L'Auvergnat
Georges Brassens is one of France’s greatest folksingers/songwriters. In ‘Chanson pour L’Auvergnat’ he thanks those who have helped him in his life, despite the presence of all those ‘well-intentioned’ people (with sharp teeth) who stood by or laughed at his demise. He begins with the native of the Auvergne region, the hostess and the stranger, wishing them all a safe and speedy passage to heaven ont he day the undertaker takes them away.
Bambina
This is a beautiful song that I only do provided my classical voice teachers are not within earshot. It’s about the child within “Bambina, I miss you, the photos that haunt me remind me of the scents of the streets where I no longer walk”. The lyrics were written by the performer Lara Fabian whose voice earns her my vote as best French diva.
La Boheme
Charles Aznavour is one of France’s greatest composers. A native of Armenia, he wrote this song as a person looking back on younger days spent living the Bohemian lifestyle. “I speak of time that those who are under 20 cannot have known, Monmartre in those days, showed off its lilacs that reached our windows…you posed in the nude, I was the starving artist….Bohemia meant you were pretty, Bohemia meant you were 20 years old”..
Ca, c'est l'amour
That’s Love! Cole Porter lived in France for many years and wrote several songs with French expressions.
C'est magnifique
Another Cole Porter song ooo la la la..c’est manifique!
Darling, je vous aime beaucoup
This song comes from the 1930s and is another example of how love can transcend language differences!
Desir
Désir is one of the few songs I have written in French. A typical torch song, unrequited love “Desire is all you have to offer me, have you ever thought of what will happen to me, to my future?”
Evidemment
Of course. One of the last hits of prolific French composer Michel Berger whose untimely death at age 40 left the French stunned and culturally robbed. With a nostalgic feel “of course we still dance to the chords we once loved, of course we still laugh at silly mistakes like children, but not like before”.
For me, formidable
Another song by Charles Aznavour where he attempts to seduce the English speaking girl with a cute mix of Franglais. “I’d love to seduce you with the language of Shakespeare…..I’d be better off using the words of Moliere”
Gottingen
Barbara is one of France’s most individual composers/artists. “Gottingen” sings of the beauty of this German city and its people. “Of course it’s not the Seine, nor the Bois de Vincennes, but it’s pretty all the same, Gottingen” .
| Je l'aime a mourir
I love him to die for. I think it would be a fair comparison to call Francis Cabrel the French Jim Croche. I think this is one of the most romantic songs ever written. “I used to be nothing, look at me now, I’m the guardian of her sleep.”
Je ne regrette rien
I have no regrets. One of Piaf’s greatest hits. I actually heard it sung by a choir of mice in the movie “Babe, Pig in the City.”
J'envoie valser
"I send them walzing” is a French expression to elegantly dismiss someone or something. Zazie has been one of France’s most successful composers/singers since the 90s. She says she doesn’t need rocks, bobbles and silver hearts because her treasure is in her lover’s embrace.
Je reve les yeux ouverts (Dream a little dream of me)
You will surely recognize this song , written in the 30s and one of the Mamas and Papas biggest hits in the 70s. In the 80s in France, the group Enzo Enzo had a smash hit with this French version .
L'amant de St. Jean
The lover from St. Jean is a classic from the 40s that tells of a girl who goes dancing at a place called St. Jean and loses her heart. “Held tight in his bold arms, how could I not lose my head? Don’t we always believe in the sweet words of love, especially when said with the eyes?”
Les feuilles mortes
Although the original of this song is in French, you’ll recognize the melody that Nat King Cole made famous.
Les mots bleu
This haunting melody tells of strangers who smile at each other, but never exchange words. “I would tell him blue words, words that we say with the eyes, I’d call him without pronouncing his name”.
L'hymne de l'amour
My favorite Piaf song. Shortly after Piaf’s young lover, who was a professional boxer, died in a tragic plane crash, she performed this song on stage and fainted. As is the case with this song, Piaf often wrote her own lyrics. “If the sun should tumble from the sky, if the sea should suddenly run dry, if you love me, really love me, let it happen, I don’t care.”
Love me, please love me
It starts off in English and then morphs into French. I like this Michel Polnareff song because it embodies 60s schmalz and you can hear a little “heart and soul” in the chord progression.
Nathalie
Gilbert Becaud, the composer of the well known “Let it be me” was one of France’s most successful composers. Nathalie is his Russian tour guide—“she has a pretty name, my tour guide…she speaks in sober phrases, about the revolution of October.” Eventually he meets her friends from the university and they drink and dance to a familiar “la –--la----la-la-la-la”. He must go home but is consoled by the fact that he’ll get to be her tour guide in Paris.
| Quand il est mort, le poete
Becaud wrote this song in honor of Jean Cocteau , the French poet, whose passing left the French with a cultural void that was tragically compounded when Edith Piaf died the same week.
Quand on a que l'amour
Jacques Brel always seemed to be cited in more French text books than any other French singer, at least from my language learning days despite being Belgian. Brel was known for his beautifully expressive lyrics. This familiar ballad in 2/4 time.says.”when you’ve only got love, when that’s all you can give…when you’re only treasure is to believe in it forever.”
S'il suffisait d'aimer
I chose this song both because of the songwriter and the original performer. Jean Jacques Goldman is another French composer of recent years and he wrote this song for Celine Dion. The verses have a wonderful Bach-like feel to them which makes it a challenge to sing, but it’s worth the effort. “If it were enough to love each other, if it were enough to love, we’d make a dream , an eternity, out of this world.”
Si j'etais une cigarette
If I were a cigarette…The lyrics to this song are provocative and funny. “If I were a cigarette, between your fingers, with the strike of a match you’d make me burn for you”. By the end of the song, she says “but you’d become bored with me and throw me away, crush me and put me out. I’m better off staying what I am.”
Qui sait?
Who knows? Henri Salvador was a performer from the French Caribbean and you can just imagine a dancer donned with a fruit basket moving to the beat. “you say you love me even more that I love you, but who knows, who knows, who knows?”
Un garcon pas comme les autres
French composer Michel Berger and Canadian lyricist Luc Plamondon collaborated together on hugely successful rock operas. This song was also interpreted by Celine Dion, who sings about Ziggy, “a boy not like other boys…and yes I know he likes boys…I love him even though I know he’ll never love me.”
La vie en rose
This Piaf classic should need no explanation!
Vivre
Lyricist Luc Plamondon teamed with Franco-Italian songwriter Richard Cocciante to create the smash hit rock opera based on Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. This is Belle’s song, singing to her beloved, “live for the one you love, love more than love itself, give without expecting anything in return.”
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