Piaf 3

Piaf moved a lot of people. You can tell this because her songs are still sung. They are the songs to learn if you want to join in with French community singing. She also inspired a lot of other French singers. One singer in particular was very moved by her songs. Johnny Hallyday. He is a great singer in his own right. Although he is not well known in this country, he has been compared to Elvis and is hugely popular in France. I understand that he finishes every concert with his own tribute to Piaf by singing non, je ne regrette rien. This is a song that you will have to study if you want to join in that singing.

I am not going to translate the title but even with a basic knowledge of French you can work it out. I will pick on the line ‘c'est payé, balayé, oublié’. It means that it is paid for, swept up and forgotten. Even with poetic licence this is not the sort of thing that we would say, but the French say it, and they say it with beaucoup d’émotion. Learn it, sing it and a little bit of that emotion might rub off on you.

A bientôt