“Mon truc en plumes” is an early 1960s French song by Zizi Jeanmaire and was sung by Lady Gaga at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris. In this post I’ve translated the French lyrics into English, read each line aloud in French and explained the vocabulary and grammar in detail.

Mon truc en plumes - French song by Zizi Jeanmaire performed by Lady Gaga at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony in Paris.

Mon truc en plumes – original version

In this video, you can watch Zizi Jeanmaire performing the original version of Mon truc en plumes on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965.

Mon truc en plumes lyrics and translation

Oh-oh-oh
Mon truc en plumes
Plumes des oiseaux
Des animaux
Mon truc en plumes
C’est très malin
Rien dans les mains
Tout dans l’coup de reins

Oh
My thing made of feathers
Feathers from birds
From animals
My thing made of feathers
It’s very clever
Nothing in the hands
Everything in the movement of the lower back

Oh-oh-oh
Mon truc en plumes
Rien qu’en passant
Ça fouette le sang
Mon truc en plumes
Ça vous caresse
Avec ivresse
Tout en finesse

Oh
My thing made of feathers
By just brushing
It whips the blood
My thing made of feathers
It caresses you
With excitation
So delicately

Moi, je vis de ma plume
Et je plume
Le bitume
Et c’est au clair de la lune
Que j’allume les Pierrots
Oh-oh-oh

Me, I live by the feather
And I pluck the feathers
The bitumen
And it’s by the moonlight
That I cheer up the Pierrots
Oh

Mon truc en plumes
Plumes de panthère
À milliardaires
Mon truc en plumes
Ça fait rêver
Mais c’est sacré
Faut pas toucher
Oh-oh-oh

My thing made of feathers
Panther feathers
Belonging to multimillionaires
My thing made of feathers
It causes you to dream
But it’s sacred
Better not touch it
oh

Mon truc en plumes
Viens mon brigand
Dormir dedans
Oh-oh, oh-oh
C’est pas sorcier
Viens l’essayer
J’vais te faire danser

My thing made of feathers
Come my bandit
Sleep in it
Oh
It’s not witchcraft
Come try it
I’m going to make you dance

Song lyrics explanation

In this section I explain the vocabulary and grammar of the French lyrics.

Mon truc en plumes

I translated the song title, Mon truc en plumes, to “my thing made of feathers”. When expressing what material an object is made of, the French use the preposition en + material. For example, en bois (made of wood). Truc is an informal masculine noun for “thing”.

Plumes des oiseaux, Des animaux

These two lines translate to “feathers from birds, from animals”. Des in French is a contaction of de + les, literally meaning “of the” or “from the”.

C’est très malin

This line translates to “it’s very clever”. The adjective malin can translate to smart, shrewd and clever.

Rien dans les mains

This line translates to “nothing in the hands”. Rien can translate to both “nothing” and “anything.

Tout dans l’coup de reins

I translated this line loosly to “Everything in the movement of the lower back”. Coup in French means “hit” or “strike”. However, I used movement given the context of dancing. I could have translated this line to: “You do it all by shaking your hips” – or something like that.

Rien qu’en passant

I translated this line to “By just brushing”. The expression rien que translates to “just” or “only”. By using the verb passer, I believe Jeanmarie was refering to the light brushing of the feathers. En passant is an example of the French gerund.

Ça fouette le sang

This line translates to “It whips the blood”. The word ça means “that” and is used refer back to a previously mentioned topic. In this context, ça is refering back to the truc en plumes.

Ça vous caresse

This line translates to “It caresses you”. The verb caresser means to caress or “to pet” (an animal).

Avec ivresse

I translated this line to “With excitation”. The feminine noun ivresse literally means drunkeness and intoxication but can also mean euphoria, exhilaration or excitation.

Tout en finesse

I took the liberty to translate this line to “so delicately”. Tout en can translate to “with a lot of”. The feminine noun finesse can translate to fineness and delicacy.

Moi, je vis de ma plume

This line translates to “Me, I live by the feather”. The verb vivre means “to live”. Je vis de la plume could also mean “I live by the pen”.

Et je plume, Le bitume

I translated this line to “And I pluck the feathers”. The verb plumer means “to pluck” and is used in the song childrens Alouette. The masculine noun bitume refers to aslphalt or bitumen. I honestly wasn’t quite sure what Jeanmaire meant by these few lines. It’s possible that she was just trying to rhyme.

Et c’est au clair de la lune

This line translates to “And it’s by the moonlight”. Clair de la lune referes to moonlight and is the name of another childrens song.

Que j’allume les Pierrots

This line translates to “That I cheer up the Pierrots”. Allumer means to light up or turn on. Pierrot refers to a sad stage character. Thus, “cheer up” is a loose translation.

Plumes de panthère, À milliardaires

These two lines mean “Panther feathers, Belonging to multimillionaires”. A milliard in French means a “billion”.

Ça fait rêver

I translated this line to “It causes you to dream”. The grammatical form faire + infinitive means to have an action carried out.

Mais c’est sacré, Faut pas toucher

This line translate to “But it’s sacred, Better not touch it”. Faut pas is a shortening of il ne faut pas. The expression il faut means “it’s necessary to” or “you have to”.

Viens mon brigand

This line translates to “Come my bandit”. Viens is the imperative form of venir (to come). Brigand translates to bandit, robber or brigand.

Dormir dedans

This line translates to “sleep in it”. Dedans is an adverb meaning “in” or “inside”.

C’est pas sorcier

I translated this line to “It’s not witchcraft”. Sorcier literally means wizard or witch.

Viens l’essayer

This line translates to “come try it”. The l’ is a shortening of le, which in this line is a direct object pronoun meaning “it”.

J’vais te faire danser

This final line of the song translates to “I’m going to make you dance”. Je vais + infinitive is an example of the futur proche or near future tense.

Discover more French song lyric posts

French songs | Posts by David Issokson

David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language learner and speaks over seven languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private lessons. When not teaching or writing his French Word of the Day lessons, David enjoys his time skiing, hiking and mountain biking in Victor, Idaho.

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