Vancouver, the Song

There actually aren’t many songs explicitly about Vancouver.  Maybe it’s too hard to rhyme – at least in English.

Veronique Sanson is considered to be one of the most talented French – as in Parisienne – songwriters.  In 1976, her album Vancouver was recorded in London with British musicians. Says Wikipedia: “The album went platinum and got a tremendous amount of radio play, especially the single Vancouver, one of her biggest hits.”

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Here are the French lyrics, and below “a rusty translation into English” by Don Buchanan, who recounts: “The first time I was in Paris, a local who’d never been to our city spoke of the romantic vision Parisians have of Vancouver, and that there was an album and song named after the city – and did I know that?”

“Vancouver”

Going  from town to town, I know it well

I  lead my life like a lost raft

People of the night are always there when you need then

They welcome you with laughter and applause

The smell of alcohol, I know it well

The hair that sticks to the musicians forehead

Life’s  choices are difficult

I dream of things I do not really want

I  sing in the port of Vancouver,

I sing of bitter memories

And  I dance, I dance, it’s great

I never want to see the morning

and it’s  great

At noon I’m in  my bed and dreaming of something

At midnight  I’m in town and looking for something

Life’s crazy trails, I  know them well

Girls flying around musicians

People of the night are still there when you need them

They greet you with laughter and applause

(I can’t translate the  next part very well, not being familiar enought with the common use of the  language, but i think she’s talking about a relationship with a man, rather  than with the audience)

The sound of silence, he must have known

I call on the chance that never came

Life’s choices are difficult

I dream things I do not really want

I sing in the port of Vancouver, I sing of the bitter memories

And I dance, I dance,

it’s great

I can not picture ever in the morning

I  sing in the Port of Vancouver and I run threat in the air

And I dance, I dance,

it’s great

I can not picture ever in the morning and it is

At noon I’m in my bed and dreaming of something

At midnight I’m in town and looking for something

At noon I’m in my bed and dreaming of something

At midnight I’m in town and looking for something

At noon I’m in my bed and dreaming of something

More nominations of Vancouver-related songs are welcome, in any language.