MY FAVOURITE FRENCH SONGS

I don't know French or Italian. That does not mean I can't enjoy songs in those languages.

A good singer can convey feelings, emotions and passion with the delivery, modulation of voice and tone, rhythm, etc. Lyrics, of course, play an important part but a well-sung song can tug at one's heartstrings without understanding them. Once one is hooked, one can go through the translations and in almost all cases one would find that the sense of the song could be correctly interpreted right at the first listening. 

So here are my top favourite French songs.

Top of the list is 'Ne me quitte pas' (Don't leave me) which gripped me from the first time I heard it during a visit to a restaurant in Rome in January 1976. I don't even remember whether on that occasion it was sung in French or Italian but that was the title told to me when I inquired. The original French song is by a Belgian singer, Jacques Brel, and there is a moving story behind it. Brel wrote and sang it in 1959 after his mistress threw him out of her life. The song is sung in a halting, expressive and passionate way, something like a soliloquy, and moves one to tears. Brel himself called it "a hymn to the cowardice of men", a degree to which they were willing to humiliate themselves. Frenchmen said it was sung at a time at which men weren't allowed to cry for women who didn't want them anymore and even the famous French singer Edith Piaf said the song had complete lack of virility. With all that, it is rated by many as the no. 1 French song of all time and has been sung in many languages around the world. The song's English version 'If you go away' was first popularised by Rod McKuen but I love Shirley Bassey's version of it.

Next is 'La mer' (The Sea) by Charles Trenet. He wrote the lyrics of the song when just 16 but set the tune in 1943 when travelling by train between Montpellier and Parpignan gazing out of the window at a lagoon in South of France. After an initial cold shoulder, the song became an unexpected hit when Trenet himself recorded it in 1946. Subsequently, it has become the best selling French song along with Edith Piaf's "La vie en rose'. It has versions all over the world with 4000 recordings and over 70 million copies as per a 2001 count. A smooth, very listenable English version is 'Beyond the sea' by Bobby Darin. It has also been sung by all-time greats, Julio Iglesias and Demis Roussos. I was first introduced to it by my Vinnie Mama after he heard it during his visit to France in 1954. And one of my sweet memories is of a train journey from Livorno to Civitavecchia overlooking the deep blue sea waters of the Tuscan Arch and humming the song when I fulfilled a long-standing promise to Akhila of a trip to Italy in 2004. 

Third on the list is 'Et maintenant' (And now) by Gilbert Becaud recorded in 1961. The song is about the desperation of a man surrounded by emptiness after his love has deserted him. Apart from the emotional singing, what is captivating in the original song is the recurring music pattern in the background from Ravel's Bolero. That really makes it unique. Its English version 'What now my love', also became very popular with big names like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey singing it and Herb Alpert providing a very catchy instrumental rendition.

When talking of French songs, one has to include the legendary Edith Piaf and she is on my list with her signature tune, 'La vie en rose' (literally 'Life in Pink' or life in rosy hues). This was written in 1945 and released as a single in 1947. Sung in a smooth, easy style, it expresses the joy of finding true love and was very appealing to people who lived through the difficult times of World War II. It created a record when 7 English versions of it reached the US Billboard charts in 1950. The singers included Edith Piaf herself, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Louis Armstrong. Edith Piaf became internationally famous after this song. This was another song which was heard by Vinnie Mama during his 1954 visit and who familiarised me with it.

'L'amour est bleu' (Love is blue) describing pleasure and pain of love in terms of colours blue and grey and elements water and wind is next. It was first performed in French by the Greek singer Vicky Leandros but my favourite is the brilliant instrumental version played by Paul Mauriat and his Orchestra. In 1967, Mauriat's version became the only instrumental by a French orchestra leader to hit the number 1 spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, a record held till 2017. A video is available today with the visuals providing the appropriate mood and colours of the song.

Finally on the list is 'Petite fleur' (Little flower), originally a non-French instrumental with Monty Sunshine playing a clarinet solo with Chris Barber's Jazz Band in 1959. It was particularly popular in the Gunroom (as the Midshipmen's wardroom is called) of Mysore when a number of my fellow midshipmen were vying for a date with a girl named Fleur. In 1964, it was vocalised in French by Petula Clark, better known in the English music world for her super hits 'Downtown' and 'This is my song'. Her lovely version finds a place in the best all-time French songs compiled by a lot of music critics.

That completes my list but at the risk of being termed vain, I am going to smuggle in another song not quite French but I deem it eligible as the title and its singer are both French. It is 'Je ne sais pas' (I do not know) by Brigitte Bardot in the 1955 British comedy film 'Doctor at sea' based on the hilarious novel by Richard Gordon. Bardot, playing a nightclub singer, naughtily sings, 'Je ne sais pas..... there are many things I don't know but I do know this, that I love you, love you, love you, je ne sais!' to Dirk Bogarde who many said I resembled in my youth!