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 Mots d'amour
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
C'que j' peux t'aimer, des fois
Des fois, j'voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
C'est fou c'qu'il me disait
Comme jolis mots d'amour
Et comme il les disait
Mais il ne s'est pas tué
Car, malgré mon amour
C'est lui qui m'a quittée
Sans dire un mot
Pourtant des mots
'Y en avait tant
'Y en avait trop
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer, des fois
Des fois, je voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
Me quittais pour toujours
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui
Ces mêmes mots d'amour
C'est moi qui les re-dis
C'est moi qui les re-dis
Avec autant d'amour
À un autre que lui
Je dis des mots
Parce que des mots
Il y en a tant
Qu'il y en a trop
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C' que j'peux t'aimer des fois
Des fois, j'voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
Me quittais pour toujours
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
Au fond c'n'était pas toi
Comme ce n'est même pas moi
Qui dit ces mots d'amour
Car chaque jour, ta voix
Ma voix, ou d'autres voix
C'est la voix de l'amour
Qui dit des mots
Encore des mots
Toujours des mots
Des mots d'amour
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer, des fois
Si jamais tu partais
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
C'est fou c' que j' peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer d'amour
"Les Mots d'amour" is a French song by Édith Piaf about unrequited love. The song starts with Piaf expressing the intensity of her love for someone, saying that sometimes she wants to scream because she's never loved like this before. She swears that if this person were to leave her, she would die from the pain of the love she has for them.
In the next verse, Piaf talks about how the person she loved spoke such beautiful words of love to her, but ultimately it was him who left her without saying anything. She refers to the abundance of words they shared and how they were too much to bear.
The chorus repeats the first verse but adds an extra line at the end saying, "my love, my love." The final verse admits that it wasn't even the person she loved who truly said these words of love, but rather it was the voice of love itself speaking through her, him, and others. The song ends with a repetition of the first verse and chorus.
Overall, the song is powerful because it speaks to the experience of loving someone so intensely that you believe you would not survive without them. It's also about how love can be expressed through words, and those words can be both beautiful and overwhelming.
Line by Line Meaning
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
I cannot believe how much I love you
C'que j' peux t'aimer, des fois
Sometimes my love for you becomes overwhelming
Des fois, j'voudrais crier
At times, I want to scream
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Because I have never loved
Jamais aimé comme ça
Never loved like this before
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
I swear it to you
Si jamais tu partais
If you were to leave
Partais et me quittais
Leave and abandon me
Me quittais pour toujours
Leave me forever
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
I would surely die
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Die from love
Mon amour, mon amour
My love, my love
C'est fou c'qu'il me disait
It's crazy what he used to tell me
Comme jolis mots d'amour
Like beautiful words of love
Et comme il les disait
And how he would say them
Mais il ne s'est pas tué
But he did not kill himself
Car, malgré mon amour
Because, despite my love
C'est lui qui m'a quittée
It was him who left me
Sans dire un mot
Without saying a word
Pourtant des mots
Yet there were so many words
'Y en avait tant
There were so many
'Y en avait trop
There were too many
Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui
And now, today
Ces mêmes mots d'amour
These same words of love
C'est moi qui les re-dis
I am the one saying them now
Avec autant d'amour
With just as much love
À un autre que lui
To someone other than him
Je dis des mots
I say these words
Parce que des mots
Because there are so many words
Il y en a tant
There are so many
Qu'il y en a trop
That there are too many
Au fond c'n'était pas toi
In the end, it wasn't really you
Comme ce n'est même pas moi
Just like it's not really me
Qui dit ces mots d'amour
Who is saying these words of love
Car chaque jour, ta voix
Because each day, your voice
Ma voix, ou d'autres voix
My voice or others'
C'est la voix de l'amour
It is the voice of love
Toujours des mots
Always words
Des mots d'amour
Words of love
C' que j'peux t'aimer des fois
How much I love you sometimes
Si jamais tu partais
If you were to leave
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
I would surely die
C'est fou c' que j' peux t'aimer
It's crazy how I love you
C'que j'peux t'aimer d'amour
How much I love you with all my heart
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing, LES NOUVELLES EDITIONS MERIDIAN
Written by: CHARLES DUMONT, MICHEL RIVGAUCHE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@alexdelfin9046
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C'que j' peux t'aimer, des fois
Des fois, j'voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
Me quittais pour toujours
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
C'est fou c'qu'il me disait
Comme jolis mots d'amour
Et comme il les disait
Mais il ne s'est pas tué
Car, malgré mon amour
C'est lui qui m'a quittée
Sans dire un mot
Pourtant des mots
'Y en avait tant
'Y en avait trop
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer, des fois
Des fois, je voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
Me quittais pour toujours
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui
Ces mêmes mots d'amour
C'est moi qui les re-dis
C'est moi qui les re-dis
Avec autant d'amour
À un autre que lui
Je dis des mots
Parce que des mots
Il y en a tant
Qu'il y en a trop
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C' que j'peux t'aimer des fois
Des fois, j'voudrais crier
Car j'n'ai jamais aimé
Jamais aimé comme ça
Ça, je peux te l'jurer
Si jamais tu partais
Partais et me quittais
Me quittais pour toujours
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
Que j'en mourrais d'amour
Mon amour, mon amour
Au fond c'n'était pas toi
Comme ce n'est même pas moi
Qui dit ces mots d'amour
Car chaque jour, ta voix
Ma voix, ou d'autres voix
C'est la voix de l'amour
Qui dit des mots
Encore des mots
Toujours des mots
Des mots d'amour
C'est fou c'que j'peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer, des fois
Si jamais tu partais
C'est sûr que j'en mourrais
C'est fou c' que j' peux t'aimer
C'que j'peux t'aimer d'amour
@socialfox9646
Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui
Ces mêmes mots d'amour
C'est moi qui les re-dis
C'est moi qui les re-dis
Avec autant d'amour
À un autre que lui
Je dis des mots
Parce que des mots
Il y en a tant
Qu'il y en a trop
Linda demais. <3
@a.2773
Magnifique . Édith parlait avec tant de justesse des sentiments . Quelle interprète partie trop tôt. 💝
@mouila
Madame Piaf quel bonheur de vous entendre
Paroles éternelles, mélodie enivrante
Reposez en paix ......
@antoniaprado8099
Me encanta madame Piaf
@muratmurat624
Piaf !!
@antoniaprado8099
Chico me encanta tu comentario. No eres el único, soy una persona mayor y no paso un día sin escuchar a nuestra querida Piaf.
@user-sq1rt6qw8d
❤Oui bnjr à vs je crois qu'elle fait partie de l'emblème musicale
@jeanpierreechinard3415
Merveilleuse chanson.
@mickaelcaucheteux-hs2yn
Une voix unique exceptionnel et un cœur juste vrai qui chante
@GLT81
Et bien on a réussi à dépasser tout ça, et là nous sommes contaminés, quelle belle année de merde 2020, tiens bon chéri, on a encore tant de moments à vivre ♥️
@IleanaFilipescuLove
c'est fou comme c'est beau! trop beau! pour mon amoureux , pour la vie !