Georges Moustaki's "Le Mètéque" (佐治‧穆斯德基的《外鬼》)

I remember that one of the first names of French singers I learned when I was studying French was that of Georges Moustaki. I still remember that our teacher then for French for Foreigners, Madame Pécout-Castell played a few of his songs in class so that we might have a feel of how French might sound in French songs. Amongst the songs she played was one called La Paresse ("Laziness/Idleness") by Georges Moustaki. I was so surprised that one could make a song out of, of all things, "laziness"! It made a very big dent on my then very Chinese sensibility and values. I suppose that's what some more erudite

academics would have called a "cultural shock".   But it was an excellent song. So I asked her for the name of the singer and once I got time, I immediately rode my bicycle to Rue St. Catherine and bought a cassette, something which younger folks would have absolutely no idea of what "it" could be, containing that song, both to enjoy listening to it and to improve on my French. The moment I was back in my own university dorm, overlooking a row of beautiful evergreen pine trees across a huge lawn, I put it on and listened and listened. I loved every song.  But the song whose music and rhythm  which appealed to me most was one called "Le Mètéque". "Météque" in French means something like 亞差 /亞燦 in Hong Kong Chinese, ie. some outside people from a different culture whom one looks down upon in the dominant culture. "guele" in French is another vulgar slang word usually used for the mouth of animals and when the French wants someone to shut up in a rude manner, he'd shout "Ta gueule". (literally "your beastly mouth ")
Georges Moustaki himself was one of the most famous urban folk singers in France at that time. He was a singer-songwriter of Italo-Greek origin, a Sephardic Jew originally from the Greek island of  Corfu in the Mediterranean, born  in 1934 as Giuseppe Mustacchi, in Alexandria, Egypt..He is best known for the poetic rhythm and simplicity of the romantic songs he composed and often sang. He wrote a total of some 300 songs and enjoyed equal fame as such other famous French singers as Édith Piaf, Dalida, Françoise Hardy, Yves Montand, Barbara, Brigitte Fontaine, Herbert Pagani, France Gall, Cindy Daniel, Juliette Greco, Pia Colombo, and Tino Rossi. But he is little known in Hong Kong.
Moustaki's parents were both linguists: his father spoke 5 languages and his mother six and they owned the Cité du livre (Book City) in  Alexandria, one of the finest book shops in the Middle East. The young Giuseppe and his two older sisters spoke Italian at home and Arabic in the streets and he learned French at a French school there and at 17, he tried his fortune in France, working as a door-to-door salesman of poetry books. He began playing the piano and singing in nightclubs in Paris, where he met some of the era's best-known performers.

His career took off after the singer-songwriter Georges Brassens took him under his wings. Brassens introduced him to other artists and intellectuals and out of gratitude, Moustaki adopted the his first name. He loved the songs of Édith Piaf, Charles Trenet, Henri Salvador, Georges Ulmer, Yves Montand, Georges Guétary and Luis Mariano. In the 1950's, Moustaki was introduced to Édith Piaf, then at the peak of her fame. After she heard him, she was touched and asked him to see her perform that same evening at the Olympia music hall and to show her later the songs that he sang so badly. He soon began writing songs for Piaf, the most famous of which, Milord, about a lower-class girl who falls in love with an upper-class British traveller, reached number one in Germany in 1960 and number 24 in the British charts the same year. It has since been performed by numerous artists, including Bobby Darin and Cher. Piaf was captivated by Moustaki's music, as well as his great charm. Piaf liked how his musical compositions were flavored with jazz and styles that went beyond France's borders. Moustaki and Piaf became lovers and embarked on what the newspaper Libération described as a year of "devastating, mad love", with the newspapers following "the 'scandal' of the 'gigolo' and his dame day after day".

After a decade of composing songs for various famous singers, Moustaki launched a successful career as a performer himself, singing in French, Italian, English, Greek, Portuguese, Arabic and Spanish.Moustaki became a French citizen in 1985. In 2008, after a 50-year career during which he performed on every continent, Moustaki recorded his last album, Solitaire. On it, he recorded two songs with China Forbes.. In 2009, in a packed concert hall in Barcelona, he told the stunned audience that he was giving his last public performance as he would no longer be capable of singing because of an irreversible bronchial illness.He died in Nice, France on 23rd, May, 2013 just two months or so ago.

As a tribute to him, I'll post below that song which I so loved. my first love, so to speak: " Le Mètéque", with my translation in Chinese. 

Le Mètéque Avec ma gueule de métèque De Juif errant, de pâtre grec Et mes cheveux aux quatre vents Avec mes yeux tout délavés Qui me donnent l'air de rêver Moi qui ne rêve plus souvent Avec mes mains de maraudeur De musicien et de rôdeur Qui ont pillé tant de jardins Avec ma bouche qui a bu Qui a embrassé et mordu Sans jamais assouvir sa faim Avec ma gueule de métèque De Juif errant, de pâtre grec De voleur et de vagabond Avec ma peau qui s'est frottée Au soleil de tous les étés Et tout ce qui portait jupon Avec mon cœur qui a su faire Souffrir autant qu'il a souffert Sans pour cela faire d'histoires Avec mon âme qui n'a plus La moindre chance de salut Pour éviter le purgatoire Avec ma gueule de métèque De Juif errant, de pâtre grec Et mes cheveux aux quatre vents Je viendrai, ma douce captive Mon âme sœur, ma source vive Je viendrai boire tes vingt ans Et je serai prince de sang Rêveur ou bien adolescent Comme il te plaira de choisir Et nous ferons de chaque jour Toute une éternité d'amour Que nous vivrons à en mourir Et nous ferons de chaque jour Toute une éternité d'amour Que nous vivrons à en mourir George Moustaki

外鬼  以我那外鬼的臭口 祖藉希臘流離失所的猶太人 和我四散的頭髮 以我那乾涸而 看像尋夢 但已不常造夢的眼精 以我那劫匪 音樂家和夜鬼 偷過無數花園之手 以我那飲過 擁抱和細嚼過 卻永不滿足的咀巴 以我那外鬼的臭口 祖藉希臘流離失所的猶太人 賊盜和流浪漢 以我那在夏陽 和有裙褲穿的人兒 洗擦過的皮膚 以我那知怎樣 受盡它曾受之苦 而不就此而大造文章的心靈 以我那毫無避過煉獄 獲得救贖機會 的靈魂 以我那外鬼的臭口 祖藉希臘流離失所的猶太人 和我四散的頭髮 我溫柔的獵物，我已來 我的靈魂充滿信心，我的源泉充滿生命 我已啜飲你的二十芳齡 我將成為血液奔騰的皇子 造夢者或是少年 一切唯你喜悅是瞻 我們將把每天 變成永恆的愛 令我們為死而生 我們將把每天 變成永恆的愛 令我們為死而生 佐治. 穆斯德基 愛梭羅(El Zorro) 譯….

     

and this is that song "Milord" which he composed and which his one time lover Edith Piaf made world famous.