It’s Time You Finally Learned the Actual Lyrics of the ‘90s Song ‘Angelina’

If you grew up and came of age in the late 80s to the early 90s, there are a few songs that you might recognize even though they weren’t in English or Tagalog. There was that Italian song called “Due” by an artist named RAF, Japanese band Pizzicato 5’s “Sweet Soul Revue,” and French group PSY’s 1991 hit “Angelina.”

Of the three, it’s Angelina that we’ll be focusing on here today.

You know the song, of course. Or, you think you do.

First off, yes, the song is in French, and performed by a trio called PSY (no, not the South Korean artist who gave us “Gangnam Style”). The name came from the members’ initials: Pierre Perez-Vergara, Stephane Planchon, and Yassine Dahbi.

There is a whole Wikipedia page about the song, which gives us the basics: that “Angelina” was the first single from the band’s album Etre ange, mon ange. The song broke into the top 10 in the group’s native country of France, and because it was their only top 10 hit, the Wikipedia article calls PSY a “one-hit wonder.”

We’re not really sure how the song made its way to the Philippines, but when it did, it became an ubiquitous presence on local radio. Nobody could really sing it, of course, but the melodies were simple and incredibly catchy.

It didn’t take long before some local funny guy invented Tagalog lyrics to replace the French original. It was probably intentional that the new lyrics turned out to be R-rated. Filipino humor has always had a predilection for the obnoxiously obscene; the dirtier, the better. Pretty soon it trickled on down to the streets; to the schools and the neighborhood sari-sari stores where regular folk congregate and swap stories and songs. (Or who, knows, it could’ve just as easily started there and worked its way up to the air-conditioned offices and radio station booths where white collar workers and DJs snickered in between shifts).

In any case, the dirty version soon became the only version, at least in these parts. It was salacious and funny, and it likely helped that nobody really bothered to learn the original. Over 30 years later and anyone who’s familiar with the song will sing you the dirty Tagalog version any time the song comes on in videoke joints or radio stations playing old Time-y hits.

That’s exactly what happened when I recently attended a friend’s ‘90s-themed birthday party. The bar was playing ‘90s music nonstop and when “Angelina” came on, it took all of my willpower not to yell the version I’ve kept in my head all these years out to the whole bar. And it wasn’t just me. One look at everybody there (most of whom were on the wrong side of 40) and it was clear everybody else was thinking the exact same thing.

It might’ve been funny when we were kids and we were singing it like we had just discovered something deliciously inappropriate, but, somehow, singing vulgar lines at the top of our lungs in our 40s and 50s just doesn’t scream cool.

The first thing I did when I got home was search for the lyrics and tried to learn them to try and begin the process of “deprogramming” my brain of the dirty lyrics to “Angelina.” Turns out, the words are kind of poetic and beautiful and it’s quite unfair that we’ve replaced them with gutter-level humor all these years.

For those who care to do the same—who want to wipe out any trace of the once mildly hilarious lyrics and replace them with the correct and genuinely sincere words—here are the actual lyrics in French of “Angelina” with their English translations.

(And hey, after this, you can at least say that you can sing a song,in French, besides that Larusso song On Ne S'Aimera Plus Jamais).

Tu passes tout ton temps
You spend all your time

A te demander comment
Wondering how

Tu pourrais, juste un soir
You could, just for one night

Partir autre part
Leave somewhere else

Changer un instant
Change for a moment

Le sens du vent
The direction of the wind

Et la course des nuages
And the path of the clouds

La couleur des images
The color of the images

Toi tu veux tourner la page
You want to turn the page

C'est écrit sur ton tatouage
It’s written on your tattoo

Gravé à l'encre bleue
Engraved in blue ink

Comme le ciel dans tes yeux
Like the sky in your eyes

CHORUS:

Angelina
Angelina

Si tu pars au bout du monde
If you leave for the ends of the earth

N'oublie pas
Don’t forget

A chaque heure, à chaque seconde
At every hour, every second

Que la vie n'attend pas
That life does not wait

Et si la route est longue
And if the road is long

Tout là-bas
Way out there

La vie t'appelle
Life is calling you

Angelina
Angelina

Tu supportes plus tous ces gens
You can’t stand all those people anymore

Qui t'regardent comme un mutant
Who look at you like you’re a mutant

Et qui changent de trottoir
And who cross the street

Pour pas croiser ton regard
So they don’t have to meet your eyes

Et pour guérir ton mal
And to heal your pain

Certains ont sali ton âme
Some have soiled your soul

De substances chimiques
With chemical substances

De poisons d'Amérique
With poisons from America

Toi tu veux tourner la page
You want to turn the page

C'est écrit sur ton tatouage
It’s written on your tattoo

Faire sortir de tes veines
To drive out of your veins

Ce venin qui t'enchaîne
That venom that chains you

CHORUS:

Angelina
Angelina

Si tu pars au bout du monde
If you leave for the ends of the earth

N'oublie pas
Don’t forget

A chaque heure, à chaque seconde
At every hour, every second

Que la vie n'attend pas
That life does not wait

Et si la route est longue
And if the road is long

Tout là-bas
Way out there

La vie t'appelle
Life is calling you

Angelina
Angelina

Toi tu veux tourner la page
You want to turn the page

C'est écrit sur ton tatouage
It’s written on your tattoo

Plus loin que l'horizon
Farther than the horizon

Tu pourras crier ton nom
You will be able to shout your name

Angelina
Angelina

Si tu pars au bout du monde
If you leave for the ends of the earth

N'oublie pas
Don’t forget

A chaque heure, à chaque seconde
At every hour, every second

Que la vie n'attend pas
That life does not wait

Et si la route est longue
And if the road is long

Tout là-bas
Way out there

La vie t'appelle
Life is calling you

Angelina