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.
Le Chevalier De Paris
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Se rappelait plus du goût des prairies
Il faisait la guerre avec ses amis
Dedans la fumée
Dedans les métros
Dedans les pavés
Dedans les bistrots
Il ne savait pas qu'il en était saoul
Paris le tenait par la peau du cou
Ah! Les pommiers doux
Rondes et ritournelles
J'ai pas peur des loups
Chantonnait la belle
Ils ne sont pas méchants
Avec les enfants
Qu'ont le cœur fidèle
Et les genoux blancs
Sous un pommier doux, il l'a retrouvée
Croisant le soleil avec la rosée
Vivent les chansons pour les Bien-aimées
Je me souviens d'elle au sang de velours
Elle avait des mains qui parlaient d'amour
Et tressait l'argile avec les nuages
Et pressait le vent contre son visage
Pour en exprimer l'huile des voyages
Ah! Les pommiers doux
Rondes et ritournelles
J'ai pas peur des loups
Chantonnait la belle
Ils ne sont pas méchants
Avec les enfants
Qu'ont le cœur fidèle
Et les genoux blancs
"Adieu mon Paris", dit le chevalier
"J'ai dormi cent ans, debout sans manger
Les pommes d'argent de mes doux pommiers"
Alors le village a crié si fort
Que toutes les filles ont couru dehors
Mais le chevalier n'a salué qu'elle
Au sang de velours, au cœur tant fidèle
Chevalier fera la guerre en dentelles
Ah! Les pommiers doux
Rondes et ritournelles
J'ai pas peur des loups
Chantonnait la belle
Ils ne sont pas méchants
Avec les enfants
Qu'ont le cœur fidèle
Et les genoux blancs
The song "Le Chevalier de Paris" by Edith Piaf tells the story of a knight from Paris who has lost touch with the peaceful side of life. He is caught up in the chaos of war with his friends, in the smoke, in the subways, in the paved streets, and in the bars of the city. He is numb to the fact that he is losing himself in this lifestyle as Paris grips him by the neck.
The chorus of the song speaks of "sweet apple trees," and "rounds and rhymes," and punctuates each verse with the repetition of "I'm not afraid of wolves, the beautiful singer sang." The apple trees symbolize a simpler, gentler way of life that the knight once knew and longs to return to. The wolf, a common figure in fairy tales, represents danger, but the singer is not afraid of it. The message is that, what we fear is only in our minds, the fears itself are not real.
In the end, the knight rekindles his love story and his desire for a life connected to nature, leading him to abandon his former violent ways of “war in lace” and return to love, hope, and freedom. The apple tree serves as a symbol for sweetness, happiness, and the country lifestyle that he wants to return to.
Line by Line Meaning
Le grand chevalier du cœur de Paris
The great knight of the heart of Paris
Se rappelait plus du goût des prairies
No longer remembered the taste of meadows
Il faisait la guerre avec ses amis
He fought in the war with his friends
Dedans la fumée
Within the smoke
Dedans les métros
In the metros
Dedans les pavés
Amongst the cobblestones
Dedans les bistrots
Inside the bistros
Il ne savait pas qu'il en était saoul
He did not know that he was drunk on it
Il ne savait pas qu'il dormait debout
He did not know he was sleeping upright
Paris le tenait par la peau du cou
Paris held him by the skin of his neck
Ah! Les pommiers doux
Ah! The sweet apple trees
Rondes et ritournelles
Round and round
J'ai pas peur des loups
I'm not afraid of wolves
Chantonnait la belle
The beauty sang
Ils ne sont pas méchants
They are not mean
Avec les enfants
With children
Qu'ont le cœur fidèle
Who have a faithful heart
Et les genoux blancs
And white knees
Sous un pommier doux, il l'a retrouvée
Under a sweet apple tree, he found her
Croisant le soleil avec la rosée
Crossing the sun with the dew
Vivent les chansons pour les Bien-aimées
Long live the songs for the beloveds
Je me souviens d'elle au sang de velours
I remember her with velvet blood
Elle avait des mains qui parlaient d'amour
She had hands that spoke of love
Et tressait l'argile avec les nuages
And braided clay with the clouds
Et pressait le vent contre son visage
And pressed the wind against her face
Pour en exprimer l'huile des voyages
To express the oil of travels
Adieu mon Paris, dit le chevalier
Goodbye my Paris, said the knight
J'ai dormi cent ans, debout sans manger
I slept a hundred years, standing without eating
Les pommes d'argent de mes doux pommiers
The silver apples of my sweet apple trees
Alors le village a crié si fort
Then the village shouted so loud
Que toutes les filles ont couru dehors
That all the girls ran out
Mais le chevalier n'a salué qu'elle
But the knight only greeted her
Au sang de velours, au cœur tant fidèle
With velvet blood, with heart so faithful
Chevalier fera la guerre en dentelles
Knight will wage war in lace
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Angele Marie Therese Vannier, M Philippe-Gerard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Jane Truax
I love. Edith Piaf, and especially this song . There has never been anyone to match her!
Erictra Glide
Hommage à Edith ce weekend 10 au 12 octobre 2013 à Belleville, pour les 50 ans de sa disparition... Les Chevaliers de Paris y étaient ! Merci Madame Edith PIAF
Nicolas Guillerm
Hop dada36