I can't make you stay/I'm gonna quit today
There's just no way/farewell to cigarettes
I know you can't betray/I really can't delay-
Too high a price to pay/ I got no regrets
But oh it gets to me/it just has to be
god knows it's killing me
This endless yearning for/I'm not still yearning for
a love that cannot be/ the buzz that cannot be
no matter how I try/I have had to try
I try to rationalise/so hard to rationalise
all I want is to do/when I used to long for smoke
is gaze - gaze into your eyes/to get into my eyes
but I won't make you stay/it's too high a price to pay
I can't make you stay/I've thrown them all away
you must go away/I've gotta quit today
you must go away/it's time to quit today

But oh if you could
spare me just one more day
one precious day ..
more like a dream...
I can always remember/ to enjoy one last drag
Those moments sublime / to light up a fag*
Unspeakable pleasure/ see the smoke drift away
a moment divine/Oh no there's some left in my bag
when it's time to go/this just can't go on
I will understand/dying ain't much fun
I won't say a word/I mustn't give in
make no demand/.This is one fight I must win.
I won't make you stay/I'm gonna quit today
I can't make you stay/time to quit today
You must go away/I must quit today
You must go away/I must quit today

I can't make you stay/I'm gonna quit today
I feel so torn apart/ I'm scared I'll fall apart
Because this love would break/because this drug will soon
Somebody else's heart/give me a heart attack
happens all the time
A banal cliché
But knowing that don't help
to take this pain away
this long slow burnin' ache
gets you when you wake
stays with you all day
so hard to take
but I won't make you stay/but I'm gonna quit today
I can't make you stay /I'm gonna quit today
you must go away/this is it today
you must go away/this is it today


But oh if you could
Spare me just one more night
One precious night ...
More like a dream
I'd get lost in your smile/one last malborough light
Reach for you in a kiss/glowing red - glowing bright
drown in those eyes/ with a glass of red wine
moment of bliss/ what a total delight
And when it's time to go/and when my time is up
I will understand/
I won't say a word/
make no demand/
I won't make you stay/gonna quit today
I can't make you stay/gonna quit today
You must go away/this is it today
You must go away/I've thrown them all away


(finish with original last verse which is relatively easy to understand ..unlike some of the earlier more fanciful verses which would not mean anything to an English audience although they are powerful in the French....)

ne me quitte pas/c'est bien fini
je ne vais plus pleurer/ je ne vais plus fumer
je ne vais plus parler/peutetre je vais pleurer
je me cacherai la/mais je les jeterai tous
a te regarder/dans la pubelle tu sais
danser et sourire/ au revoir aux Gauloises
et a t'ecouter/adieu au Gitanes
chanter et puis rire/au revoir mes amies
laisse-moi devenir/adieu mes copaines
L'ombre de ton ombre/ je n'ai plus de regrette
L'ombre de ta main/pour ces cigarettes
L'ombre de ton chien/oh merde - putain!

Ne me quitte pas/je te quitte maintenant
Ne me quitte pas/je te quitte maintenant
Ne me quitte pas/je te quitte maintenant
Ne me quitte pas/je te quitte maintenant


Alternative rewritten ending in French(just for the tear jerker)( .. not so poetic but easier to understand..

Ce n'est que ma fantaisie
Quand je reflechis
Il faux retourner
A la realite
Il faux accepter
que ce n'est pas la vie
cet amour imp;ossible cette amout interdit
Il faux oublier
Il faux pas pleurer
Mais qu'est ce que tu veux je t'aime tu sais je suis desole
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas
Ne me quitte pas