Yeah but actually the dream is super dead. In Les Mis, Fantine sings the song after losing her job, her only means of support for her daughter, Cosette. This song is a lament for a time gone. There is zero hope in the English version of the song, and even less hope in the French version. Additionally, the French version of the song is simply beautiful, and much more graceful--it also removes the slight redudnacny of "I dreamed a dream..." What, did you dream a movie? Or a hot dog? Or a car? Of course you dreamed a dream. The French version has her dreaming of "another life"...
I'll try not to offer too much sermon-ing in the middle of the song, as I feel the words speak for themselves.
Link to song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhq5Uana60
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| Louise Pitre as Fantine |
Doux Seigneur, Dear Lord,
Que vous ai-je fait, What have I done to you
Pour que plus je tombe, So that the more I fall
Et plus vous me The more you let
laissiez tomber? Me fall?
J'avais rêvé d'un coeur si grand, I had dreamed of a heart so large
Que le mien y trouve place That mine finds its place there
Pour un bonheur à partager. In order to have a happiness to share
Doux Seigneur, Dear Lord
Que vous ai-je fait? What have I done?
*The famous English version begins with Fantine simply setting up her story. "There was a time, when love was blind..." This version actually has her, in her sadness, asking God why he has abandoned her. The first five lines are an exact transplant of the 1980 French Cast lyrics. The last bit had to be changed, as the 1980 version had this song after "La nuit" ("Lovely Ladies"), and thus included the lyrics: "Dear Jesus, what have you done to me? I've lost everything that I had, I have only myself to share now."*
J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie I had dreamed of another life
Quand ma vie passait When my life used to pass
Comme un rêve. Like a dream
J'étais prête I was ready
À toutes les folies, For all the madness
À toutes les passions For every passion
Qui se lèvent. That arose.
J'étais si jeune, où est le mal ? I was so young, what's wrong with that?
Je voulais rire, I wanted to laugh
Aimer et vivre, To love and to live
Danser jusqu'à la fin du bal, To dance till the end of the ball
Ivre du bonheur d'être libre. Drunk from the happiness of being free
Mais les loups rôdent dans la nuit; But the wolves roam in the night;
Et l'un d'eux flairait ma trace. And one of them caught my trace
Moi, j'ai comblé l'appétit I fulfilled the appetite
Du premier voleur qui passe. Of the first thief who came by.
Il a accoutumé ma vie He got my life accustomed
À la chaleur de sa présence. To the heat of his presence
Et puis un jour il est parti And then one day, he left
En m'ayant volé mon enfance. Having stolen from me my childhood.
Parfois je rêve de lui encore: Sometimes I still dream of him:
Il me supplie et il regrette. He begs me and he is sorry
Mais le rêve s'éteint à l'aurore, But the dream passes away at dawn,
Comme les lampions d'un soir de fête. Like the light of a night's party.
*Sorry to interrupt, but, on the opening night of the show in Paris in 1991, the line was sung, "Mais le rêve s'éteint au matin" ("But the dream fades away at morning").*
J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie. I had dreamed of another life
À peine commencée elle s'achève. Hardly begun, it concludes.
J'avais rêvé d'une autre vie, I had dreamed of another life,
Mais la vie a tué Bit life has killed
Mes rêves. My dreams.
I hardly have any words to say about this. The song speaks for itself. Just try listening to the English version after knowing this.
Next post: a surprise translation from the original 1980 version of the show.
*Louise Pitre photo from: http://musicals.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=65863&start=60
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