Les Champs Elysées Lyrics in English by Joe Dassin
Apprivoiser literally means "to tame," like an animal. However, its meaning in French is much more poetic and profound, famously used in the book The Little Prince to mean creating a unique bond with someone.
In the song, the singer says, "Il suffisait de te parler pour t'apprivoiser" (It was enough to talk to you to tame you). He uses this beautiful word to describe how simple conversation was all it took to break down the barriers of being strangers and begin a special connection. It's a much gentler and more charming concept than just 'winning someone over'.
Picture this: you are strolling down Paris's most famous boulevard with no plan at all, just "le cœur ouvert à l'inconnu" ("my heart open to the unknown"), ready to say hi to literally anyone. That is exactly how Joe Dassin sets up this breezy pop track. He blurts out nonsense to a stranger ("Je t'ai dit n'importe quoi" / "I told you whatever / absolute nonsense"), and surprisingly, it works! She invites him down into an underground basement to hang out with a bunch of musicians who live guitar in hand from dusk till dawn. They spend the entire night singing and dancing, having so much fun that they don't even think about kissing ("Et l'on n'a même pas pensé à s'embrasser").
By daybreak, everything flips. Yesterday they were total strangers, but by morning on the avenue, they walk out as two dizzy lovers dazed by the long night. Dassin maps their walk across Paris, running from l'Étoile (the grand roundabout with the Arc de Triomphe) all the way down to la Concorde (the giant public square at the other end). As morning arrives, the city's birds sound to him like a thousand-string orchestra singing about love. Whether under blazing sun or pouring rain, at noon or at midnight, the song insists that Paris holds whatever you are looking for.
