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 croix
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Croix de fer, croix de bois, humbles croix familières
Petites croix d'argent
Pendues sur les poitrines
Vieilles croix des couvent
Perdues parmi les ruines
Et moi, pauvre de moi
L'immense croix de plomb
Vaste comme l'amour
J'y accroche le vent
J'y retiens la tempête
J'y prolonge le soir et j'y cache le jour
Et moi, pauvre de moi
J'ai ma croix dans la tête
Un mot y est gravé
Qui ressemble à "souffrir"
Mais ce mot familier
Que mes lèvres répètent
Est si lourd à porter
Que j'en pense mourir
Mon Dieu, qu'il y en a sur les routes profondes
De silencieuses croix qui veillent sur le monde
Hautes croix du pardon
Tendues vers les potences
Croix de la déraison
Ou de la délivrance
Mais moi, pauvre de moi
J'ai ma croix dans la tête
L'immense croix de plomb
Vaste comme l'amour
J'y accroche le vent
J'y retiens la tempête
J'y prolonge le soir et j'y cache le jour
Mais moi, pauvre de moi
J'ai ma croix dans la tête
Un nom y est gravé
Qui ressemble à "souffrir"
Mais ce nom familier
Que mes lèvres répètent
Est si lourd à porter
Que j'en pense mourir
The lyrics of Edith Piaf's song Les croix speak about the overwhelming presence of crosses in the world, be they "croix de fer, croix de bois" or "croix des couvent". The song starts off by painting a picture of the small and humble crosses that are familiar to us, whether they're worn as religious symbols or are part of the ruins of a convent. However, the singer reveals that she carries something even heavier within her - a "croix dans la tête". Her cross is made of lead and it is vast like love. She uses this cross to tether the wind and to hold back storms, but she also uses it to prolong evening and hide daylight. The word "souffrir" is written on her cross, a familiar word that feels so heavy to carry that it makes her think of death.
Line by Line Meaning
Mon Dieu qu'il y en a des croix sur cette terre
Oh my God, there are so many crosses on this earth
Croix de fer, croix de bois, humbles croix familières
Iron crosses, wooden crosses, humble familiar crosses
Petites croix d'argent
Small silver crosses
Pendues sur les poitrines
Hung on the chests
Vieilles croix des couvent
Old crosses of the convent
Perdues parmi les ruines
Lost among the ruins
Et moi, pauvre de moi
And me, poor me
J'ai ma croix dans la tête
I have my cross in my head
L'immense croix de plomb
The immense lead cross
Vaste comme l'amour
Vast like love
J'y accroche le vent
I hang onto the wind
J'y retiens la tempête
I hold back the storm
J'y prolonge le soir et j'y cache le jour
I prolong the evening and hide the day there
Un mot y est gravé
A word is engraved on it
Qui ressemble à "souffrir"
That resembles "to suffer"
Mais ce mot familier
But this familiar word
Que mes lèvres répètent
That my lips repeat
Est si lourd à porter
Is so heavy to carry
Que j'en pense mourir
That I think I'll die
Mon Dieu, qu'il y en a sur les routes profondes
Oh my God, there are so many on the deep roads
De silencieuses croix qui veillent sur le monde
Silent crosses that watch over the world
Hautes croix du pardon
High crosses of forgiveness
Tendues vers les potences
Stretched towards the gallows
Croix de la déraison
Crosses of madness
Ou de la délivrance
Or of liberation
Un nom y est gravé
A name is engraved on it
Qui ressemble à "souffrir"
That resembles "to suffer"
Mais ce nom familier
But this familiar name
Que mes lèvres répètent
That my lips repeat
Est si lourd à porter
Is so heavy to carry
Que j'en pense mourir
That I think I'll die
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Gilbert Francois Leopold Becaud, Louis Jean Mathieu Amade
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@gainsbarre59264
une chanson puissante interprété avec passion ! et ces cœur sa me donne des frissons ! normal j’ai été bercé avec du Édith durant mon enfance ... merci pour ce divin morceau !
@marielouisechamberlin6412
Très émouvant.
Merci.
@amparoospina562
Maravillosa voz
@annamaksimova8510
Какая-то грустная
история великолепно спета
Эдит Пиаф!
@marisolcormier9738
Et le texte de Louis Amade est sublime.
@tukanana
0:36 字幕はどうなってるんだ？