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 Noël de la rue
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Courant ainsi sur tes pieds nus
Je cours après le Paradis
Car c'est Noël à ce qu'on dit...
Le Noël de la rue
C'est la neige et le vent
Et le vent de la rue
La lumière et la joie
Sont derrière les vitrines
Ni pour toi, ni pour moi
C'est pour notre voisine
Mon petit, amuse-toi bien
En regardant, en regardant
Mais surtout, ne touche à rien
En regardant de loin...
Le Noël de la rue
C'est le froid de l'hiver
Dans les yeux grands ouverts
Des enfants de la rue
Collant aux vitres leurs museaux
Tous les petits font le gros dos
Ils sont blottis comme des Jésus
Que Sainte Marie aurait perdus...
Le Noël de la rue
C'est la neige et le vent
Et le vent de la rue
Fait pleurer les enfants
Ils s'en vont reniflant,
Ils s'en vont les mains vides
Nez en l'air et cherchant
Une étoile splendide
Mon petit, si tu la vois
Tout en marchant bien droit
Le Noël de la rue
C'est au ciel de leur vie
Une étoile endormie
Qui n'est pas descendue..
The song "Le Noël de la rue" by Édith Piaf tells the story of a young child running barefoot in the streets searching for something. The child is asked where they are going, and they respond that they are chasing after paradise, because it is Christmas time. The song paints a picture of the streets during winter with snow and wind. The wind makes the children cry and the warmth and joy are behind the store windows, not for the children on the street. They are left longing for something to make them feel taken care of and loved, like the baby Jesus who would have been lost without Saint Mary.
The song also touches on the themes of poverty and the feeling of being left behind. The children bare the cold of the winter while looking through store windows at the luxury they cannot afford, like the imaginary but wonderful star (étoile splendide) they yearn for. Their noses are pressed up against the glass as they watched others in warmth and comfort. They wander the streets empty-handed, looking for that special dream to come their way.
"Le Noël de la rue" is a poignant reminder of the many who suffer from poverty and homelessness, as seen through the eyes of a child. It tells of the hardships of the cold wintertime that not only strike the body but affect the soul, bringing personal inadequacies to a stark and cold reality. Nevertheless, like the famous "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, it succeeds in making us feel grateful for the humility it instills in us.
Line by Line Meaning
Petit bonhomme où t'en vas-tu
Little one, where are you going?
Courant ainsi sur tes pieds nus
Running around barefoot like that
Je cours après le Paradis
I'm chasing after paradise
Car c'est Noël à ce qu'on dit...
Because it's Christmas, or so they say...
Le Noël de la rue
Christmas in the street
C'est la neige et le vent
It's the snow and the wind
Et le vent de la rue
And the wind in the street
Fait pleurer les enfants
Makes the children cry
La lumière et la joie
The lights and the joy
Sont derrière les vitrines
Are behind the windows
Ni pour toi, ni pour moi
Not for you, not for me
C'est pour notre voisine
It's for our neighbor
Mon petit, amuse-toi bien
My little one, have fun
En regardant, en regardant
Looking, just looking
Mais surtout, ne touche à rien
But above all, don't touch anything
En regardant de loin...
Just looking from a distance...
Le Noël de la rue
Christmas in the street
C'est le froid de l'hiver
It's the cold of winter
Dans les yeux grands ouverts
In their wide open eyes
Des enfants de la rue
Of the street children
Collant aux vitres leurs museaux
Pressing their noses against the windows
Tous les petits font le gros dos
All the little ones puff out their chests
Ils sont blottis comme des Jésus
They huddle like little Jesuses
Que Sainte Marie aurait perdus...
That Holy Mary might have lost...
Ils s'en vont reniflant,
They go away sniffing,
Ils s'en vont les mains vides
They go away with empty hands
Nez en l'air et cherchant
Nose in the air and looking for
Une étoile splendide
A splendid star
Mon petit, si tu la vois
My little one, if you see it
Tout en marchant bien droit
While walking straight ahead
Le Noël de la rue
Christmas in the street
C'est au ciel de leur vie
It's in the sky of their lives
Une étoile endormie
A sleeping star
Qui n'est pas descendue..
That hasn't come down...
Contributed by Emma N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Yves Genin
C'est un des plus beaux chants de Noël que je connaisse!!!
Evelyne Collin
C'est une magnifique chanson de Noël. Noël de la rue, pour tous les enfants perdus.Tout est si brillant de lumières Ayons une pensée pour eux.
Madeleine Destouches
texte chargé d'émotion !!! super bien interprété !!! merci !!!!EDITH !!!!!je ne connaissais pas cette chanson !!!
Carmine-James Pitaniello
Une magnifigue chanson de Noel...Tres belle chanson pour les enfants perdus Noel de la rue. Merci.
Pascale Fradel
merci à cette grande dame chaque chanson me touche profondement
angélique BOSIO
Magnifique
Dr RéaganEliedith PhD
c'est une chanson pour Noel magnifiqye par la grande chanteuse Édith Piaf . Éli Manning.
Patriote Français
Quelle chanson
Marisa Rossi
bravissima.
Thomas Yogayo III
Oe