Monique, the line À force de leur limer les pieds was left out in they lyrictranslate site. I also came up with the translation "By dint of filing their feet", but "filing heir feet" made no sense to me, so I thought I didn't understand the nuances of the phrase in French. Yet that is the way you translate it too.

Can anyone explain why travellers would file their feet? I would think hardened skin on feet would be an asset when walking long distances? I'm having to speculate - Did the Nazis sometimes force people to file off calloused skin before a long march. Was filing their skin something Roma did to try to disguise their ethnic identity? (their skin was usually too dark to look like an idealised /aryan anyway I really don't understand that line.