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.
Les Deux Menetriers
Édith Piaf Lyrics
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Sans selle et sans étriers,
Par le royaume des morts
Vont deux blancs ménétriers.
Ils vont un galop d'enfer,
Tout en raclant leur crincrin
Avec des archets de fer,
Ayant des cheveux pour crin.
Au rire des violons,
Les morts sortent des tombeaux.
Dansons et cabriolons !
Et les trépassés joyeux
S'en vont par bonds et soufflant,
Avec une flamme aux yeux,
Rouge dans leurs crânes blancs.
Et les noirs chevaux sans mors,
Sans selle et sans étriers
Font halte et voici qu'aux morts
Parlent les ménétriers :
Le premier dit, d'une voix
Sonnant comme un tympanon :
Voulez-vous vivre deux fois ?
Venez, la Vie est mon nom !
Et tous, meme les plus gueux
Qui de rien n'avaient joui,
Tous, dans un élan fougueux,
Les morts ont répondu : Oui !
Alors l'autre, d'une voix
Qui soupirait comme un cor,
Leur dit : Pour vivre deux fois,
Il vous faut aimer encor !
Aimez donc ! Enlacez-vous !
Venez, l'Amour est mon nom !
Mais tous, meme les plus fous,
Les morts ont répondu : Non !
Et leurs doigts décharnés,
Montrant leurs cœurs en lambeaux,
Avec des cris de damnés,
Sont rentrés dans leurs tombeaux.
Et les blancs ménétriers
Sur leurs noirs chevaux sans mors,
Sans selle et sans étriers,
Ont laissé dormir les morts.
The lyrics of Édith Piaf's song "Les Deux Ménétriers" describe a haunting scene in the kingdom of the dead. Two white minstrels on black horses, without reins, saddles, or stirrups, gallop through the realm of the deceased. They play their fiddles, scraping the strings with iron bows that have hair made of human hair. The sound of their horses' hooves and the laughter of their violins awaken the dead from their tombs. The spirits emerge, dancing and frolicking with joy.
The deceased, filled with a fiery energy and a red flame in their white skulls, respond eagerly to the minstrels. The first minstrel offers them a chance to live twice, calling himself Life. Even the poorest and most deprived among them, eager for a second chance at existence, enthusiastically respond with a resounding "Yes!"
The second minstrel, with a voice that sighs like a horn, tells them that in order to live twice, they must also embrace love. However, to the surprise of the minstrel, the dead, even the wildest among them, respond with a unanimous "No!" Their bony fingers, showing their tattered hearts, cry out like damned souls, and they retreat back into their tombs. The white minstrels, riding their black horses without reins, saddles, or stirrups, leave the dead to rest once again.
Overall, "Les Deux Ménétriers" explores themes of life and death, the longing for a second chance, and the complex emotions surrounding love and its role in the afterlife.
Line by Line Meaning
Sur les noirs chevaux sans mors,
Upon black horses without bits,
Sans selle et sans étriers,
Without saddle and without stirrups,
Par le royaume des morts
Through the realm of the dead
Vont deux blancs ménétriers.
Go two white minstrels.
Ils vont un galop d'enfer,
They go in a hellish gallop,
Tout en raclant leur crincrin
While scraping their fiddle strings
Avec des archets de fer,
With iron bows,
Ayant des cheveux pour crin.
Having hair for strings.
Au fracas des durs sabots,
To the clatter of hard hooves,
Au rire des violons,
To the laughter of violins,
Les morts sortent des tombeaux.
The dead come out of their tombs.
Dansons et cabriolons !
Let's dance and frolic!
Et les trépassés joyeux
And the joyful departed
S'en vont par bonds et soufflant,
Go by leaps and breathing heavily,
Avec une flamme aux yeux,
With a flame in their eyes,
Rouge dans leurs crânes blancs.
Red in their white skulls.
Et les noirs chevaux sans mors,
And the black horses without bits,
Sans selle et sans étriers
Without saddle and without stirrups,
Font halte et voici qu'aux morts
They stop and behold to the dead
Parlent les ménétriers :
Speak the minstrels:
Le premier dit, d'une voix
The first one says, with a voice
Sonnant comme un tympanon :
Resounding like a tympanum:
Voulez-vous vivre deux fois ?
Do you want to live twice?
Venez, la Vie est mon nom !
Come, Life is my name!
Et tous, même les plus gueux
And all, even the poorest
Qui de rien n'avaient joui,
Who had enjoyed nothing,
Tous, dans un élan fougueux,
All, in a passionate surge,
Les morts ont répondu : Oui !
The dead answered: Yes!
Alors l'autre, d'une voix
Then the other one, with a voice
Qui soupirait comme un cor,
That sighed like a horn,
Leur dit : Pour vivre deux fois,
Tells them: To live twice,
Il vous faut aimer encore !
You must still love!
Aimez donc ! Enlacez-vous !
So love! Embrace each other!
Venez, l'Amour est mon nom !
Come, Love is my name!
Mais tous, même les plus fous,
But all, even the craziest,
Les morts ont répondu : Non !
The dead answered: No!
Et leurs doigts décharnés,
And their bony fingers,
Montrant leurs cœurs en lambeaux,
Showing their hearts in tatters,
Avec des cris de damnés,
With cries of the damned,
Sont rentrés dans leurs tombeaux.
Returned to their tombs.
Et les blancs ménétriers
And the white minstrels
Sur leurs noirs chevaux sans mors,
On their black horses without bits,
Sans selle et sans étriers,
Without saddle and without stirrups,
Ont laissé dormir les morts.
Have let the dead sleep.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Richepin Auguste, Constant Eugenie Adele, Durand Lucien
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind