sur le haut d'une armoire un livre inaccessible.
Nous grimpâmes un jour jusqu'à ce livre noir ;
Je ne sais pas comment nous fimes pour l'avoir,
Mais je me souviens bien que c'était une Bible.
Ce vieux livre sentait une odeur d'encensoir.
Nous allâmes ravis dans un coin nous asseoir.
Des estampes partout ! quel bonheur ! quel délire!
Nous l'ouvrîmes alors tout grand sur nos genoux,
Et dès le premier mot il nous parut si doux
Qu'oubliant de jouer, nous nous mîmes à lire.
Nous lûmes tous les trois ainsi, tout le matin,
Joseph, Ruth et Booz, le bon Samaritain,
Et, toujours plus charmés, le soir nous le relûmes.
Tels des enfants, s'ils ont pris un oiseau des cieux,
S'appellent en riant et s'étonnent, joyeux,
De sentir dans leur main la douceur de ses plumes.
poem by Victor Hugo
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We—Bee and I—live by the quaffing
230
We—Bee and I—live by the quaffing—
'Tisn't all Hock—with us—
Life has its Ale—
But it's many a lay of the Dim Burgundy—
We chant—for cheer—when the Wines—fail—
Do we "get drunk"?
Ask the jolly Clovers!
Do we "beat" our "Wife"?
I—never wed—
Bee—pledges his—in minute flagons—
Dainty—as the trees—on our deft Head—
While runs the Rhine—
He and I—revel—
First—at the vat—and latest at the Vine—
Noon—our last Cup—
"Found dead"—"of Nectar"—
By a humming Coroner—
In a By-Thyme!
poem by Emily Dickinson
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Kelly Of The Legion
Now Kelly was no fighter;
He loved his pipe and glass;
An easygoing blighter,
Who lived in Montparnasse.
But 'mid the tavern tattle
He heard some guinney say:
"When France goes forth to battle,
The Legion leads the way.
"The scourings of creation,
Of every sin and station,
The men who've known damnation,
Are picked to lead the way."
Well, Kelly joined the Legion;
They marched him day and night;
They rushed him to the region
Where largest loomed the fight.
"Behold your mighty mission,
Your destiny," said they;
"By glorious tradition
The Legion leads the way.
"With tattered banners flying
With trail of dead and dying,
On! On! All hell defying,
The Legion sweeps the way."
With grim, hard-bitten faces,
With jests of savage mirth,
They swept into their places,
The men of iron worth;
Their blooded steel was flashing;
They swung to face the fray;
Then rushing, roaring, crashing,
The Legion cleared the way.
The trail they blazed was gory;
Few lived to tell the story;
Through death they plunged to glory;
But, oh, they cleared the way!
Now Kelly lay a-dying,
And dimly saw advance,
With split new banners flying,
The fantassins of France.
Then up amid the melee
He rose from where he lay;
"Come on, me boys," says Kelly,
"The Layjun lades the way!"
Aye, while they faltered, doubting
(Such flames of doom were spouting),
He caught them, thrilled them, shouting:
"The Layjun lades the way!"
They saw him slip and stumble,
Then stagger on once more;
They marked him trip and tumble,
A mass of grime and gore;
They watched him blindly crawling
Amid hell's own affray,
And calling, calling, calling:
"The Layjun lades the way!"
And even while they wondered,
The battle-wrack was sundered;
To Victory they thundered,
But . . . Kelly led the way.
Still Kelly kept agoing;
Berserker-like he ran;
His eyes with fury glowing,
A lion of a man;
His rifle madly swinging,
His soul athirst to slay,
His slogan ringing, ringing,
"The Layjun lades the way!"
Till in a pit death-baited,
Where Huns with Maxims waited,
He plunged . . . and there, blood-sated,
To death he stabbed his way.
Now Kelly was a fellow
Who simply loathed a fight:
He loved a tavern mellow,
Grog hot and pipe alight;
I'm sure the Show appalled him,
And yet without dismay,
When Death and Duty called him,
He up and led the way.
So in Valhalla drinking
(If heroes meek and shrinking
Are suffered there), I'm thinking
'Tis Kelly leads the way.
poem by Robert William Service
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The Egg-Shell
The wind took off with the sunset--
The fog came up with the tide,
When the Witch of the North took an Egg-shell
With a little Blue Devil inside.
"Sink," she said, "or swim," she said,
"It's all you will get from me.
And that is the finish of him!" she said
And the Egg-shell went to sea.
The wind fell dead with the midnight--
The fog shut down like a sheet,
When the Witch of the North heard the Egg-shell
Feeling by hand for a fleet.
"Get!" she said, "or you're gone," she said.,
But the little Blue Devil said "No!
"The sights are just coming on," he said,
And he let the Whitehead go.
The wind got up with the morning--
The fog blew off with the rain,
When the Witch of the North saw the Egg-shell
And the little Blue Devil again.
"Did you swim?" she said. "Did you sink?" she said,
And the little Blue Devil replied:
"For myself I swam, but I think," he said,
"There's somebody sinking outside."
poem by Rudyard Kipling
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A Child's Nightmare
Through long nursery nights he stood
By my bed unwearying,
Loomed gigantic, formless, queer,
Purring in my haunted ear
That same hideous nightmare thing,
Talking, as he lapped my blood,
In a voice cruel and flat,
Saying for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."
That one word was all he said,
That one word through all my sleep,
In monotonous mock despair.
Nonsense may be light as air,
But there's Nonsense that can keep
Horror bristling round the head,
When a voice cruel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."
He had faded, he was gone
Years ago with Nursery Land,
When he leapt on me again
From the clank of a night train,
Overpowered me foot and head,
Lapped my blood, while on and on
The old voice cruel and flat
Says for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..."
Morphia drowsed, again I lay
In a crater by High Wood:
He was there with straddling legs,
Staring eyes as big as eggs,
Purring as he lapped my blood,
His black bulk darkening the day,
With a voice cruel and flat,
"Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!..." he said, "Cat! ... Cat!..."
When I'm shot through heart and head,
And there's no choice but to die,
The last word I'll hear, no doubt,
Won't be "Charge!" or "Bomb them out!"
Nor the stretcher-bearer's cry,
"Let that body be, he's dead!"
But a voice cruel and flat
Saying for ever, "Cat! ... Cat! ... Cat!"
poem by Robert Graves
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Sonnet V: Nothing But No
Nothing but "No," and "Aye," and "Aye," and "No"?
How falls it out so strangely you reply?
I tell ye, Fair, I'll not be answer'd so,
With this affirming "No," denying "Aye."
I say, "I love," you slightly answer "Aye";
I say, "You love," you pule me out a "No";
I say, "I die," you echo me an "Aye";
"Save me," I cry, you sigh me out a "No";
Must woe and I have nought but "No" and "Aye"?
No I am I, if I no more can have;
Answer no more, with silence make reply,
And let me take myself what I do crave.
Let "No" and "Aye" with I and you be so;
Then answer "No," and "Aye," and "Aye" and "No."
poem by Michael Drayton
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The Schoolfellow
Our game was his but yesteryear;
We wished him back; we could not know
The self-same hour we missed him here
He led the line that broke the foe.
Blood-red behind our guarded posts
Sank as of old and dying day;
The battle ceased; the mingled hosts
Weary and cheery went their way:
"To-morrow well may bring," we said,
"As fair a fight, as clear a sun."
Dear Lad, before the world was sped,
For evermore thy goal was won.
poem by Sir Henry Newbolt
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God's Grief
"Lord God of Hosts," the people pray,
"Make strong our arms that we may slay
Our cursed foe and win the day."
"Lord God of Battles," cries the foe,
"Guide us to strike a bloody blow,
And lay the adversary low."
But brooding o'er the battle smother
Bewails the Lord: "Brother to brother,
Why must ye slaughter one another?
When will ye come to understand
My peace, and hand reach out to hand,
In every race, in every land?"
And yet, his weary words despite,
Went murderously on the fight,
Till God from mankind hid His sight,
Saying: "Poor children, must you gain
To brotherhood through millions slain?
--Was anguish on the Cross in vain?"
poem by Robert William Service
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Our Captain's Last Words
Where the foremost flag was flying,
Pierce'd by manny a shot and shell,
Where the bravest men were dying,
There our gallant captain fell.
"Boys! you follow now another;
Follow till the foe shall yield;"
Then he whisper'd, "Tell my mother
Stephen died upon the field."
"Mother!"
"Moth er!"
"Stephen died upon the field."
Through the battle they bore him,
But his words were growing wild;
Heeding not the scenes before him,
Stephen was once more a child.
"Ah, she comes! there is no other
Speaks my name with such a joy;
Press me to your bosom, mother,
Call my still your darling joy."
"Mother!"
"Mother !"
"Call my still your darling joy."
Men who were not used to weeping,
Turn'd aside to hide a tear,
When they saw the pallor creeping,
That assured them death was near.
Kindly as he were a brother,
Strangers caught his parting breath,
Laden with the mumur "mother"
Last upon his lips in death.
"Mother!"
"Mother!&qu ot;
Last upon his lips in death.
poem by Henry Clay Work
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A Domestic Tragedy
Clorinda met me on the way
As I came from the train;
Her face was anything but gay,
In fact, suggested pain.
"Oh hubby, hubby dear!" she cried,
"I've awful news to tell. . . ."
"What is it, darling?" I replied;
"Your mother -- is she well?"
"Oh no! oh no! it is not that,
It's something else," she wailed,
My heart was beating pit-a-pat,
My ruddy visage paled.
Like lightning flash in heaven's dome
The fear within me woke:
"Don't say," I cried, "our little home
Has all gone up in smoke!"
She shook her head. Oh, swift I clasped
And held her to my breast;
"The children! Tell me quick," I gasped,
"Believe me, it is best."
Then, then she spoke; 'mid sobs I caught
These words of woe divine:
"It's coo-coo-cook has gone and bought
A new hat just like mine."
poem by Robert William Service
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Et qu'importent et les pourquoi et les raisons
Et qu'importent et les pourquoi et les raisons
Et qui nous fûmes et qui nous sommes :
Tout doute est mort, en ce jardin de floraisons
Qui s'ouvre en nous et hors de nous, si loin des hommes.
Je ne raisonne pas, et ne veux pas savoir
Et rien ne troublera ce qui n'est que mystère
Et qu'élans doux et que ferveur involontaire
Et que tranquille essor vers nos parvis d'espoir.
Je te sens claire, avant de te comprendre telle ;
Et c'est ma joie, infiniment,
De m'éprouver si doucement aimant
Sans demander pourquoi ta voix m'appelle.
Soyons simples et bons - et que le jour
Nous soit tendresse et lumière servies,
Et laissons dire que la vie
N'est point faite pour un pareil amour.
poem by Emile Verhaeren
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Moving
Je me suis déplacé avant
il ne m'effraye pas
au début plus d'est ma ligne de sauvetage
nous nous déplaçons quand les temps obtiennent dur
nous nous déplaçons pour une raison
nous nous déplaçons parce que nous avons perdu notre but
qui est pourquoi je me suis déplacé
et c'était la meilleure décision
j'ont fait les amis vrais
j'ont une vraie famille
j'ont tellement plus eh bien avant
Translation:
I have moved before
It doesn't scare me
To start over is my lifeline
We move when times get hard
We move for a reason
We move because we lost our purpose
That's why I moved
And it was the best decision
I have made true friends
I have a real family
I have so much more now then before
poem by Emily Tyrrell
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Tipperary Days
Oh, weren't they the fine boys! You never saw the beat of them,
Singing all together with their throats bronze-bare;
Fighting-fit and mirth-mad, music in the feet of them,
Swinging on to glory and the wrath out there.
Laughing by and chaffing by, frolic in the smiles of them,
On the road, the white road, all the afternoon;
Strangers in a strange land, miles and miles and miles of them,
Battle-bound and heart-high, and singing this tune:
It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go;
It's a long way to Tipperary,
And the sweetest girl I know.
Good-bye, Piccadilly,
Farewell, Lester Square:
It's a long, long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.
"Come, Yvonne and Juliette! Come, Mimi, and cheer for them!
Throw them flowers and kisses as they pass you by.
Aren't they the lovely lads! Haven't you a tear for them
Going out so gallantly to dare and die?
What is it they're singing so? Some high hymn of Motherland?
Some immortal chanson of their Faith and King?
'Marseillaise' or 'Brabanc,on', anthem of that other land,
Dears, let us remember it, that song they sing:
"C'est un chemin long 'to Tepararee',
C'est un chemin long, c'est vrai;
C'est un chemin long 'to Tepararee',
Et la belle fille qu'je connais.
Bonjour, Peekadeely!
Au revoir, Lestaire Squaire!
C'est un chemin long 'to Tepararee',
Mais mon coeur 'ees zaire'."
The gallant old "Contemptibles"! There isn't much remains of them,
So full of fun and fitness, and a-singing in their pride;
For some are cold as clabber and the corby picks the brains of them,
And some are back in Blighty, and a-wishing they had died.
And yet it seems but yesterday, that great, glad sight of them,
Swinging on to battle as the sky grew black and black;
But oh their glee and glory, and the great, grim fight of them! --
Just whistle Tipperary and it all comes back:
It's a long way to Tipperary
(Which means "'ome" anywhere);
It's a long way to Tipperary
(And the things wot make you care).
Good-bye, Piccadilly
('Ow I 'opes my folks is well);
It's a long, long way to Tipperary --
('R! Ain't War just 'ell?)
poem by Robert William Service
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Reste Encore Un Instant
(m. hawker / i. raymonde / revaux / g. molet)
French version of stay awhile
Reste encore un instant
Reste encore, je voudrais te parler
De lamour que jai trouv? cette nuit
Oh yeah
Reste encore un instant
Reste encore, car sans toi
Mon coeur sennuie
Chaque fois que tu es loin de moi
Stay awhile
Stay awhile, I want to speak to you
About the love that I found tonight
Oh yeah
Stay awhile
Stay awhile, because without you
My heart is breaking
Every time that you are far from me
Mais si tu veux partir
Moi, je ferai tout pour te retenir
Je voudrais te garder toujours
Prs de moi, chri
But if you want to leave
I, I will do everything to keep you here
Darling, I want to keep you
By my side forever
Ne pars pas, je ten prie
Nous allons recommencer notre amour
Pour toujours
Reste encore un instant
Dont go, I beg of you
We are going to start our love anew
Stay awhile
Oh yeah yeah
Mais si tu veux partir
Moi, je ferai tout pour te retenir
Je voudrais te garder toujours
Prs de moi, chri
But if you want to leave
I, I will do everything to keep you here
Darling, I want to keep you
By my side forever
Ne pars pas, je ten prie
Nous allons recommencer notre amour
Pour toujours
Reste encore un instant
Dont go, I beg of you
We are going to start our love anew
Stay awhile
Oh yeah yeah
Reste encore
Reste encore un instant
Non, non, non
Reste encore avec moi
Come on now
Reste encore un instant
Oh yeah yeah
Stay awhile
Stay awhile
No, no, no
Stay awhile with me
Come on now
Stay awhile
song performed by by Dusty Springfield
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Politeness
The English and the French were met
Upon the field of future battle;
The foes were formidably set
And waiting for the guns to rattle;
When from the serried ranks of France
The English saw with woeful presage
Under a flaming flag advance
A trumpeter who bore a message.
'Twas from their Marshal, quite polite,
Yet made the English leader shiver.
"We're perched," said he, "upon the height,
While you're exposed beside the river.
We have the vantage, you'll agree,
And your look-out is melancholy;
But being famed for courtesy
We'll let you fire the starting volley."
The English General was moved,
In fact his eyes were almost tearful;
Then he too his politeness proved
By writing back: "We are not fearful.
Our England is too proud to take
The privilege you thrust upon her;
So let your guns in thunder break:
To you, M'sieu, shall be the houour."
Again a note the Marshall sent
By envoy for his battle station:
"Your spirit wins my compliment,
Your courage my appreciation.
Yet you are weak and we are strong,
And though your faith is most inspiring,
Don't let us linger all day long -
Mon General, begin the firing."
"How chivalrous the soul of France."
The English General reflected.
"I hate to take this happy chance,
But I suppose it's what's expected.
Politeness is a platitude
In this fair land of gallant foemen."
So with a heart of gratitude
He primed his guns and cried: "Let's go men!"
The General was puzzled when
No answer came, said he: "What is it?
Why don't they give us hell?" And then
The herald paid another visit.
The Marshall wrote: "to your salute
Please pardon us for not replying;
To shatter you we cannot shoot . . .
My men are dead and I am dying."
poem by Robert William Service
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Another Acrostic ( In the style of Father William )
"Are you deaf, Father William!" the young man said,
"Did you hear what I told you just now?
"Excuse me for shouting! Don't waggle your head
"Like a blundering, sleepy old cow!
"A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town,
"Is my friend, so I beg to remark:
"Do you think she'd be pleased if a book were sent down
"Entitled 'The Hunt of the Snark?'"
"Pack it up in brown paper!" the old man cried,
"And seal it with olive-and-dove.
"I command you to do it!" he added with pride,
"Nor forget, my good fellow to send her beside
"Easter Greetings, and give her my love."
poem by Lewis Carroll
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Les menus faits, les mille riens
Les menus faits, les mille riens,
Une lettre, une date, un humble anniversaire,
Un mot que l'on redit comme aux jours de naguère
Exalte en ces longs soirs ton coeur comme le mien.
Et nous solennisons pour nous ces simples choses
Et nous comptons et recomptons nos vieux trésors,
Pour que le peu de nous qui nous demeure encor
Reste ferme et vaillant devant l'heure morose.
Et plus qu'il ne convient, nous nous montrons jaloux
De ces pauvres, douces et bienveillantes joies
Qui s'asseyent sur le banc près du feu qui flamboie
Avec les fleurs d'hiver sur leurs maigres genoux,
Et prennent dans la huche, où leur bonté le cèle,
Le pain clair du bonheur qui nous fut partagé,
Et dont, chez nous, l'amour a si longtemps mangé
Qu'il en aime jusqu'aux parcelles.
poem by Emile Verhaeren
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Young Henry
Air -- "Drummer Boy of Waterloo"
Young Henry was as faithful boy
As ever stood on the American soil,
And he did enlist, without a doubt,
When the rebellion was broke out.
He was his parents' only son,
And only child he was but one,
That was a girl aged seventeen,
Henry called her his May Queen.
Young Henry said, "Dear sister May,
What do you think my friends will say?
For now my name is on the roll,
And I down south will have to go."
"I hear my country's call," said he,
"For all her sons of liberty,
And I, forever, will prove true
To that dear old flag, red, white and blue."
"I love my father and mother dear,
I leave you, May, their hearts to cheer;
When I am gone, pray do not mourn
If I should never return home."
His sister then to him did say,
"My only brother, blithe and gay,
Our country calls, calls from afar;
May God protect you through the war."
Their father hearing all was said,
It made his noble heart grow sad;
"My children, I love both of you,
And yet I love my country, too."
"My son, if I was young again,
I never could at home remain,
And see my native land, now free,
Dissolved and made in slavery."
Young Henry left his father's home,
And left his friends for him to mourn,
A captain of a little band,
He marched away from Michigan.
In the battle of Fredericksburg,
Above the battle roar was heard,
"Fight on! fight on! brave boys," he cried,
"I am shot and wounded, and must die."
They placed his head upon the grass,
So he could see his brave boys pass;
"Go tell my father, Henry's slain
To keep him from the rebel's chain."
They dug his grave beneath that spot,
They wrapped him in his soldier's coat,
And while the battle drums they heard,
They laid him low at Fredericksburg.
poem by Julia A Moore
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Les Maniquins
Eins, zwei, drei, vier.
Nous sommes immobiles
Dans la vitrine
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
On nous observe
Nous sentons vivre notre pouls
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous regardons alentours
Et nous changeons de pause
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous commencons a marcher
Et nous brisons la glace
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous faisons quelques pas
A l'interieur de la ville
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous rentrons dans un club
Et commencons a danser
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins
Nous sommes les mannequins ...
song performed by by Kraftwerk
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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