Yvette in English Songtext
von Joni Mitchell

He met her in a French café (Yvette)
She slipped in sideways like a cat (Yvette)
Side-long glances, what a wary little stray (Yvette)
She sticks in his mind like that

Saying, "avez-vous une allumette?"
With her lips wrapped around a cigarette

(Yvette)
Yvette in English, saying
"Please have this little bit of instant bliss"

He′s fumbling with her foreign tongue (Yvette)
Reaching for words and drawing blanks (Yvette)
Loudmouth is stricken deaf and dumb (Yvette)
In a bistro on the left bank

"If I were a painter," Picasso said
"I'd paint this girl from toe to head"

(Yvette)
Yvette in English saying
"Please have this little bit of instant bliss"


Burgundy nocturne tips and spills (Yvette)
They trot along nicely in the spreading stain (Yvette)
New chills, new thrills for the old uphill battle (Yvette)
How did he wind up here again?

Walking and talking
Touched and scared
Uninsulated wires left bare

(Yvette)
And Yvette in English going
"Please have this little bit of instant bliss"

What blew her like a leaf his way? (Yvette)
Up in the air and down to Earth (Yvette)
First she flusters then she frays (Yvette)
So quick to question her own worth

Her cigarette burns her fingertips
As it falls like fireworks, she curses it

(Yvette)
Then sweetly in English she says
"Please have this, little bit of instant bliss"


He sees her turn and walk away (Yvette)
Skittering like a cat on stone (Yvette)
Her high heels clicking
What a wary little stray (Yvette)
She leaves him by the Seine alone

With the black water and the amber lights
And the bony bridge between left and right

(Yvette)
Yvette in English, saying
"Please have this little bit of instant bliss"