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.
Revoir Paris
Charles Trenet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Un petit séjour d'un mois
Revoir Paris
Et me retrouver chez moi
Seul sous la pluie
Parmi la foule des grands boulevards
Quelle joie inouïe
D'aller ainsi au hasard
Qui va le long de la Seine
Et me revoici
Au fond du bois de Vincennes
Roulant joyeux
Vers ma maison de banlieue
Où ma mère m'attend
Les larmes aux yeux
Le cœur content
Mon Dieu que tout le monde est gentil
Mon Dieu quel sourire à la vie
Mon Dieu merci
Mon Dieu merci d'être ici
Ce n'est pas un rêve
C'est l'île d'amour que je vois
Le jour se lève
Et sèche les pleurs des bois
Dans la petite gare
Un sémaphore appelle ces gens
Tous ces braves gens
De la Varenne et de Nogent
Bonjour la vie
Bonjour mon vieux soleil
Bonjour ma mie
Bonjour l'automne vermeil
Je suis un enfant
Rien qu'un enfant tu sais
Je suis un petit Français
Rien qu'un enfant
Tout simplement
Paris
In Charles Trenet's iconic song Revoir Paris, the singer reminisces about returning to Paris for a one-month visit after a long absence. As he wanders through the streets of the city, he revels in the joy of being back in his beloved home, despite the rain and the crowds on the boulevards. He takes taxis along the Seine and through the Bois de Vincennes, rolling happily toward his suburban house where his mother waits with open arms and tears of joy in her eyes. Trenet marries his sense of childlike wonder and excitement at being reunited with his home and family to an appreciation for the small beauties of Parisian life, such as the autumn sunrise and the warmth of the people he greets along his way.
Trenet's lyrics in Revoir Paris are a poignant reminder of the power of memory and the comfort of home. His descriptions of the rain, the crowds, the Seine, and the suburbs all connect to a larger narrative of displacement and longing. But his song is ultimately a celebration of the simple pleasures that life offers us, the beauty and joy of reunions and familiar surroundings. Revoir Paris is a testament to the powerful hold that nostalgia can have over us, and to the importance of finding a place to belong.
Line by Line Meaning
Revoir Paris
Returning to Paris
Un petit séjour d'un mois
A short stay of a month
Revoir Paris
Returning to Paris
Et me retrouver chez moi
And finding myself at home
Seul sous la pluie
Alone in the rain
Parmi la foule des grands boulevards
Among the crowd of grand boulevards
Quelle joie inouïe
What an incredible joy
D'aller ainsi au hasard
To go randomly
Prendre un taxi
Taking a taxi
Qui va le long de la Seine
Going alongside the Seine river
Et me revoici
And here I am again
Au fond du bois de Vincennes
In the depths of the Bois de Vincennes forest
Roulant joyeux
Rolling joyfully
Vers ma maison de banlieue
Towards my suburban house
Où ma mère m'attend
Where my mother is waiting for me
Les larmes aux yeux
Tears in her eyes
Le cœur content
With a happy heart
Mon Dieu que tout le monde est gentil
My God, how everyone is nice
Mon Dieu quel sourire à la vie
My God, what a smile on life
Mon Dieu merci
My God, thank you
Mon Dieu merci d'être ici
My God, thank you for being here
Ce n'est pas un rêve
This is not a dream
C'est l'île d'amour que je vois
It's the island of love that I see
Le jour se lève
The day is rising
Et sèche les pleurs des bois
And drying the tears of the woods
Dans la petite gare
In the small train station
Un sémaphore appelle ces gens
A semaphore calls these people
Tous ces braves gens
All these brave people
De la Varenne et de Nogent
From La Varenne and Nogent
Bonjour la vie
Hello life
Bonjour mon vieux soleil
Hello my old sun
Bonjour ma mie
Hello my darling
Bonjour l'automne vermeil
Hello the crimson autumn
Je suis un enfant
I am a child
Rien qu'un enfant tu sais
Just a child, you know
Je suis un petit Français
I am a little Frenchman
Tout simplement
Simply
Paris
Paris
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Charles Trenet
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Colette
Charles Trenet est indémodable. Cette émouvante chanson accompagne tous mes retours à Paris. Merci à cet auteur qui nous transmet bonheur et joie de vivre.
wallersayn 79
Une merveilleuse chanson pour une ville extraordinaire, encore plus à l’époque
corinne nord
Paris où je vis me séduit chaque jour et encore plus en écoutant Mr Trenet
VincentDS
une de ses plus belles chansons. Chante' avec tres grande emotion.
Jean Pierre Zutter
Une très belle chanson !!
Usual Suspect
Magnifique chanson!!
Magnifique Charles Trenet!!🥰🥰🥰
albert beckermannn
Ça fait du bien, d,entendre Mr Trenet .
Monique Majewski
qu'el merveilleux poete merci monsieurTrenet
MB D
The wonderful Monsieur Trenet. Unforgettable.
hervé vincent
@Daniele Clauzel n'importe quoi quoi ?