Verse One:

English French

* Formerly the clercs Naguere les concierges

were in vogue etaient en vogue
From now on they've Desormais on les a
been replaced by (...) remplaces par des (...)
In my town there were Dans ma ville il n'y
no parking meters avait pas de parcmetre
I used to see Je voyais des ouvriers
workers eating manger des sandwichs a
omelet sandwiches l'omelette
(is omelet = to beatten eggs ?)
The past comes back to my mind Le passe me revient
like a cup-and-ball game comme un bilboquet
The presence of an omnipresent La presence d'un passe
past hasn't gone omnipresent n'est pas passee
The Halles, supplanted Les Halles, supplantees
by the (Coste ?) par le (Coste ?)
The allegory of the 'madeleines' L'allegorie des
* (of Proust / which makes him remember scenes of the past)
swifts away at the madeleines file a la
speed of Prost vitesse de Prost
* (AlainProst, formula 1 racing car world champion)
The air was pure there, L'air y etait pur,
Paris more beautiful Paris plus beau
Now, the subway fare rises Desormais le ticket de
like the metro augmente comme le
number of cars nombre d'autos.
Oh shit, there's no more Oh shit, a la tele
speakerine on TV y a plus de speakrine
There are B-series movies Y a des films de serie
that I estimate B que j'estime a
at four cents quatre centimes
(...) gives me two, (...) me file deux,
three little coins trois piecette
That I peep, and my intellect Que je mate, et mon intellect
find that they are obsolete constate qu'ils sont obsoletes

Verse Two:

Obsolete, but with much style, Obsolete, mais stylee,
the sentence that follows la phrase qui suivra
The man who picks up the L'homme qui capte le
(guy) and whose (mec) et dont le nom
name has a double a possede un double a
The fence (...) crossbow La barriere (...) arbalete
Which (...) Qui (...)
Which is (the approach) Qui est (l'abord)
for decades depuis des decennies
It runs off with on my soul Une main basse sur mon ame
so that he slows down pour qu'il avance au ralenti
But the great manitou, Mais le grand manitou,
handles everything, (...) manie tout, (...)
Of the masks, Des masques la musique
the music has cloaked the place, a masque la place,
one mortgages then on hypotheque puis
* Writes down in italics Inscrit en italiques
* on his agenda sur son agenda
* The top list of the (stuffs) Le top des (trucs ?)
he doesn't like qu'il n'aime pas
In brief, to be Bref, pour etre clair
clear-cut et net
* the belly-tail (????) Le ventre-queue
* is accompanied by s'accompagne
* an ear plug (used by TV hosts to get info) de l'oreillette
Exactly like, to my ears, Tout comme a mes
'my fly' [of trousers] oreilles, 'ma braguette'
Teams up and rhymes S'acoquine et rime
with 'obsolete' avec 'obsolete'

Verse Three:

Obsolete is also Obsolete est aussi
the teaser who l'allumeuse qui
Wore a hair-net and Portait des bas resilles
* bas =pantyhose
stenched patshleaf et empestait le patchouli
For done services Pour des services
she says to me rendus elle me dit
I pay you in kind Je te paye en nature
And I stay stoic Et je reste stoique
when she holds out jams quand elle me tend
to me des confitures
This is forgotten when Ceci est oublie quand
on the month of december au mois de decembre
She telephones and says Elle me telephone et me
Come pick me up dit Passe me prendre
In brief, I abuse of her Bref, j'en abuse
with a delectable feeling avec delectation
(...) like some mead, (...) comme de l'hydromel,
I am in affection je suis en affection
* Then i slide, intrude Puis me glisse, m'immisce
between the smooth thighs entre les cuisses
of the miss lisses de la miss
Her eyes wrinkle, Ses yeux se plissent, et
and she says Stop your vice elle dit Stop ton vice
I am like a ball, Je suis comme une balle,
she plays the role of elle joue le role
* the racket d'une raquette
The luller [!], teaser, L'endormeuse, allumeuse,
fancies herself for a starlette se prend pour une starlette
Message which, in the 'cinematheques' Desuettes, sont classees
Fallen in disuse, are classified in dans les series B,
B-series, at the department 'obsolete' au rayon 'obsolete'