Despite the numerous biographies, many facts and events of Édith's life are shrouded in mystery. She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, Paris, France, the high-immigration district later described by Daniel Pennac. Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72 but according to her birth certificate that was at Hôpital Tenon, the Belleville arrondissement hospital. She was named Édith after the executed British nurse Edith Cavell (Piaf —Parisian jargon for "sparrow"— came from a nickname she would receive twenty years later).
Her mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1898 – 1945), was a partly-Italian 17-year-old girl, native of Livorno, working as a café singer under the pseudonym Line Marsa; from her, Édith took the middle name of Giovanna. Her father, Louis-Alphonse Gassion (1881 – 1944), was a street acrobat with a theatrical past. The little Édith was soon abandoned and left for a short time to her maternal grandmother, Mena (probably a Kabyle). Shortly after, Édith's father brought the child to his mother, who ran a brothel in Normandy, and then joined the French Army (1916). Thus Édith was in contact with the prostitutes and the various attenders of the brothel since her early years, a circumstance which must have had a deep impact on her personality and vision of life.
From the age of three to seven she was blind. As part of Piaf's legend, she allegedly recovered her sight after her grandmother's prostitutes went on a pilgrimage to Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. In 1929 she joined her father in his acrobatic street performances. Then took a room at Grand Hôtel de Clermont (18 rue Veron, Paris 18ème) and separated from him, going her own way as a street singer in Pigalle, Ménilmontant and Paris suburbs (cf. the song "Elle fréquentait la Rue Pigalle"). She was about 16 years of age when she fell in love with a delivery-boy, Louis Dupont, and shortly after had a child, a little girl named Marcelle. Sadly, Marcelle died in infancy of meningitis.
In 1935, Édith was discovered in the Pigalle area of Paris by the nightclub owner Louis Leplée, whose club was frequented by the upper and lower classes alike. He persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness, which, combined with her height of only 4' 8" (142 cm) inspired him to give her the nickname that would stay with her for the rest of her life and become her stage name: La Môme Piaf (The Little Sparrow). Her first record was produced in the same year. Shortly afterwards, Leplée was murdered and Piaf was accused of being an accessory; she was acquitted.
In 1940, Jean Cocteau wrote the successful play Le Bel Indifférent for her to star in. She began to make friends with famous people, such as the actor Maurice Chevalier and the poet Jacques Borgeat. She wrote the lyrics of many of her songs, and collaborated with composers on the tunes.
Her signature song, "La vie en rose" (which was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998) was written in the middle of the German occupation of Paris in World War II. During this time, she was in great demand and very successful. She befriended many high-ranking Germans and sang for them. It is said that she collaborated with the Nazis, too. After the war, she toured Europe, the United States, and South America, becoming an internationally known figure. Her popularity in the U.S. was such that she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times. She helped to launch the career of Charles Aznavour, taking him on tour with her in France and the United States.
The great love of Piaf's life, the boxer Marcel Cerdan, died in 1949. Piaf was married twice. Her first husband was Jacques Pills, a singer; they married in 1952 and divorced in 1956. Her second husband, Theophanis Lamboukas (also known as Théo Sarapo), was a hairdresser-turned-singer and actor, and was twenty years younger than Piaf; they married in 1962.
In 1951 she was in a car accident, and thereafter had difficulty breaking a serious morphine habit.
The Paris Olympia is the place where Piaf achieved fame and where, just a few months before her death, she gave one of her most memorable concerts while barely able to stand. In early 1963, Piaf recorded her last song, "L'homme de Berlin".
At the early age of 47, Piaf died of cancer in Plascassier, on the French riviera, on October 10, 1963. Her friend Jean Cocteau, very shocked and afflicted by her death, died a few hours later. Her body was returned to Paris where her death was only announced on October 11, the official date of her death. She was buried in Père Lachaise cemetery, Paris. Although she was forbidden a Mass by the Roman Catholic archbishop of Paris (because of her lifestyle), her funeral procession drew hundreds of thousands of mourners onto the streets of Paris and the ceremony at the cemetery was jammed with more than forty thousand fans. Charles Aznavour recalled that Piaf's funeral procession was the only time, since the end of World War II, that Parisian traffic came to a complete stop.
There is a museum dedicated to Piaf, the Musée Édith Piaf at 5, rue Crespin du Gast, 75011, Paris.
Today she is still remembered and revered as one of the greatest singers France has ever produced. Her life was one of sharp contrasts: the range of her fame as opposed to her tragic personal life, and her fragile small figure on stage with the resounding power of her voice.
C'est un gars
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On voit le jour à travers sa robe
Son corsage est tout rapiécé
Et ses effets très fatigués
Qu'importe ce qu'on dit à la ronde
Je me fous du reste du monde
J'ai comme envie de rire et de chanter
C'est fou ce qui m'est arrivé
C'est un gars qu'est entré dans ma vie
C'est un gars qui m'a dit des folies
Tu es jolie
Tu es jolie
On me l'avait jamais dit
C'est un gars qui ressemblait à un ange
C'est un gars qui parlait comme les anges
Tu es jolie, tu es jolie
J'en suis tout étourdie
Je vivais depuis mon enfance
Dans les rues noires de l'ignorance
Soudain tout s'est illuminé
Mon cœur s'est mis à chanter
C'est beau l'amour qui se promène
Quand le bonheur en tient la chaîne
On voudrait rester prisonnier
Rien que pour contempler son geôlier
C'est un gars qu'est entré dans ma vie
C'est un gars qui m'a dit des folies
Tu es jolie
Tu es jolie
On me l'avait jamais dit
C'est un gars
Qui ressemblait à un ange
C'est un gars qui parlait comme les anges
Tu es jolie
Très jolie
Le bonheur n'est qu'un cri
C'est merveilleux lorsque nos corps se frôlent
L'amour jaillit et l'on perd tout contrôle
Et quand on est grisé de baisers et de mots
Et qu'il sourit, c'est drôle
Et mord dans son épaule
C'est un gars qui est entré dans ma vie
C'est un gars qui m'a dit des folies
Tu es jolie, tu es jolie
Veux-tu d'moi pour la vie?
Oui !
The lyrics of Édith Piaf's song "C'est un Gars" describe a woman's experience of falling in love with a man who enters her life unexpectedly. The first verse depicts the feeling of being swept off one's feet, with lines like "under my feet my soles slip away" and "I feel like laughing and singing." The second verse reveals the singer's background of hardship and lack of love, with the man's compliments making her feel beautiful for the first time in her life. The final verse celebrates the joy and freedom of being in love, emphasizing the physical and emotional connection between the two people.
Overall, "C'est un Gars" is a celebration of falling in love, with Piaf's powerful voice and emotive performance conveying the depth of feeling behind the lyrics. While the song is rooted in a specific time and place, it speaks to the universal experience of being swept up in a new and exciting romantic relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Sous mes pieds mes semelles se dérobent
I'm so overwhelmed that even my own shoes seem to give way beneath me
On voit le jour à travers sa robe
His aura shines so bright that it's visible through his clothes
Son corsage est tout rapiécé
His clothing is tattered and worn
Et ses effets très fatigués
His demeanor is exhausted
Qu'importe ce qu'on dit à la ronde
I don't care what anyone else thinks
Je me fous du reste du monde
The rest of the world doesn't matter to me
J'ai comme envie de rire et de chanter
All I want to do is laugh and sing
C'est fou ce qui m'est arrivé
It's crazy what has happened to me
C'est un gars qu'est entré dans ma vie
A guy has entered my life
C'est un gars qui m'a dit des folies
He's said crazy things to me
Tu es jolie
You are beautiful
Tu es jolie
You are beautiful
On me l'avait jamais dit
No one had ever told me that
C'est un gars qui ressemblait à un ange
He looks like an angel
C'est un gars qui parlait comme les anges
He speaks like angels do
Tu es jolie, tu es jolie
You are beautiful, so beautiful
J'en suis tout étourdie
I feel dizzy
Je vivais depuis mon enfance
I've lived in darkness since childhood
Dans les rues noires de l'ignorance
In the dark alleys of ignorance
Soudain tout s'est illuminé
Suddenly everything is illuminated
Mon cœur s'est mis à chanter
My heart started singing
C'est beau l'amour qui se promène
Love is beautiful when it wanders by
Quand le bonheur en tient la chaîne
When happiness is its chain
On voudrait rester prisonnier
You'd want to remain a prisoner
Rien que pour contempler son geôlier
Just to gaze upon your jailer
Très jolie
So beautiful
Le bonheur n'est qu'un cri
Happiness is nothing but a cry
C'est merveilleux lorsque nos corps se frôlent
It's wonderful when our bodies touch
L'amour jaillit et l'on perd tout contrôle
Love springs forth and you lose all control
Et quand on est grisé de baisers et de mots
When you're drunk on kisses and words
Et qu'il sourit, c'est drôle
And he smiles, it's funny
Et mord dans son épaule
And bites into his shoulder
Veux-tu d'moi pour la vie?
Will you have me for life?
Oui!
Yes!
Lyrics © RAOUL BRETON EDITIONS, Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Charles Aznavour, Pierre Roche
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@marcalbert9181
je ne connaissais pas tres belle chanson
@jeanpontre3235
j'aime beaucoup
@School_of_animation
Ce n'est pas Piaf sur des photos
@jeanpoisson5695
oui chaque photo est bien edith piaf