Monday 23 February 2009

that's My World: French Chansons





This week I dedicate all my posts to France. Cette semaine je dévouerai tous mes posts à la France.

My ancestors came from various countries, among them was France! When I was young I collected grammaphone records with French chansons. They were certainly part of my world then and are now. Among my favourite records were those with chansons by Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud and Charles Trénet.You can hear one of these chansons on the video in the one of the next posts.

Par: Charles Trenet

1. Il revient à ma mémoire
Des souvenirs familiers
Je revois ma blouse noire
Lorsque j'étais écolier
Sur le chemin de l'école
Je chantais à pleine voix
Des romances sans paroles
Vieilles chansons d'autrefois
--------------------------------------------------
There are familiar memories coming back in my mind,
I see again my black blouse
When I was a schoolboy
On my way to school I sang aloud
Romantic songs without words
Old chansons from the past
--------------------------------------------------
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t'ai gardée dans mon coeur!
Mon village au clocher aux maisons sages
Où les enfants de mon âge
Ont partagé mon bonheur
Oui je t'aime
Et je te donne ce poème
Oui je t'aime
Dans la joie ou la douleur
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t'ai gardée dans mon coeur!
---------------------------------------------------
Sweet France
Precious country of my childhood
Cradled in carefree blissfulness
I have kept you in my heart!
My village with bell tower and model cottages
Where the children of my age
Have shared my happiness,
Yes, I love you
And I give you this poem
Yes I love you
In joy and in sadness.
Sweet France
Dear country of my youth
Carefree rocking tenderly
I have kept you in my heart
-------------------------------------------------
2. J'ai connu des paysages
Et des soleils merveilleux
Au cours de lointains voyages
Tout là-bas sous d'autres cieux
Mais combien je leur préfère
Mon ciel bleu mon horizon
Ma grande route et ma rivière
Ma prairie et ma maison.
----------------------------------------------------

I have known landscapes
And miraculous suns
During far away travels
Yonder under other skies
But how much did I prefer
My blue sky, my horizon,
My grand route and my river,
My meadow and my cottage


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34 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

Lovely - I too love French chansons reader wil.

Miss_Yves said...

Je suis contente d'être-apparemment -la première à voir le réultat de votre travail !Bravo !
la première photo représente un paysage des Landes, n'est-ce pas !
Bien pour la video avec le texte et sa traduction : c'est très clair.
(j'aime moins les dinausores!)

Miss_Yves said...

Oh La la !J'écris trop vite:" les Dinosaures "!

Reader Wil said...

Weaver thank you for your kind comment. We have a lot in common, haven't we?

Miss Yves,merci
beaucoup pour votre aide. La première photo représente un paysage de Vieux- Boucau près de Messanges où se trouvait notre maison de vacances, que nous avions louée pendant une semaine.
Demain je raconterai quelque chose de nos vacances.

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Dear R Wil,
How lovely this poem about our beloved France, I like your header too,

Watch here my Dutch Flowers:
www.joannwalraven.blogspot.com

Greetings from JoAnn

Arija said...

Me too Will, since the fire I've only managed t replace Edit Piaf, Trenet and Aznavour have been harder to get.

Dina said...

I enjoyed learning this about you, Wil, and enjoying now listening to the song. It adds so much to have the lyrics in French and English.

Smart Mouth Broad said...

Hard as I tried, my two years of high school french just weren't cutting it with this. I did manage a few lines though. I guess I should be glad I remember that much. It's been a long time.

I loved it.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting post.

Sylvia K said...

Love French chansons! Thanks for the French and English! Beautiful post! Thanks for sharing!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Yes, I still listen to Mireille Mathieu and "La mome Piaf". Great memories.

Jane Hards Photography said...

I am with you here. You tube does have some great clips. Do check those out. English maybe my language but I do love the french versions better.

Anonymous said...

My favorite singers are Jacques Brel and Mereille Matthieux - I love chansons - actually I was going to mention Brel in one of my coming posts - but I haven't kept up with French, and I see you have :)
My mothers maiden name is : de Charon de Saint Saint Germain.
We have been to paris to investigate about more of her background, but no results in the 3 days we were there. (my kids got to see the Louvre and Musee Picasso though! and of course, the Eiffel Tower)
A French blogger wrote me that there are several villages named St.Germain. But it's kind of hard to investigate further from here.
Have a great week - hear that it's pretty cold there right now -keep warm!

Marja said...

Oh how nice to see the beautiful words in english. I so love the French language It has something special. I have a few cd's with French music My first favourite when I was young was Julien Clerc
I think the look of him had something to do with it as well.

Tootie said...

Vey nice poem. :-)

imac said...

What a great post, just love your poem.

Anonymous said...

Hoi Wil, I love the trees lining at the back of those beautiful houses. So, you're a dutch-french-and what else? :) Groeten uit Filippijnen!

penny said...

What a special My World post to your past! Love your header too.
Thank's for your visit, Wil;)

Reader Wil said...

Jeannette St.G I wanted to write a comment on your blog, but when it came to word verification something went wrong. So I answer you here.
What a wonderful painting. Lovely colours! So you have also French ancestors. My husband had a French surname. I like the same chansonniers and chansonnières you do.

Anonymous said...

Very evocative of France, at least as it lives in my mind.

Grammy said...

I love old photos and family story's also. Thanks for sharing yours.

Anonymous said...

I loved this my world post. I used to sing French songs in elementary school when we were learning French. In spite of studying the language in high school and taking a few classes in French in college, I didn't retain much of the language but I do remember fragments of the French songs I learned as a child.

Janie said...

I have some French ancestors, too, and I'd love to visit France.
The language is so beautiful.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I don't know French except Bonjour. I have a French-Spanish student. Her name is Artemisia. Shelikes to be known as French.

Indrani said...

French is Greek to me, but I am glad you gave the English of it. :)
Have a great day!

Cloudia said...

Tres Bon!
Aloha, Wil

Anonymous said...

Aha deze keer gaat het dus over Frankrijk, ben benieuwd. Eerste bericht mag er in elk geval al zijn.

Groetjes

Lilli & Nevada said...

Wonderful wish i was there

Reader Wil said...

Hello Ann, I have the same problem with your blog as I had with Jeannette's blog. I cannot do the word verification. There are no letters to copy! But I wrote this comment:What a lovely occasion this flower show! It's going to be autumn now in New Zealand isn't it?! Thanks for sharing and for visiting.

Marie Reed said...

What a delightful idea! I just swooned over the lyrics!

Dirkjogt said...

Weer even door jouw blog 'gebladerd' en genoten van de beelden van deze week. Zowel mijn vrouw als ik zijn liefhebbers van het Franse chanson. Ik heb al lang geleden mijn hart verloren in de Provence. Een voordeel is het wel als men de taal spreekt, voor ons Belgen minder problematisch dan bij de doorsnee Nederlander.

alicesg said...

Love the beautiful building and the poem is nice. You might like to view my post today, it had something to do with WW2.

Unknown said...

France has very fond memories for me too, having spent many childhood holidays there in Brittany.

Tarolino said...

I don't speak french but the words in english were just so lovely. I guess it is a text to a song. Perhaps your own? Lovely melancholic post and the houses in the picture are neat too.