Aznavour has sung for presidents, popes and royalty, as well as at humanitarian events. In response to the 1988 Armenian earthquake, he founded the charitable organization Aznavour for Armenia along with his long-time friend impresario Levon Sayan. In 2009, he was appointed ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, as well as Armenia's permanent delegate to the United Nations at Geneva. On 24 August 2017, Aznavour was awarded the 2,618th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On 17 September 2018, his last concert took place in NHK Hall, Tokyo.
Charles Aznavour died on 1 October 2018.
Charles Aznavour was perhaps the best-known French music hall entertainer in the world -- renowned the world over for the bittersweet love songs he has written and sung, which seem to embody the essence of French popular song, and also for his appearances on screen in such wildly divergent fare as Shoot the Piano Player, Candy, and The Tin Drum. His status as the quintessential French popular culture icon is something of an irony for a man who identifies himself most closely with his Armenian heritage. His father was a singer and sometime-restaurateur, while his mother was an actress and part-time seamstress. His father's singing, done in a notably impassioned style, heavily influenced Aznavour's approach to singing as a boy. Although he had a voracious appetite for music, he also had a serious impediment growing up, in the form of a paralyzed vocal cord that gave his voice a raspy quality. He channeled some of his energy into theater, making both his stage and screen debuts at age nine, in 1933, in the theater piece Un bon petit diable and in the film La guerre des gosses. As an adolescent, he danced in nightclubs and sold newspapers, as well as touring with theatrical companies, and he wrote a nightclub act in partnership with Pierre Roche -- Aznavour wrote the lyrics to their songs and it was through that material that he began his singing career. Early on, he learned to overcome his fears about his vocal limitations, in part with help from singing legend Édith Piaf, for whom he worked as a chauffeur, among other capacities; with her help, he developed a style that suited his capabilities and played to his strengths and also continued writing songs in earnest, some of which were performed by Piaf.
His success came very slowly, however. Aznavour at first found some difficulty being accepted as a composer in France or anywhere else. His compositions, although considered tame by any modern standard, were regarded as too risqué for French radio and were banned from the airwaves for a decade or more, from the late '40s through the end of the 1950s; American publishers seemed equally reticent about them, as he discovered on a visit to New York in 1948. That trip did yield his first performing engagement in the city, however, at the Cafe Society Downtown in Greenwich Village. For the next decade, Aznavour made his living as a performer in second-tier clubs and middle- or bottom-of-the-bill berths on three continents. His mix of daringly original and frank love songs, coupled with a limited but very expressive singing style, left audiences somewhat bewildered at first.
His breakthrough came in 1956, during a vaudeville engagement in Casablanca, where the audience reaction was so positive that Aznavour was moved to headliner status. After this, it became easier for the singer to find better engagements in France; by 1958 he even had a recording contract. He made his screen debut that same year in a dramatic role, playing an epileptic in George Franju's La tête contre les murs. He also composed music for Alex Joff's Du rififi chez les femmes in 1958; From there, he moved on to bigger roles in better movies, including Jean Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus and Francois Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player. The latter movie turned Aznavour into a screen star in France and opened the way for his breakthrough in America. He sang at Carnegie Hall in the early '60s and followed this up in 1965 with a one-man show, The World of Charles Aznavour, at the Ambassador Hotel in New York, which drew rave notices from audiences and critics alike. By that time, the once-struggling singer had secured his first American LP release with the similarly titled album The World of Charles Aznavour on Reprise Records, the label founded and run by Frank Sinatra.
Aznavour would be the last to compare himself with those whom he regards as truly gifted vocalists, such as Sinatra and Mel Tormé, preferring to think of himself as a composer who also happens to sing. His style of performing has been compared variously to Maurice Chevalier and Sinatra and has remained enduringly popular for four decades. Almost all of Aznavour's songs deal with love and its permutations, running the gamut from upbeat, joyous pieces such as Après l'amour and J'ai perdu la tête to the dark-hued J'en déduis que je t'aime and Bon anniversaire. A teetotaler and a racing car enthusiast, Aznavour has been married three times and has four children.
Dans tes bras
Charles Aznavour Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Je suis au bout du monde
Dans tes bras
Rien n'existe que toi
Et le poids
De mon corps qui t'écrase
Fait naître en nous l'extase
De la mort et l'amour
Dans tes bras
J'ai l'âme vagabonde
Dans tes bras
Aux flammes de ton cœur
Mon bonheur
Me porte au bord du gouffre
De ma joie qui ne souffre
Que d'un trop plein d'amour
Je plane plane et je m'enivre
De te rêver les yeux mi-clos
J'ai tant besoin de toi pour vivre
J'ai temps d'amour à fleur de peau
Dans tes bras
Quand le plaisir m'inonde
Dans tes bras
Je rêve et je frémis
Quand la nuit
Tu me dis à l'oreille
Ces mots qui m'émerveillent
Et bousculent ma vie
Dans tes bras
Je m'accorde une trêve
The lyrics of Charles Aznavour's song "Dans tes bras" describe the sense of complete surrender and ecstasy that the singer experiences in the arms of their lover. The title itself means "in your arms," and the first verse sets the tone by stating that when the singer is in their lover's embrace, nothing else exists but the two of them. The weight of their body on their lover's generates a sense of both pleasure and pain, leading to the "ecstasy of death and love" ("De la mort et l'amour").
The second verse continues in a similar vein, with the singer using phrases like "my wandering soul" ("J'ai l'âme vagabonde") and "my joy that only suffers from an excess of love" ("Que d'un trop plein d'amour") to convey the extent to which they are consumed by their feelings for their partner. The singer speaks of taking a break from the chaos of the world at large when they are in their partner's arms, as if they have found a safe haven amid the turbulence of life.
In the final verse, the singer describes their physical sensations when they are with their lover, using images of flying and intoxication to convey the intensity of their feelings. When their partner whispers words of love and affirmation in their ear, it "shakes up" their life and sends them into a state of rapture.
Overall, "Dans tes bras" is a passionate love song that captures the sense of being completely overcome by emotion when in the embrace of a lover. It highlights the power of physical touch and personal connection to transcend the troubles of daily life and bring about a sense of peace and euphoria.
Line by Line Meaning
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Je suis au bout du monde
I am at the end of the world
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Rien n'existe que toi
Nothing exists but you
Et le poids
And the weight
De mon corps qui t'écrase
Of my body crushing you
Fait naître en nous l'extase
Creates ecstasy in us
De la mort et l'amour
Of death and love
Dans tes bras
In your arms
J'ai l'âme vagabonde
I have a wandering soul
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Aux flammes de ton cœur
In the flames of your heart
Mon bonheur
My happiness
Me porte au bord du gouffre
Carries me to the edge of the abyss
De ma joie qui ne souffre
Of my joy that doesn't suffer
Que d'un trop plein d'amour
Only from an overflow of love
Je plane plane et je m'enivre
I float and I get drunk
De te rêver les yeux mi-clos
Dreaming of you with half-closed eyes
J'ai tant besoin de toi pour vivre
I need you so much to live
J'ai temps d'amour à fleur de peau
I have so much love on my skin
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Quand le plaisir m'inonde
When pleasure overwhelms me
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Je rêve et je frémis
I dream and shiver
Quand la nuit
When the night
Tu me dis à l'oreille
You whisper to me
Ces mots qui m'émerveillent
These words that amaze me
Et bousculent ma vie
And shake up my life
Dans tes bras
In your arms
Je m'accorde une trêve
I give myself a break
Contributed by Annabelle P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Nataliia Lukas
C'etait un chanteur grand. Quel interpretation de Bolero par Ravel! Merci beaucoup pour tout votre heritage dans la music francaise.
Edith
La plus belle des chansons d'amour ! Encore merci à Mr Aznavour de nous l'avoir chantée.
megane44 .megane44
la plus belle chanson d'amour magistralement interprètée
Tchaik1812
Un chef d'oeuvre
John Jansen
Love the song, it takes me back in time, and al was good!!
Becky Tran
Il a tout decrit quand quelqu'un vous serre dans ses bras et de vous embrasser avec tout son coeur, c'est un oeuvre d'art qui resonne dans votre memoire et la plus intense chanson d'amour de notre temps, Merci Grand Monsieur qui chante encore au paradis entoure par les anges. Not all angels are in heaven because you were on earth to sing it.
Sintonia Astral -Marília Mar:-Astrologia etc
Merveilleuse!
Edith
Più l'ascolto, e più mi piace ! Sì, è veramente un capolavoro sta canzone !
Claude F
Il faut l avoir vécu pour nous traduire ce qu il ressent et que nous ressentons tous et toutes ,,,,, merci Monsieur
Bruno François
Oui ... rien n'est plus fort que l'amour de l'autre 👍