This is a 1920 Realist song written by Albert Willemetz and Jacques Charles, composed by Maurice Yvain and interpreted by the French cabaret singer Mistinguett.
This song became Mistinguett’s signature song. And it was recorded by countless French and international artists. French versions include: Maurice Chevalier (1921), Patachou (1954), Arletty (1956), Colette Renard (1957), Juliette Gréco (1963)
It became a standard in American Jazz, translated as My Man by Channing Pollock. And has been recorded amongst many other artists by: Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday (1937), Sidney Bechet (1949), Peggy Lee (1958), Dizzy Gillespie (1959), Barbara Streisand (1965), Diana Ross (1970), Shirley Bassey (1972), Ella Fitzgerald (1977), Etta Jones (1981), Patricia Kaas (2002). It was introduced to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the National Congress Registry in 2005
The song is written in a sarcastic and self-deprecatory tone. And tells the story of the singer unconditionally in love with her man despite his lack of qualities and the fact that he takes her money and beats her up.
Some expressions in context:
“I’m fout des coups ! (He wallops me)
I’m’prend mes sous ! (He pinches my cash)
Je suis à bout (I am at the end of my tether)
mais malgré tout (And despite this)
Que voulez-vous…” (What can you do?)
”Que voulez-vous” translates as “What do you want?”
But as it is often used in a desperate situation and the person resigns themselves to fate, a better translation would thus be What can you do.
“Je l’ai tell’ment dans la peau, (I so have him under my skin)
J’en deviens marteau.” (I’m going nuts)
Devenir marteau literally translates as to turn into a hammer.
Usually used in the context of becoming crazy, it would translate in English as going nuts.
“Quand ses yeux sur moi se posent, (When he lays eyes on me)
Ça me rend toute chose !” (I go weak at the knees)
Rendre tout chose literally translates as to cause someone to become all things. But means that someone becomes unsettled, fluttery or emotionally overwhelmed. It could also, in this context, mean that the singer is taken by desire. Thus, translating as becoming weak at the knees.
“J’tuerais, ma foi! (I would kill for him, in all honesty)
J’sens qu’il me rendrait infâme. (I feel he would turn me vile)
Mais je n’suis qu’une femme !” (But I’m only a woman)
Je tuerais, ma foi translates literally as “I would kill, my faith”
However, I would kill for someone is often used in French to demonstrate that someone would do anything for someone.
Ma foi (my faith) is a common expression in French to emphasise a statement. I could mean “yes indeed” or “in all honesty”, etc.
Sur cette terre, ma seule joie,
mon seul bonheur
C’est mon homme.
J’ai donné tout c’que j’ai, mon amour et tout mon cœur
À mon homme.
Et même la nuit, quand je rêve c’est de lui,
De mon homme.
Ce n’est pas qu’il soit beau, qu’il soit riche ni costaud,
Mais je l’aime.
C’est idiot!
I’m’fout des coups!
I’m’prend mes sous !
Je suis à bout mais malgré tout
que voulez-vous…
Je l’ai tell’ment dans la peau,
J’en d’viens marteau.
Dès qu’il s’approche c’est fini,
Je suis à lui.
Quand ses yeux sur moi se posent,
ça me rend toute chose !
Je l’ai tell’ment dans la peau
Qu’au moindre mot,
I’m’f’rait faire n’importe quoi.
J’tuerais, ma foi!
J’sens qu’il me rendrait infâme.
Mais je n’suis qu’une femme !
Et j’l’ai tell’ment dans la peau!
Pour le quitter, c’est fou ce que m’ont offert
D’autres hommes.
Entre nous, voyez-vous, ils ne valent pas très cher
Tous les hommes.
La femme à vrai dire, n’est faite que pour souffrir
Par les hommes.
Dans les bals, j’ai couru afin d’l’oublier j’ai bu.
Rien à faire!
J’ai pas pu !
Quand i’m’dit : “Viens”,
J’suis comme un chien!
Y a pas moyen,
c’est comme un lien
qui me retient.
Je l’ai tell’ment dans la peau,
J’en suis dingo.
Que celle qui n’a pas aussi connu ceci,
Ose venir la première
Me j’ter la pierre.
En avoir un dans la peau,
C’est l’pire des maux.
Mais c’est connaître l’amour
Sous son vrai jour !
Et j’dis qu’il faut qu’on pardonne quand une femme se donne
À l’homme qu’elle a dans la peau!
On this earth, my only joy,
my only happiness,
Is my man.
I gave everything I have,
my love and all my heart
To my man.
And even when I dream at night
Is it of him,
of my man.
It’s not that he is handsome,
or rich or beefy,
But I love him.
It is silly
He wallops me,
He pinches my cash.
I am at the end of my tether.
But yet, what can you do?
I so have him under my skin.
I am nuts about him
As soon as he touches me, that’s it,
I am his.
As soon as he lays his eyes on me,
It makes me giddy.
I so have him under my skin
that at his first word,
I would do anything
I would kill for him, honestly
I feel that he would make me vile
But I am just a woman
And I so have him under my skin
to leave him, it is crazy
What other men offered me
But between us, you see
They are not very dear
all the other men.
Women, to be honest,
only live to suffer
from men.
To the dance halls, I ran
To forget him, I drank
nothing would do.
I couldn’t do it
When he tells me to come.
I am like a dog.
There is no way.
It’s like a bond
That holds me back.
I so have him under my skin
I am crazy about him
To the ones who have not known this
Dare to be the one
to cast the first stone.
Having someone under your skin,
It is the worst of all evils
But to know love
in its true light.
Then I say we must forgive
when a woman gives herself away
to the man she has under her skin.
Between the French lyrics 
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