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.
Liberte
Charles Trenet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sur la route de la liberté
Un homme passe et chante Liberté
Joie dans le ciel et dans l'espace vers l'été
Liberté,
Mais les oiseaux en ribambelle
Ailes et bruits d'eau
Je vous salue et vous rivière, ma belle
Sur les coteaux, les nuages hauts
Dans l'azur vont les veaux
Et leurs moutons s'amusent à saute-mouton
Dans l'air qui les tond
Liberté,
Si par le monde gronde "Liberté!"
Un ouragan veut tout emporter
Je jure de toujours te chanter
Liberté,
Vagabond si tu rêves
Au coeur profond de la forêt
Rêve d'amour, d'espoir, de trêve
Rêve de calme, rêve de paix
Tous les rêves ne sont pas mensonges
Mais si demain à ton réveil
Ta belle histoire se prolonge
Tu chanteras sous le soleil
Liberté,
Sur la grande route de la liberté
Plus aucun doute, l'hiver comme l'été
Vous entendrez de tous côtés "Liberté!"
Écoutez
Sur la mer les vagues dansent et dans le désert
Les chameaux pensent que le plus doux des airs
En vérité, c'est l'air de la liberté
Au plan Pôle Nord
Les ours polaires chantent mon air encore
Et l' clerc d'huissier au clair de lune
Se trompe, saisi d' liberté
Liberté,
Si par le monde gronde "Liberté!"
Un ouragan qui veut tout emporter
Je jure de toujours te chanter
Liberté!
The lyrics of Charles Trenet's song "Liberté" express a deep longing for the freedom that permeates all aspects of life. In the first verse, a man sings about liberty on his journey towards it. There is an atmosphere of joy in the air, as evidenced by the birds, cattle, and sheep that frolic in the open air.
The second verse opens by greeting the birds and the river, which as free beings roam without any worry, and the cattle on the hillsides. The sheep, meanwhile, engage in playful activities in the air waves. As the song progresses, the word "liberté" gains immense importance, especially when faced with the disturbances of the world. The singer pledges to sing the praises of freedom all through.
The final verses illustrate how freedom is not just a fleeting fantasy but a notion that exists throughout the world. It is an idea that thrives among people, the sea waves and even the polar bears of the North Pole, and the clerk at the moonlit night. All in all, "Liberté" speaks to our innermost desire as human beings for the liberty that cuts across our souls and sets us free.
Line by Line Meaning
Liberté,
Freedom,
Sur la route de la liberté
On the road to freedom
Un homme passe et chante Liberté
A man passes and sings freedom
Joie dans le ciel et dans l'espace vers l'été
Joy in the sky and in space towards summer
Liberté,
Freedom,
Mais les oiseaux en ribambelle
But the birds in a flock
Ailes et bruits d'eau
Wings and sounds of water
Je vous salue et vous rivière, ma belle
I greet you and you, my beautiful river
Qui voyagez, qui voyagez le coeur léger
Who travel, who travel with a light heart
Sur les coteaux, les nuages hauts
On the hillsides, the high clouds
Dans l'azur vont les veaux
Into the blue go the calves
Et leurs moutons s'amusent à saute-mouton
And their sheep play leapfrog
Dans l'air qui les tond
In the air that shaves them
Liberté,
Freedom,
Si par le monde gronde "Liberté!"
If throughout the world resounds "Freedom!"
Un ouragan veut tout emporter
A hurricane wants to take everything away
Je jure de toujours te chanter
I swear to always sing to you
Liberté,
Freedom,
Vagabond si tu rêves
Vagabond if you dream
Au coeur profond de la forêt
In the deep heart of the forest
Rêve d'amour, d'espoir, de trêve
Dream of love, of hope, of truce
Rêve de calme, rêve de paix
Dream of calm, dream of peace
Tous les rêves ne sont pas mensonges
Not all dreams are lies
Mais si demain à ton réveil
But if tomorrow, upon waking
Ta belle histoire se prolonge
Your beautiful story continues
Tu chanteras sous le soleil
You will sing under the sun
Liberté,
Freedom,
Sur la grande route de la liberté
On the great road of freedom
Plus aucun doute, l'hiver comme l'été
No more doubts, winter or summer
Vous entendrez de tous côtés "Liberté!"
You will hear "Liberty!" everywhere
Écoutez
Listen
Sur la mer les vagues dansent et dans le désert
On the sea waves dance and in the desert
Les chameaux pensent que le plus doux des airs
The camels think that the sweetest song
En vérité, c'est l'air de la liberté
In truth, it is the song of freedom
Au plan Pôle Nord
At the North Pole
Les ours polaires chantent mon air encore
The polar bears still sing my song
Et le clerc d'huissier au clair de lune
And the bailiff's clerk in the moonlight
Se trompe, saisi d' liberté
Mistaken, seized by freedom
Liberté,
Freedom,
Si par le monde gronde "Liberté!"
If throughout the world resounds "Freedom!"
Un ouragan qui veut tout emporter
A hurricane that wants to take everything away
Je jure de toujours te chanter
I swear to always sing to you
Liberté!
Freedom!
Writer(s): Charles Louis Trenet, Guy Georges Luypaerts
Contributed by Mila O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.