Kent attended Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey. She graduated with a Degree in Comparative Literature from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and moved to England after her graduation. While studying at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she met tenor saxophonist, Jim Tomlinson, whom she married on 9 Aug 1991.
Discography:
"Close Your Eyes" (1997), "The Tender Trap" (1998), "Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire" (2000),
"Dreamsville" (2001), "Brazilian Sketches" (2001), "In Love Again: The Music of Richard Rodgers" (2002),
"The Boy Next Door" (2003), "Collection" (2001), "Collection II" (2003), "Collection III" (2006),
"Breakfast On The Morning Tram" (2007), "Breakfast on the Morning Tram" (2008, limited edition boxset CD/DVD),
"Raconte-Moi..." (2010) , "Hushabye Mountain" (2011) , "THE CHANGING LIGHTS" (2013)
Kent has also featured in Tomlinson's 2006 album, The Lyric, which won "Album of the Year" at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards.
Awards: British Jazz Award (2001) and BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist (2002).
Kent's album, Breakfast on the Morning Tram, was a nominee for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 51st Grammy Awards (2009).
Trivia: Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro wrote the liner notes to Kent's 2003 album, The Boy Next Door, and also co-wrote four of the songs on the 2007 album, Breakfast on the Morning Tram.
Sites: Discogs
Ces petits riens
Stacey Kent Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Que ne pas penser du tout
Rien c'est déjà
Rien c'est déjà beaucoup
On se souvient de rien
Et puisqu'on oublie tout
Rien c'est bien mieux
Rien c'est bien mieux que tout
Mieux vaut ne penser à rien
Que de penser à vous
Ça ne me vaut rien
Ça ne me vaut rien du tout
Comme si de rien
N'était je pense à tous
Ces petits riens
Qui me venaient de vous
Si c'était trois fois rien
Trois fois rien entre nous
Évidemment
Ça ne fait pas beaucoup
Ce sont ces petits riens
Que j'ai mis bout à bout
Ces petits riens
Qui me venaient de vous
Mieux vaut pleurer de rien
Que de rire de tout
Pleurer pour un rien
C'est déjà beaucoup
Mais vous vous n'avez rien
Dans le cœur et j'avoue
Je vous envie
Je vous en veux beaucoup
Ce sont ces petits riens
Qui me venaient de vous
Les voulez-vous ?
Tenez ! Que voulez-vous ?
Moi je ne veux pour rien
Au monde plus rien de vous
Pour être à vous
Faut être à moitié fou.
The lyrics to Stacey Kent's "Ces petits riens" are full of meaningful and poignant messages. The first verse seems to suggest that sometimes it's better to not think about anything at all than to think too much. It suggests that "nothing" is already a lot, and it's better than thinking about things that might be harmful or bring negative emotions. The second verse is an ironic take on the first. The singer of the song says that it's better to not think about someone they once knew than to think about them and realize that it's not worth anything. The singer tries to move on from these thoughts, but the memories of small things that once made them happy keep creeping in.
The chorus talks about how the small things in life matter the most, and that even if they seem insignificant, they can still hold such a profound significance to an individual. The singer explains how they have accumulated these small things from the person they once knew and puts all of these little things that seem like "nothing" together like beautiful puzzle pieces, creating something meaningful and magnificent. The last verse talks about how it's better to cry about nothing than to laugh about everything, emphasizing how much the little things really mean to the singer. The song seems to be a beautiful tribute to the idea that small things have incredible importance in our lives, even if they seem unimportant at first glance.
Line by Line Meaning
Mieux vaut ne penser à rien
It's better to think of nothing
Que ne pas penser du tout
Than to not think at all
Rien c'est déjà
Nothing is already
Rien c'est déjà beaucoup
Nothing is already a lot
On se souvient de rien
We remember nothing
Et puisqu'on oublie tout
And since we forget everything
Rien c'est bien mieux
Nothing is much better
Rien c'est bien mieux que tout
Nothing is much better than everything
Que de penser à vous
Than to think of you
Ça ne me vaut rien
It's not worth anything to me
Ça ne me vaut rien du tout
It's not worth anything at all to me
Comme si de rien
As if it were nothing
N'était je pense à tous
I think about all of those things
Ces petits riens
These little things
Qui me venaient de vous
That came from you
Si c'était trois fois rien
If it was hardly anything
Trois fois rien entre nous
Hardly anything between us
Évidemment
Obviously
Ça ne fait pas beaucoup
It's not a lot
Ce sont ces petits riens
These are the little things
Que j'ai mis bout à bout
That I put together
Mieux vaut pleurer de rien
It's better to cry for nothing
Que de rire de tout
Than to laugh at everything
Pleurer pour un rien
Crying over nothing
C'est déjà beaucoup
Is already a lot
Mais vous vous n'avez rien
But you have nothing
Dans le cœur et j'avoue
In your heart and I admit
Je vous envie
I envy you
Je vous en veux beaucoup
I resent you a lot
Les voulez-vous ?
Do you want them?
Tenez ! Que voulez-vous ?
Here! What do you want?
Moi je ne veux pour rien
I don't want for anything
Au monde plus rien de vous
In the world, nothing more of you
Pour être à vous
To be yours
Faut être à moitié fou.
One must be half-crazy.
Contributed by Isaiah T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.