Some of his best known songs include "Boum...!", "Y'A D'La Joie", "Que Reste-T-Il De Nos Amours?", "Ménilmontant", and "Douce France". His catalog of songs is enormous, numbering close to a thousand. While many of his songs mined relatively conventional topics such as love, Paris, and nostalgia for his younger days, what set Trenet's songs apart were their personal, poetic, sometimes quite eccentric qualities, often infused with a warm wit. Some of his songs had unconventional subject matter, with whimsical imagery bordering on the surreal. "Y'A D'La Joie" evokes "joy" through a series of disconnected (though all vaguely phallic) images, including that of a subway car shooting out of its tunnel into the air, the Eiffel Tower crossing the street and a baker making excellent bread. The lovers engaged in a minuet in "La Polka Du Roi" reveal themselves at length to be "no longer human": they are made of wax and trapped in the Musée Grévin. Many of his hits from the 1930s and 1940s effectively combine the melodic and verbal nuance of French song with American swing rhythms.
Other artists have had hits with some of Trenet's songs, such as the American Bobby Darin's success with "Beyond the Sea" ("La Mer"). Darin's version preserved the charming chording of Trenet's original which the author dashed off in about an hour in 1946 as an homage to the French coastline, once again free of battleships and the scars of World War II.
Other Trenet songs were recorded by such popular French singers as Maurice Chevalier, Jean Sablon, and Frehel.
La Chanson Du Joli Feu De Bois
Charles Trenet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Qui flambe dans ma cheminée
Claque mon jolie feu de bois
Claque comme le postillon du roi
Le jeune postillon à perruque poudrée
S’en va au grand galop sur la route royale
Dressant son grand cheval entre ses cuisses bleues
Et il fait d’un bras joyeux
Qui arrache trois feuilles vertes
A cette branche de printemps
Claque mon joli feu de bois
Comme le postillon du roi
Dansez, hautes flammes légères
Trémoussez vous comme dansait en robe claire
Comme dansait hier encore
En robe blanche, en robe d’or
La reine
Avec toutes ses femmes
À présent, meurs vite, éteins-toi
Meurs mon joli feu de bois
Comme sont morts dans leurs décors
Les charmants héros d’autrefois
Les jeunes postillons du roi
Et leurs reines dans leurs palais
Tous les printemps, toutes les fêtes
Tous les poètes
The lyrics to Charles Trenet's song "Chanson Du Joli Feu De Bois" describe the singer's joyful fire in the fireplace, likening it to the sound of the king's postilion's whip cracking. The postilion, a young man with a powdered wig, is described as galloping along the royal road, his horse between his blue-clad thighs, brandishing his whip joyously, and pulling three green leaves from a springtime branch. The singer urges his own fire to dance and sway like the postilion's whip and for the flames to tremble like the queen in her past dances.
However, the singer's joy is short-lived, as he implores his fire to quickly burn out like the charming heroes of old who are now gone. This final line is a reference to the transience of life, including the passing of nature's seasons, royal dynasties, festivals, and poets.
Line by Line Meaning
Claque, claque mon joli feu
Snap, snap my beautiful fire
Qui flambe dans ma cheminée
Burning in my fireplace
Claque mon joli feu de bois
Snapping my pretty wood fire
Claque comme le postillon du roi
Snapping like the king's postilion
Le jeune postillon à perruque poudrée
The young postilion with a powdered wig
S’en va au grand galop sur la route royale
Galloping along the royal road
Dressant son grand cheval entre ses cuisses bleues
Holding his horse high between his blue legs
Et il fait d’un bras joyeux
And he makes a joyful gesture with one arm
Claquer son fouet
Snap his whip
Qui arrache trois feuilles vertes
Which tears off three green leaves
A cette branche de printemps
Off of this spring branch
Dansez, hautes flammes légères
Dance, tall, light flames
Trémoussez vous comme dansait en robe claire
Shake yourself like you danced in your light dress
Comme dansait hier encore
Like you danced just yesterday
En robe blanche, en robe d’or
In a white dress, in a golden dress
La reine
The queen
Avec toutes ses femmes
With all her women
À présent, meurs vite, éteins-toi
Now, die quickly, extinguish yourself
Meurs mon joli feu de bois
Die, my beautiful wood fire
Comme sont morts dans leurs décors
Like they died in their settings
Les charmants héros d’autrefois
The charming heroes of old
Les jeunes postillons du roi
The young postilions of the king
Et leurs reines dans leurs palais
And their queens in their palaces
Tous les printemps, toutes les fêtes
Every spring, every celebration
Tous les poètes
All the poets
Lyrics © RAOUL BRETON EDITIONS
Written by: ARCADY BRACHLIANOFF, LOUIS CODET, CHARLES LOUIS TRENET, CLAUDIUS TRENET
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind