We'd Like Them to Know ~ LA PENSINE MUTINE (EN)

I had promised you to share more pastiches by Ingrid Courrèges, so here is another adaptation of a song by Francis Cabrel written and recorded in just 24 hours as a protest against nonsensical (criminal) measures making face masks mandatory for children as from age six which like most of us, infuriated her.

“To you, little guy stunned and out of breath in the playground. To you, parent who saw the fear and disbelief in the eyes of your child, with a knot of rage and helplessness in your belly. To you, grand-parent who refuse to serve as an excuse to wipe the smile off children's faces. To you, teacher coerced to implement these nonsensical measures” she wrote on her YouTube page, ending her dedication with a thumb down: “To you, leader who still cannot make the right decisions in the management of this crisis.”

Ever since the song was released, back in November 2020, a collective of parents organised in local communities has formed in France to address their concerns regarding the ongoing dynamics ruining our daily lives and threatening our children and our basic individual freedoms. They even made a video to expose the abuse of the implemented token system where each child is forced to a careful and thorough management of their right to breathe and go to the bathroom.

Ey@el

On voudrait leur dire

Since they're coercing us
And that from age six, the rules are the same
We'd like them to know
It feels like a Brown Morning^†
Just one look
At my mother distraught
That a piece of fabric might suffocate me

Since they tell us we're at war
And that we are school soldiers
We'd like them to know
We're going to the battlefield
To attend the smileless classes
Somewhat dazed
But all united
We, the reckless contingent of the little ones

Just some more additional limitations
With far less joy
Far less laughters
Far less rights

Since all the grown-ups have fever
And we can't lip-read anymore
While we're learning to read
Words we cannot see
Access to knowledge is expiring
We are left aside
To the sound of shackles
In the playground with less air to breathe in

They say it's to save grandma
That my face is covered
We'd like them to know
That grandpa/grandma would rather let us breathe
All these hugs we can no longer give them
It's far less love, but it's for public health

Endnotes

Brown Morning is a French fable, written by Franck Pavloff in 1998. The title is a reference to the infamous Nazi militia known as "Brown Shirts". This universal shortstory is against single mindset and what Pavloff calls "small compromises".