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.
Du Matin Jusqu'Au Soir
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Moi, je l'aime
Ce qu'il dit, ce qu'il fait
Moi, je trouve ça parfait
Car je l'aime
Dès le lever du jour
Ce sont des mots d'amour
Du "m'amour on s'aimera toujours"
C'est qu'il m'aime
C'est bon d'être amoureux
Surtout quand on est deux
Et qu'on s'aime
Je t'aime, tu m'aimes, on s'aime
Je l'aime, il m'aime et l'on s'aime
Du matin jusqu'au soir
Et du soir au matin
Je ne suis pas du tout aveuglée par l'amour
Je vois objectivement le contre et puis le pour
Vous voyez qu'honnêtement je ne suis pas de parti pris
Mais j'avoue franchement, y en a pas deux comme lui
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
Moi, je l'aime
Ce qu'il dit, ce qu'il fait
Moi, je trouve ça parfait
Car je l'aime
Dès le lever du jour
Ce sont des mots d'amour
Du "m'amour on s'aimera toujours"
Il sourit, puis il dit, "tu bouleverses ma vie"
C'est qu'il m'aime
C'est bon d'être amoureux
Surtout quand on est deux
Et qu'on s'aime
Je t'aime, tu m'aimes, on s'aime
Je l'aime, il m'aime et l'on s'aime
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
The lyrics in Édith Piaf's song "Du Matin Jusqu'Au Soir" express a deep sense of admiration and love for another person. The singer finds everything that the person does and says "perfect" and admits to being "bouleversé" or overwhelmed by the depth of his love for her. The lyrics also describe the joy and fulfillment that comes from being in a loving relationship with someone, where both parties are equally invested in the love they share.
Throughout the song, the singer seems to be acknowledging that her feelings for the person are not purely based on emotion, but that she can also see objectively the attributes that make them special. She claims not to be biased, but at the same time gushes about how there is no one else like the person she loves.
Overall, the song expresses a sense of completeness and contentment that comes from being able to love and be loved in return, and the happiness that such love brings.
Line by Line Meaning
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
I love him all day and night, without rest, at any time.
Moi, je l'aime
I love him.
Ce qu'il dit, ce qu'il fait
What he says and does.
Moi, je trouve ça parfait
I find it perfect.
Car je l'aime
Because I love him.
Dès le lever du jour
From dawn.
Ce sont des mots d'amour
These are words of love.
Du "m'amour on s'aimera toujours"
"My love, we will always love each other".
Il sourit, puis il dit, "tu bouleverses ma vie"
He smiles and says, "you are turning my life upside down".
C'est qu'il m'aime
It's because he loves me.
C'est bon d'être amoureux
It's good to be in love.
Surtout quand on est deux
Especially when there are two of us.
Et qu'on s'aime
And we love each other.
Je t'aime, tu m'aimes, on s'aime
I love you, you love me, we love each other.
Je l'aime, il m'aime et l'on s'aime
I love him, he loves me, and we love each other.
Je ne suis pas du tout aveuglée par l'amour
I am not blinded by love.
Je vois objectivement le contre et puis le pour
I objectively see the pros and cons.
Vous voyez qu'honnêtement je ne suis pas de parti pris
You see that honestly I am not biased.
Mais j'avoue franchement, y en a pas deux comme lui
But I admit frankly, there is no one like him.
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
I love him all day and night, without rest, at any time.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BEUSCHER ARPEGE
Written by: Marcel Achard, Robert Chauvigny, Georges Courquin (Cerimaux), Mitty Goldin, Edith Piaf (Gassion)
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Baron Déficit
Les paroles en français :
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
Moi, je l'aime
Ce qu'il dit, ce qu'il fait
Moi, je trouve ça parfait
Car je l'aime
Dès le lever du jour
Ce sont des mots d'amour
Du "m'amour on s'aimera toujours"
Il sourit, puis il dit, "tu bouleverses ma vie"
C'est qu'il m'aime
C'est bon d'être amoureux
Surtout quand on est deux
Et qu'on s'aime
Je t'aime, tu m'aimes, on s'aime
Je l'aime, il m'aime et l'on s'aime
Du matin jusqu'au soir
Et du soir au matin
Je ne suis pas du tout aveuglée par l'amour
Je vois objectivement le contre et puis le pour
Vous voyez qu'honnêtement je ne suis pas de parti pris
Mais j'avoue franchement, y en a pas deux comme lui
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
Moi, je l'aime
Ce qu'il dit, ce qu'il fait
Moi, je trouve ça parfait
Car je l'aime
Dès le lever du jour
Ce sont des mots d'amour
Du "m'amour on s'aimera toujours"
Il sourit, puis il dit, "tu bouleverses ma vie"
C'est qu'il m'aime
C'est bon d'être amoureux
Surtout quand on est deux
Et qu'on s'aime
Je t'aime, tu m'aimes, on s'aime
Je l'aime, il m'aime et l'on s'aime
Du matin jusqu'au soir et du soir au matin
Jose Priority
Just ordered that features this song and the tracks from la p'tite lily