"Mistral Gagnant" is the name of an old French powdered sweet for children. In this song, Renaud speaks to his daughter Lola, telling her about all the sweets he used to have as a child, which do not exist anymore, expresses his regrets when he sees the past is disappearing, and finally compares the disappearance of those sweets with the degradation of the world we live in.
To sit on bench for 5 minutes alongside you,1
To watch people as long as there are some
To talk with you of good old time that has gone or will comeback,
Holding your little fingers in my hand
Then feeding idiotic pigeons
And kicking them for fake,
Then listening to your laugh that crawls up the walls
And knows how to heal my wounds,
To tell you a little bit how I was as a kid,
The wonderful sweets
That we stole from the shop,
Car-en-Sac and Mintos, one franc caramels,
and the Mistral Gagnants. (Mistral Gagnants)
To walk under the rain 5 minutes alongside you,
To observe life as long as there is some
To tell you about Earth as my eyes devour you,
To talk about your mother a little,
And jumping in puddles to make her complain,
Ruining our shoes and laughing,
And to hear your laugh as we can hear the sea
To stop and turn around,
To tell you about Carambars of the past and the Coco Boer, (Coco Boer)
The real Roudoudous that cut our lips, (Roudoudous)
And ruined our teeth,
And the Mistral Gagnants.
To sit on a bench 5 minutes alongside you,
And to watch the sun as it leaves,
To talk about the good times that are gone and I don't care,
To tell you that the bad guys aren't us,
That if I am crazy it is only of your eyes,
As they benefit from being two,
To hear your laugh fly as high,
As the cries of the birds
And finally to tell you to love life,
And love it even if
Time is a killer,
That takes away children's laughters,
And the Mistral Gagnants,
And the Mistral Gagnants.
From https://lyricstranslate.com with my corrections in green.
