Songs with Subtitles
At the beginning of autumn 2010 I saw a nostalgia music show on France Télévision. The topic was les chanteurs séducteurs and the guest of an honour was Michel Sardou - an old gentleman now. But when a contemporary young singer sang Je vais t'aimer it blew my socks off. Such intensity - we had to have it on the site
I am going to avoid the very well known 'greats' - just one Barbara is enough to remind us of her incomparable genius. The idea is to reflect French popular culture over ten weeks.
Each clip is an audio file rendered to video, with subtitles. You know the score : Right-click and save. The top half of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both to the same folder. Most video readers will show the subtitles - but not Windows Media Player
If you would like to make your own subtitled songs, you will find instructions at the bottom of this page. Use them for study, for karaoke, or why not email them to me and I'll add them to this page !
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| Michel Sardou Le France | Je vais t'aimer | La femme est l'avenir de l'homme | Dis, quand reviendras-tu |
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| Elle est d'ailleurs | Mourir de plaisir | Les corons | Pleure pas boulou |
Week 2 of Songs with Subtitles.
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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Claude François Chanson Populaire |
Aznavour Emmenez-moi |
Jacques Dutronc Paris s'éveille |
La Madrague |
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| La tendresse | Maladie d'amour | Le soleil de ma vie | Les millionnaires de dimanche |
Week 3 of Songs with Subtitles.
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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| Douce France | Ton prénom dans mon cœur |
France Gall Les sucettes |
Françoise Hardy Mon amie la rose |
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Serge Gainsbourg Poinçonneur des Lilas |
Toi et le soleil |
Michel Sardou Vladimir Ilitch |
Sheila Vous les copains |
Week 4 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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| Michel Sardou Femmes des Années 80 |
Jean-Jacques Goldman Il suffira d'un signe |
Michel Sardou La Java de Broadway |
Francis Cabrel Madame n'aime pas |
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Patricia Kaas Mon mec à moi |
Céline Dion Pour que tu m'aimes encore |
Anne
Marie David Tu te reconnaitras |
Marcel Zanini Tu veux ou tu veux pas |
Week 5 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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Claude François Comme d'habitude |
Jean-Jacques Goldman Filles Faciles |
Boris Vian J'suis snob |
Serge Gainsbourg La Javanaise |
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Charles Trenet La Mer |
Syvie Vartan La plus belle pour aller danser |
Michel Sardou Les lacs du Connemara |
Lara Fabian Une Femme Avec Toi |
Week 6 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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Georges Brassens Chanson pour l'Auvergnat |
Francis Cabrel Je l'aime à mourir |
Charles Aznavour JLa Bohème |
Jean Ferrat LLa Montagne |
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Georges Brassens Les Copains d'abord |
Yves Montand Les feuilles mortes |
Yves Duteil Prendre un enfant |
Serge Gainsbourg Requiem pour un con |
Week 7 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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| Claude François Cette année-là |
JFemmes, je vous aime |
Beau Dommage La Complainte du Phoque en Alaska |
Nino Ferrer Le Sud LLa Montagne |
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Georges Brassens Mourir pour des idées |
Michel Delpech Pour un flirt avec toi |
Hardy - Dutronc Puisque vous partez en voyage |
Bourvil Salade fruits |
Week 8 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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| Patrick Bruel Casser la voix |
Serge Lama D'aventures en aventures |
Julien Clerc La Californie |
Serge Gainsbourg La chanson de Prévert |
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Joe Dassin L'été indien |
Gilbert Bécaud Nathalie |
Francis Cabrel Petite Marie |
Johnny Hallyday Que je t'aime |
Week 9 of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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Michel Sardou Et puis après |
Gérard Lenorman La ballade des gens heureux |
Charles Trénet L'âme des poètes |
Daniel Balavoine L'aziza |
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Boris Vian Le déserteur |
Alexis HK Les affranchis |
Tino Rossi Petit Papa Noël |
Michel Fugain Une belle histoire |
Week 10
Last week of Songs with Subtitles
Right-click and save. The top half
of each image is the video file, and the lower half the subtitle file. Save both
to the same folder
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Yannick Noah Angela |
Claude Nougaro Armstrong |
Hugues Aufray Céline |
Bénabar Le dîner |
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Lucienne Boyer Parlez-moi d'mour |
Patrick Fiori Peut-être que peut-être |
Michel Delpech Quand j'étais chanteurl |
Johnny Hallyday Quelque chose de Tennessee |
Karaoke is really what these files are. However, you don't need special Karaoke editing or reading software. Here's how:-
1. You need to start with an audio file in either .mp3 or .wma format. If you want to take a track from a CD, Windows Movie Player will 'rip' the one you want. Put the audio file in the folder where you will keep the files you are going to edit and produce
2. In Internet use google.fr - the French version of Google. Enter paroles then the title of your song and the name of the artist
3. That will find you sites that offer the words of your song. Copy and paste the words to Notepad and save in your work folder as a text file. Edit the file so you have justthe words of the song. Sometimes the refrain is repeated. Copy and paste, so that the text follows the song exactly.
4. Back to Google.fr. This time do an Image search on artist and optionally title of song. Select an image of the sort you see above. A decent size - say 400 pixels. Save the jpg file to your work folder.
5. Now the clever bit. Start Windows Movie Maker - it comes with Windows as standard. We have to fool Movie Maker into thinking that we are editing a movie and not an audio. Import into the programme the image you downloaded, and drag it to the video timeline. It will appear as a little video of a few seconds.
6. Now import your audio file and drag it to the audio track. I position it at the end of the image, but you can put it at the start if you want.
7. Adjust the timeline (with the - button) so you can see the whole of the audio track. By clicking on the right hand side of the image you will be able to extend it by pulling to the right so it is the same length as the audio. You can add other images if you want of course.
8. Save your movie in your work folder with the name you are going to use - typically the title of the track. The name is important !
9. Play the movie and check that you have the image and the audio.
Now for the subtitles. I am copying the following from the software page of this site.
You need a simple, free, and very effective subtitle editor, SubCreator, by a programmer called Radoslav Strugalski who runs R-solve Software.
Let's take Sardou's phenomenal song Le France as an example
Quand je pense à la vieille Anglaise
Qu'on appelait le "Queen Mary"
Echouée si loin de ses falaises
Sur un quai de Californie
10. In SubCreator load the movie and the text file. All you have to do now is to play the movie and synchronise it with the text. (A little oddity. We are editing a Windows Movie, but in Options>Video Engine Settings you have to choose Play Using Media Control Interface)
11. Ctrl-Space starts and stops the movie. Play until the singer is just about to start the first line. Stop there
12. Make sure the cursor is on the first line of the text. Press Ctrl-A
13. The timing information will appear. Move the cursor to the next line of text. Press Ctrl-Space to continue and stop just before the second line. Press Ctrl-A to insert the timing. And so on....
14. If no words are being sung - an instrumental passage, say - and you don't want the existing subtitle line to remain, open up a blank line and press Ctrl-A
This is what you get:
00:00:29,800 Quand je pense à la
vieille Anglaise
00:00:35,800 Qu'on appelait le "Queen Mary"
00:00:43,000 Echouée si loin de ses falaises etc
15 Press Save to save the text file - but this is not the subtitle file ! To make this, select File->Export. Choose the format needed - SRT
16. Click on Convert, to convert to SRT, then Click on Save - and make sure the filename is the same as that of the video. If both the video and the .srt are in the same folder, the video player will display the subtitles automatically
17. Close SubCreator and check that you have the .wmv video file and the .srt subtitle file, with exactly the same name
Play the file to check that the subtitles appear.
Finally - once you're happy with your work - email me the two files !
