This song was in my head a great deal this week. And by “in my head” I mean that every time I woke up in the night for four nights running, this song was playing on my internal soundtrack. I found myself humming it when my mind wasn’t on anything else. I sang it, always in French, though I have only half-memorized the words, so there was a good deal of mumbling inside my head. Over and over and over. For four days, all day, all night, even in my sleep. Even in my dreams.
It’s always been a song, not a poem per se. The music was written by Kurt Weill in 1934, during his exile in France, as incidental music for the play Marie Galante.
The music, which I adore, is a tango in the style of a habanera. It’s sweet and sad and exactly captures the longing for escape from what Europe had become in the 1930s, or was about to become. Within a year of writing this music, Weill would flee France for the United States — one of the lucky few.
The song was given lyrics in 1946 by Roger Fernay. Fernay, the son of a music publisher, studied to become a lawyer but decided he’d rather be an actor instead. He worked on the French stage for about a decade, then became a writer for stage and screen. He spent the rest of his career unionizing writers and working on international copyright law. “Youkali” is his principal claim to fame.
Here is the exquisite Ute Lemper, the German chanteuse and actress renowned for her interpretation of the work of Kurt Weill, performing it exquisitely:
Youkali
by Roger Fernay (my translation interspersed throughout)
C’est presqu’au bout du monde Ma barque vagabonde Errant au gré de l’onde M’y conduisit un jour L’île est toute petite Mais la fée que l’habite Gentiment nous invite A en faire le tour
It was almost at world’s end That my vagabond little boat, Wandering at the will of the waves, Conducted me one day. The island is very small But the spirit that lives there Kindly invited us To take a walk around
Youkali, c’est le pays de nos désirs Youkali, c’est le bonheur, c’est le plaisir Youkali, c’est la terre où l’on quitte tous les soucis C’est, dans notre nuit, comme une éclaircie L’étoile qu’on suit C’est Youkali
Youkali, it’s the land of our desires Youkali, it’s happiness, it’s pleasure Youkali, it’s the land where you leave all your worries behind It’s like a shaft of light in a dark night The star we follow It’s Youkali
Youkali, c’est le respect de tous les voeux échangés Youkali, c’est le pays des beaux amours partagés C’est l’espérance Qui est au coeur de tous les humains La délivrance Que nous attendons tous pour demain
Youkali, it’s the respect from vows that are exchanged Youkali, it’s the land where loves are shared It’s the hope In every human heart Tomorrow’s deliverance That we all await today
Youkali, c’est le pays de nos désirs Youkali, c’est le bonheur, c’est le plaisir Mais c’est un rêve, une folie Il n’y a pas de Youkali
Youkali, it’s the land of our desires Youkali, it’s happiness, it’s pleasure— But it’s only a dream, a madness: There is no Youkali.
Et la vie nous entraîne Lassante, quotidienne Mais la pauvre âme humaine Cherchant partout l’oubli A, pour quitter la terre Se trouver le mystère Où rêves se terrent En quelque Youkali
And life carries us along In tedium, day by day. But the poor human soul, Searching everywhere for oblivion, Has, in order to escape the world, Managed to find the mystery Where dreams burrow themselves In some Youkali.
Youkali, c’est le pays de nos désirs Youkali, c’est le bonheur, c’est le plaisir Mais c’est un rêve, une folie Il n’y a pas de Youkali
Youkali, it’s the land of our desires Youkali, it’s happiness, it’s pleasure— But it’s only a dream, a madness: There is no Youkali.
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