English Translation of "A Tout Berzinge" by Jacques Dutronc

Song: A Tout Berzinge 

Artist: Jacques Dutronc

♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ 

 In 5 seconds 

I drink my “Blanc sec”,*

At full speed

I flatter myself,

At full volume

I sing my hits

You’re rushed, pressurized 

Life goes quick wherever you live 

You have to charge forward in order to survive 

And belong to the elite corps 

Full steam ahead 

I give them flowers, 

At top speed 

I celebrate them, 

At full throttle 

I put back on my clothes 

But don’t think that with girls 

I’m a pressure cooker**

Because in reality, with girls, 

I’m a “coco minute”***

In a cafeteria

I eat a steak, 

In a snack bar 

I drink cognac, 

In the pharmacies****

That’s where I flirt 

But don’t think that with girls 

I’m a pressure cooker**

Because in reality, with girls, 

I’m a “coco minute”***

In less than two 

I tell them, “I want you”, 

In two turns 

I’ve made three moves 

In five seconds 

They’re soaked

I’m in a hurry, hurry, hurry 

My life goes fast, very fast, too fast 

I have to charge forward without hesitation. 

*A type of white wine. 

**In French a pressure cooker is called a “cocotte minute”, or “minute cooker”. Which leads us to the next point…

***So I’m not entirely sure what this means, it seems to be a play on words that I’m going to struggle to explain. Basically from the previous line you’re expecting him to make a joke like he doesn’t last a minute, he last longer. Instead, he says “coco minute”, which is literally “coconut minute”. The play on words is two fold: first, coco is shorter than cocotte, making it seem like it’s even shorter, which is humorous. Second, cocotte is a very female word, both grammatically and in use, and can be used to apply to mistresses and prostitutes. Coco is very masculine, so it can be used to refer to a male lover, or as you would use “guy” in English (as well as coke (the white kind) and commies(the red kind), which we’re not going to expand on here). So it’s like saying “you think I last a minute cause I’m in a rush? No, I last a manly minute”. Something like that. 

Maybe someone smarter than me can correct me. 

****He says "dans les drugs" here, which literally is "in the drugs". Around this time the word "drugstore" was popularly used instead of "pharmacie", so I went with a slang interpretation, but I could be wrong with my interpretation.