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.
La Foule
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie
Et j'entends dans la musique les cris, les rires
Qui éclatent et rebondissent autour de moi
Et perdue parmi ces gens qui me bousculent
Étourdie, désemparée, je reste là
Quand soudain, je me retourne, il se recule
Et la foule vient me jeter entre ses bras
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne, écrasés l'un contre l'autre
Nous ne formons qu'un seul corps
Et le flot sans effort nous pousse, enchaînés l'un et l'autre
Et nous laisse tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
Entraînés par la foule qui s'élance et qui danse
Une folle farandole, nos deux mains restent soudées
Et parfois soulevés nos deux corps enlacés s'envolent
Et retombent tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
Et la joie éclaboussée par son sourire
Me transperce et rejaillit au fond de moi
Mais soudain je pousse un cri parmi les rires
Quand la foule vient l'arracher d'entre mes bras
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne, nous éloigne l'un de l'autre
Je lutte et je me débats
Mais le son de ma voix s'étouffe dans les rires des autres
Et je crie de douleur, de fureur et de rage et je pleure
Et traînée par la foule qui s'élance et qui danse
Une folle farandole, je suis emportée au loin
Et je crispe mes poings, maudissant la foule qui me vole
L'homme qu'elle m'avait donné que je n'ai jamais retrouvé
The lyrics to Édith Piaf's song La foule describe the singer in the middle of a festive and lively crowd, suffocating under the sun and the joy. She hears the music and the laughter surrounding her, feeling somewhat lost in the crowd. Suddenly, she turns around and sees a man, who steps back before the crowd brings the two of them together. They are carried away by the throng, becoming one body, as the crowd pushes them forward effortlessly. The singer feels overjoyed, but her happiness is broken when the crowd tears the man away from her. The woman is dragged away by the crowd and cries in despair, feeling angry and resentful as she is carried away from the man that was taken from her.
The lyrics express a beautiful description of the collective joy found in crowds, but also the dangers and hardships of being caught in a mass of people. The singer longs for love and attachment but instead is lost in the joyous chaos of the crowd. In contrast, her pain and sadness are amplified as she is robbed of what she desires by the same group of people who brought her joy.
Line by Line Meaning
Je revois la ville en fête et en délire
I see the city again, in celebration and madness
Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie
Suffocating under the sun and under the joy
Et j'entends dans la musique les cris, les rires
And I hear in the music the screams, the laughter
Qui éclatent et rebondissent autour de moi
That explode and bounce around me
Et perdue parmi ces gens qui me bousculent
And lost among these people who push me
Étourdie, désemparée, je reste là
Dizzy, disoriented, I stay there
Quand soudain, je me retourne, il se recule
When suddenly, I turn around, he steps back
Et la foule vient me jeter entre ses bras
And the crowd comes and throws me into his arms
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Carried away by the crowd that drags us
Nous entraîne, écrasés l'un contre l'autre
It takes us, crushed against each other
Nous ne formons qu'un seul corps
We form just one body
Et le flot sans effort nous pousse, enchaînés l'un et l'autre
And the current effortlessly pushes us, chained to each other
Et nous laisse tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
And leaves us both fulfilled, intoxicated and happy
Entraînés par la foule qui s'élance et qui danse
Swept away by the crowd that leaps and dances
Une folle farandole, nos deux mains restent soudées
A crazy carnival, our two hands remain locked
Et parfois soulevés nos deux corps enlacés s'envolent
And sometimes, our two bodies embraced, lift off
Et retombent tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
And fall back down, both fulfilled, intoxicated and happy
Et la joie éclaboussée par son sourire
And the joy splashed by his smile
Me transperce et rejaillit au fond de moi
Pierces me and springs back from within me
Mais soudain je pousse un cri parmi les rires
But suddenly, I let out a cry amidst the laughter
Quand la foule vient l'arracher d'entre mes bras
When the crowd comes and tears him away from my arms
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Carried away by the crowd that drags us
Nous entraîne, nous éloigne l'un de l'autre
It takes us, and separates us from each other
Je lutte et je me débats
I struggle and fight
Mais le son de ma voix s'étouffe dans les rires des autres
But my voice is drowned out by the laughter of others
Et je crie de douleur, de fureur et de rage et je pleure
And I scream in pain, fury and rage, and I cry
Et traînée par la foule qui s'élance et qui danse
And dragged by the crowd that leaps and dances
Une folle farandole, je suis emportée au loin
A crazy carnival, I am taken far away
Et je crispe mes poings, maudissant la foule qui me vole
And I clench my fists, cursing the crowd that steals from me
L'homme qu'elle m'avait donné que je n'ai jamais retrouvé
The man that it had given me that I never found again
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Angel Cabral, Enrique Dizeo, Michel Rivgauche
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@HarryKingKelowna
The story of the song ' La Foule '
- "La Foule" is a famous song performed by Edith Piaf in 1957.
- The lyrics are by Michel Rivgauche and the music by Ángel Cabral.
- It is an adaptation of "Que nadie sepa mi sufrir", a Peruvian waltz of Argentine origin composed in 1936 by Angel Cabral with lyrics by Enrique Dizeo.
- After the success of the French adaptation, the original version was revived under the Spanish title "Amor de mis amores".
- The song has been covered by many artists, in French and Spanish, as well as in other languages.
- The song tells the story of a young woman who gets lost in a popular party. The crowd is so dense that the people there have little control over their movements.
- Through the movement of the crowd, the young woman finds herself in the arms of a stranger.
- Both helpless, they let themselves be carried away by the magic of the moment, dancing to the rhythm of the crowd.
- Something happens, perhaps the beginning of a new love, destroyed a few moments later by another movement of crowd which separates those who had just met.
- In spite of all his efforts, the crowd moves him away from the stranger which it had offered to him and which it carries away at once.
@HarryKingKelowna
Je revois la ville en fête et en délire
Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie
Et j'entends dans la musique les cris, les rires
Qui éclatent et rebondissent autour de moi
Et perdue parmi ces gens qui me bousculent
Étourdie, désemparée, je reste là.
Quand soudain, je me retourne, il se recule,
Et la foule vient me jeter entre ses bras...
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne
Écrasés l'un contre l'autre
Nous ne formons qu'un seul corps
Et le flot sans effort
Nous pousse, enchaînés l'un et l'autre
Et nous laisse tous deux
Épanouis, enivrés et heureux.
Entraînés par la foule qui s'élance
Et qui danse
Une folle farandole
Nos deux mains restent soudées
Et parfois soulevés
Nos deux corps enlacés s'envolent
Et retombent tous deux
Épanouis, enivrés et heureux...
Et la joie éclaboussée par son sourire
Me transperce et rejaillit au fond de moi.
Mais soudain je pousse un cri parmi les rires
Quand la foule vient l'arracher d'entre mes bras...
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne
Nous éloigne l'un de l'autre
Je lutte et je me débats
Mais le son de ma voix
S'étouffe dans les rires des autres
Et je crie de douleur, de fureur et de rage
Et je pleure...
Et traînée par la foule qui s'élance
Et qui danse
Une folle farandole
Je suis emportée au loin
Et je crispe mes poings, maudissant la foule qui me vole
L'homme qu'elle m'avait donné
Et que je n'ai jamais retrouvé...
@ilanzaki662
Je revois la ville en fête et en délire
Suffoquant sous le soleil et sous la joie
Et j'entends dans la musique les cris, les rires
Qui éclatent et rebondissent autour de moi
Et perdue parmi ces gens qui me bousculent
Étourdie, désemparée, je reste là
Quand soudain, je me retourne, il se recule
Et la foule vient me jeter entre ses bras
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne, écrasés l'un contre l'autre
Nous ne formons qu'un seul corps
Et le flot sans effort nous pousse, enchaînés l'un et l'autre
Et nous laisse tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
Entraînés par la foule qui s'élance
Et qui danse une folle farandole
Nos deux mains restent soudées
Et parfois soulevés, nos deux corps enlacés s'envolent
Et retombent tous deux épanouis, enivrés et heureux
Et la joie éclaboussée par son sourire
Me transperce et rejaillit au fond de moi
Mais soudain je pousse un cri parmi les rires
Quand la foule vient l'arracher d'entre mes bras
Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne, nous éloigne l'un de l'autre
Je lutte et je me débats
Mais le son de ma voix s'étouffe dans les rires des autres
Et je crie de douleur, de fureur et de rage et je pleure
Et traînée par la foule qui s'élance
Et qui danse une folle farandole
Je suis emportée au loin
Et je crispe mes poings, maudissant la foule qui me vole
L'homme qu'elle m'avait donné et que je n'ai jamais retrouvé
@SandraAmr
Eu amo essa cantora. Essa e uma das minhas musicas preferidas.
@thirstys8n222
DICAS NATURAIS Sandra Amr Sim, Edith Piaf é a melhora cantora.
@yaramathias3916
bom diorno smore com dimitreq
@m_r_k3236
Su vida fue muy dura mas merito aun
@oswaldogarcia9564
And i love you
@melenne000
Ela é maravilhosa ne?
@DeadHandX
Its crazy how many people come back to this everyday... this song is a masterpiece!!!
@hansolo631
It'll get a hit of popularity now due to being featured in such a good horror movie - "Talk to Me"
@FancyGamingLIVE
@@hansolo631 that's where i came from lol
@leo270480
Yes,edith piaf was a legend,im italian and i cant understand what she means but the emotions and the feelings are written in an universal language ❤