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.
Toujours aimer
Édith Piaf Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Et l'on verse des pleurs en voulant trop aimer
On croit être sincère, on croit avoir trouvé
Le seul être sur Terre qu'on ne peut remplacer
On n'a pas dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
Et l'on verse des pleurs en voulant trop aimer
Un jour on se réveille, ce n'est plus tout à fait
Le rayon de soleil qui vous embellissait
On regrette le temps où l'on croyait s'aimer
On regrette le temps où le cœur s'emballait
Il ne nous reste plus que quelques souvenirs
De pauvres souvenirs qu'on cherche à retenir
Mais moi, j'ai dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
J'aurai toujours assez de larmes pour pleurer
J'aurai toujours assez de rires pour effacer
Et les tristes souvenirs accrochés au passé
Mais moi, j'ai dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
J'aurai toujours assez de larmes pour pleurer
Je veux toujours aimer, je veux toujours souffrir
Si je n'dois plus aimer, mois je préfère mourir
Mais, moi, j'ai dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
The lyrics to Edith Piaf's song "Toujours aimer" speak to the complexity of love and the human experience of holding onto past relationships, even as they fade away. The song begins with the idea that not everyone has the ability to love someone forever - that we often cry when we try to force our love to last. The singer suggests that we may think we have found our soulmate, but in the end, we are unable to truly replace them when they are gone. These painful memories are recounted with sadness in the verses, as the singer reminisces about a time when their heart was full, and they believed their love would last.
However, the chorus takes a different approach, with the singer claiming that they do have the capacity for everlasting love. Even though they may cry, they will always find enough tears to heal their heart, and enough laughter to move forward. They are willing to accept the sadness and pain of love, and even if they were to never find love again, they would rather die than stop loving altogether. This song explores the universal theme of love and loss, and the contrasting emotions of longing and acceptance that come with it.
Line by Line Meaning
On n'a pas dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
Sometimes we don't have enough love in our hearts to always love
Et l'on verse des pleurs en voulant trop aimer
And we cry because we try to love too much
On croit être sincère, on croit avoir trouvé
We think we're sincere, we think we've found
Le seul être sur Terre qu'on ne peut remplacer
The only person on Earth we can't replace
Un jour on se réveille, ce n'est plus tout à fait
One day we wake up, it's not quite
Le rayon de soleil qui vous embellissait
The sunbeam that made us look better
On regrette le temps où l'on croyait s'aimer
We regret the time when we thought we were in love
On regrette le temps où le cœur s'emballait
We regret the time when our hearts were racing
Il ne nous reste plus que quelques souvenirs
All that's left are a few memories
De pauvres souvenirs qu'on cherche à retenir
Poor memories that we try to hold onto
Mais moi, j'ai dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
But I have enough love in my heart to always love
J'aurai toujours assez de larmes pour pleurer
I'll always have enough tears to cry
J'aurai toujours assez de rires pour effacer
I'll always have enough laughter to erase
Et les tristes souvenirs accrochés au passé
And the sad memories that cling to the past
Je veux toujours aimer, je veux toujours souffrir
I want to always love, I want to always suffer
Si je n'dois plus aimer, mois je préfère mourir
If I can't love anymore, I'd rather die
Mais, moi, j'ai dans le cœur de quoi toujours aimer
But I have enough love in my heart to always love
Lyrics © LES NOUVELLES EDITIONS MERIDIAN
Written by: Charles Dumont, Nita Raya
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind