MARTIN L. GORE: LAYS
You definitely, should avoid this book called “MARTIN L. GORE: LAYS” : a bilingual book in french and english about Martin L. Gore Lyrics.
The book itself is great,? you can find original lyrics, and few illustrations, but the translations and writing skills of the author are missing the point, almost every time. It gives a very bad feeling to the lyrics written in english, and translations are almost not french, by times. Obviously the translator doesn’t feel comfortable with french, and maybe this authorized version should not be printed, if you consider it damages original work.
Here is two examples of what has been done :
Personal Jesus :
“Your own personal jesus, Someone to hear your prayers, Someone who cares.”
> Translation <
“Votre J?sus personnel ? vous, Quelqu?un qui entende vos pri?res, quelqu?un qui s?int?resse ? vous.”
It sounds weird, doesn’t it ?! Weird and pretty bad, too. In french , you can read : “Your own personal Jesus, yourself, Someone to hear your prayers, Someone interested in you”
Worst of all, sometimes, translations change sense and meaning and seems to avoid any poetic approach of the lyrics, for example in Never let me down. Lyrics in french “Ne me fais plus jamais faux bond.“? so far translation is ok, but then “ride” becomes “walk” in french, loosing track of the situation.
“I’m taking a ride, With my best friend, I hope he never lets me down again, He knows where he’s taking me, taking me where I want to be, I’m taking a ride With my best friend”
> Translation <
“Je vais en promenade avec mon meilleur ami. J?esp?re que jamais plus il ne me fera faux bond. Il sait o? il m?emm?ne, il m?emm?ne, l? o? je veux me trouver. Je fais un tour avec mon meilleur ami.”
In the end, translated from french you get something like this :
“I’m going out for a walk with my best friend, I hope he will never let me down again, He knows where he’s taking me, taking me where I want to find myself, I’m going out With my best friend”
In fact they are many of the translations that are made without considering the context. If the goal was to give a better understanding of Martin’s lyrics, the goal is missed and like I said, it’s harmful.
Save 23 euros, don’t buy this book.
I don’t think Martin L. Gore knows about this, maybe he should.
P.s: I would advise the writer/translator to read : Musique d’ailleurs par Leonard Cohen, an awesome work, translated by: Jean Guiloineau ?
Depeche-mood : moody depeche-mode devotee 
