Anaïs (Sunday, 2011 October 9)
Here is a song that I heard once upon a time in the weird linguistic limbo at Up Station in Bamenda, neither wholly Anglophone nor wholly Francophone, but somehow a little of both. It is therefore one of the songs (like "Quality Doctor") that I’ve been hunting for a while. It turns out to be by a performer named Samy Diko; I bought a CD "of his" at the village marché yesterday for 300 CFA. It’s all MP3s so I’ll probably be uploading a few more of them.
The lyrics go:
C’est toi qui m’as tout apprisLes bonnes choses et les mauvaises aussiDans tes oreilles, je t’ai murmuré,Dans tes bras, je me suis confié, Anaïs (ah oui)Je t’aime, je t’ai donné mon coeur, aiTu m’as laissé tomber, tu est allée ailleursTu m’as laissé tomber, tu m’as brisé le cÅ“urLes projets que toi et moi, on avaitTu les as laissé tomber pour aller ailleursAujourd’hui tu est allée à villa, tu laisse tomber [et ta beauté???]Là où toi et moi, on avait commencéC’est toi qui m’as tout apprisLes bonnes choses et les mauvaises aussiAnaïs, pourquoi tu m’as fait ça?Toi et moi, depuis nos debutsMais aujourd’hui tu as vu la lumière du jourTu as laissé tomber.. la torcheAnaïs, AnaïsIl n’y aura pas une autre comme toiTu m’as laissé tomber, tu m’as brisé le cÅ“urTu m’as laissé tomber, tu est allée ailleurs—Samy Diko, "Anaïs"
Translated with no regard whatsoever to poetic beauty:
It’s you who taught me everythingThe good things, and the bad things tooIn your ears, I murmured to youIn your arms, I entrusted myselfI love you, I gave you my heartYou let me go, you went elsewhereYou let me go, you broke my heartThe plans that you and I, we hadYou let them go to go elsewhereToday you went to the villa, you let go [and your beauty???]Where you and I, we startedAnais, why did you do this to me?You and I, since our beginningsBut today you saw today’s lightYou let go.. the torchThere will not be another one like youYou let me go, you broke my heartYou let me go, you went elsewhere
It’s obviously a breakup song, but as a linguistic note it’s interesting that he uses "tu" forms to address the woman who dumped him. "Tu" forms predominate here in Cameroon when addressing singular people — only in rare, formal situations do "vous" forms come out — but still I like to think that once you’ve achieved a certain level of intimacy with someone, they can never become a formal "vous" for you ever again.
For contrast, here’s another song by the same artist. You can here that the melody he sings is pretty much the same, but the background changes. It’s like that in a few other songs too, which is maybe why none of them grab me the way "Anaïs" does.