Monopolis [English translation]

From New York to Tokyo

Everything's same everywhere.

We take the same metro

toward the same suburbs,

Everyone in a waiting line.1

The night's neon lights

replace the sunlight.

And on every radios,

we dance the same disco.

The day is gray, blue is the night.

In cities of 2000's year

Life will be much easier.

On our back, we'll all wear a number

And a star on the skin.

Cheerfully, we'll follow the herd

In cities of 2000's year

Mirabelle or Roissy,2

Everything's same everywhere.

All around the earth,

we take the same charters

To go where the sky is blue

When we'll no longer know

where to track the sunlight

So we will embark

for Mars or Jupiter

Everyone in a waiting line

In cities of 2000's year

Life will be much easier

On our back, we'll all wear a number

And a star on the skin

Cheerfully, we'll follow the herd

In cities of 2000's year

Monopolis

There will be no more strangers

We'll all be strangers

In the streets of Monopolis

Will we walk hand in hand

Like in the Eighties?

All both, in Monopolis

When our children will turn twenty's

We, we'll be from another time

The time before Monopolis

I see myself sitting on a bench

Alone in the middle of Monopolis

1. "à la queue leu leu" (in a waiting line) It's the Latin word "lupus" (wolf in Latin) which in the 11th century gave the names "leu" and "lou" (wolf) in the French language of the time. Two centuries later will be added a "p" at the end of the word for again link this name to its Latin origin. That explains the current "loup" (wolf) in French. This is also why we don't pronounce this last "p" in french. However, the "leu" form survived until the 16th century. "A la queue leu leu" expression could be literally translated by "at (behind) the wolf wolf's tail". It, therefore, refers to the wolves which, often moving in packs, follow each other and walk in each other's footsteps, or "one behind the other".2. Mirabelle ou Roissy are both European towns: "Mirabella Imbaccari" is a little village and a popular resort for tourists in Sicily (Italy). Roissy is a French town in the Paris suburbs where there's an airport with the most aerial traffic in the World. So what the lyrics mean here is that because of excessive urbanization, all the cities of the world will end up looking alike one day.