Having listened to the English version of some of the songs from the French musical "Notre Dame", I could not help but take the official translation as a challenge. So, armed with Google, a dictionary, and one very put-upon French-speaking friend, I've managed to concoct something resembling "Belle". (Just what the world needs: yet another version of this song.)
The original lyrics are
here, and the English version is
here. A few lines in this translation really appealed to me, especially in the first verse, so I kept them -- but I wanted to try to move away from those tooth-grinding "hell-tell-well" rhymes, and to stick closer to the original meaning.
Click here to see my effortsBELLE
QUASIMODO:
Belle
Is a word that seems invented for this girl,
When she lifts her arms, and oh, two wings unfurl
A bird who'll rise up to the sun and fly away
And when she moves I feel the Earth turn into flames
She dances naked in my soul and sleep won't come
What good is offering these prayers to Notre Dame?
Tell
Who'd be the first to raise his hand and cast a stone?
I'd hang him high and laugh to see him die alone
Oh Lucifer!
Please let me once forget God's law
And run my fingers through her hair
Esmeralda
FROLLO:
Belle
Does her form conceal a demon sent from Hell
To seduce my eyes and make my soul rebel?
Who lit this fire in my bones, this carnal blaze
That tempts my faith and turns from God my shameful gaze?
She is a child of Eve, the daughter of her fall
And yet to share her sin I'd sell my very soul
Girl
This gypsy girl who seemed a whore, an empty face
Now suddenly inside her burns the human race
Oh Notre Dame!
Please let me once forget God's law
Open to me the gardens of
Esmeralda
PHOEBUS:
Belle
Though her gyspy eyes have men beneath her spell
Could the pretty girl still be a maid as well?
She dances so that any man can't help but guess
At all the wonders hidden by that rainbow dress
Oh my intended, give me leave to be untrue
Just this one time before I've bound my life to you
Who
Would be the man who'd dare to tear his eyes from her
And not be turned into a pillar made of salt
Oh Fleur-de-Lys,
I'm not a man who keeps his word
I go to pluck her bloom of love
Esmeralda
ALL THREE:
She dances naked in my soul and sleep won't come
What good is offering these prayers to Notre Dame?
Tell
Who'd be the first to raise his hand and cast a stone?
I'd hang him high and laugh to see him die alone
Oh Lucifer!
Please let me once forget God's law
And run my fingers through her hair
Esmeralda