In December 2017, Dr. Aviv Amit, from the Department of French Language and Literature at Tel Aviv University, was a guest on the radio program “Hero of Culture” and spoke about the songs and work of Edith Piaf. You can listen to this fascinating interview in the following video:
Here is the summary of the interview along with some of the Edith Piaf songs mentioned in it:
The development of Edith Piaf's work
Edith Piaf achieved immense success not because of her beauty (she looked like a tragic little girl) but because of her authenticity and the songs she chose. Her work can be divided into 3 main periods:
The beginning of his career until World War II
During this period, Edith Piaf's songs were essentially short stories of up to 3 minutes. This movement was called Chanson Realiste and because every chanson was essentially a mini-story and every word had enormous meaning.
An example of a song from this period is Paris-Méditerranée from 1938. The song tells the story of a woman who boards a train traveling fromParis לSouth of France And there she meets a stranger. A quick romance develops between the two and they even make love on the train. When the woman wakes up in the morning at the train station of her final destination, she sees the same man handcuffed and being dragged away by the police…
You can listen to the song here:
World War II – Edith Piaf becomes a national singer
With the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the occupation France By the Germans in 1940, Edith Piaf changes style. She abandons the short stories of the realistic chanson and moves on to singing songs with a national message, even if sometimes disguised, which makes her a national singer.
One of Piaf's most famous songs from this period is "The Accordion Player" (L'accordéoniste), which tells of the love between a street prostitute and an accordion player, who was sent to war and killed.
You can hear the original version here:
And if you would like to hear the Hebrew version of this song, you are invited to hear the wonderful performance by the late Rama Messinger from the play “Piaf”:
Another song, less well-known but very beautiful, from that period is “A Gentleman Follows Me in the Street” (Un monsieur me suit dans la rue). The song describes the feeling of being persecuted under the occupation. The singer lives in a kind of paranoia that someone is constantly following her in the street. Each time it turns out to be a mistake. Finally, she passes away and she is indeed being followed in the street, at her funeral…
Click on the video below to hear it:
International career
After the end of World War II, Edith Piaf's career took off and she became an international star. The nature of her songs changed during this period, becoming more universal and, some would say, even catchy.
One of the most well-known songs from that period is of course “La Vie En Rose,” which deals with the power of sexual attraction and love, which make a woman see all of life in an optimistic way. It is a song that was really tailored to the taste of the American audience and is therefore considered a little “saccharine,” but it is considered one of her greatest songs, and rightly so.
Here is the classic version of the song:
And here is a Hebrew version by singer Corinne Elal from the album “Sefet Imi”:
Another song, which miraculously predicted the tragic loss of her lover Marcel Sardan is “Hymne a l'Amour” in which the singer says that she will do anything for her lover and as long as she has him, she doesn't really care about the rest.
And here you can find a special and completely different version of this iconic song performed by Eran Tzur and Shalmi Shaban:
And it is impossible not to end with Edith Piaf's last song, which became an anthem that sums up her life, namely "I Regret Nothing" (Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien):
Want to read more about Edith Piaf?
If you would like to learn more about Edith Piaf's life, here are some articles you might like:
Hello Dr. Aviv Amit, my name is Sarah and I am Francophone in every sense of the word. I participated as a spectator and part of the audience that comes to your lectures at the museum. Until a year ago, I physically came to your lectures as a lecturer. And now, in the meantime, I have had to listen to / and participate in your interesting lectures. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but I love listening to you and experiencing French culture with your help (your knowledge is immense and I learned from you and still learn and absorb everything you provide). I caught the French bug when I was a tour guide, traveling and leading many groups throughout France. And I still haven't seen how many regions and districts in this amazing country I have covered. We could learn a lot from the French in terms of how to behave towards our weak government. At every opportunity, in the company of people, I say that if what is happening here were to happen in France, they would have climbed the barricades a long time ago……. In short, I want to compliment you and say thank you for the course that is not yet over and I am already waiting for the next course that will start in November. I speak the language, I studied for six years and it helped me a lot in the training.
So, actually, thank you very much for sharing your vast knowledge with the audience. And the funny anecdotes (that's how the person I studied with, Professor Hersgur, did it).
Thank you for the response, I would like to ask that politics not be involved in anything related to articles on the site.