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.
Route nationale 7
Charles Trenet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Celle que j'préfère c'est celle qui conduit
En auto ou en auto-stop
Vers les rivages du Midi
Nationale 7
Il faut la prendre qu'on aille à Rome à Sète
Que l'on soit deux trois quatre cinq six ou sept
Route des vacances
Qui traverse la Bourgogne et la Provence
Qui fait d'Paris un p'tit faubourg de Valence
Et la banlieue d'Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Le ciel d'été
Remplit nos cœurs d'sa lucidité
Chasse les aigreurs et les acidités
Qui font l'malheur des grandes cités
Toutes excitées
On chante, on fête
Les oliviers sont bleus ma p'tite Lisette
L'amour joyeux est là qui fait risette
On est heureux Nationale 7
Route des vacances
Qui traversent la plus partie de la France
Qui fait d'Paris un p'tit faubourg de Valence
Et la banlieue d'Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Le ciel d'été
Remplit nos cœurs d'sa lucidité
Chasse les aigreurs et les acidités
Qui font l'malheur des grandes cités
Toutes excitées
On chante, on fête
Les oliviers sont bleus ma p'tite Lisette
L'amour joyeux est là qui fait risette
On est heureux Nationale 7
On est heureux Nationale 7
On est heureux Nationale 7
The song Route Nationale 7 by Charles Trenet is an ode to the famous road that connects Paris to the sunny shores of the South of France, passing through regions like Bourgogne and Provence. The lyrics describe the joy of traveling on this road, either by car or hitchhiking, towards the beaches of the Mediterranean. The road is portrayed as a source of happiness and escape from the constraints of city life. The clear summer skies along the way serve as a reminder of the simplicity and beauty of life, in contrast to the “aigreurs et les acidités” (the bitterness and acidity) of the big cities.
The song is not only a celebration of the Route Nationale 7, but also a celebration of the French way of life. It captures the essence of the French joie de vivre, with its references to singing, partying, and love. The mention of the oliviers bleus (blue olive trees) and the expression “l'amour joyeux qui fait risette” (the joyful love that makes one smile) add to the sense of carefree happiness that the song conveys.
Overall, Route Nationale 7 is a simple yet poignant song that reminds us of the joys of hitting the open road and exploring new places, and the importance of taking a break from the stresses of everyday life to enjoy the simple pleasures.
Line by Line Meaning
De toutes les routes de France d'Europe
Out of all the roads in France and Europe
Celle que j'préfère c'est celle qui conduit
The one I prefer is the one that leads
En auto ou en auto-stop
By car or by hitchhiking
Vers les rivages du Midi
Towards the shores of the South
Nationale 7
National Route 7
Il faut la prendre qu'on aille à Rome à Sète
It must be taken whether heading to Rome or Sete
Que l'on soit deux trois quatre cinq six ou sept
No matter if there's two, three, four, five, six, or seven
C'est une route qui fait recette
It's a popular road
Route des vacances
Holiday road
Qui traverse la Bourgogne et la Provence
Crosses through Burgundy and Provence
Qui fait d'Paris un p'tit faubourg de Valence
Turns Paris into a small Valence suburb
Et la banlieue d'Saint-Paul-de-Vence
And the suburb of Saint-Paul-de-Vence
Le ciel d'été
The summer sky
Remplit nos cœurs d'sa lucidité
Fills our hearts with its clarity
Chasse les aigreurs et les acidités
Drives away bitterness and acidity
Qui font l'malheur des grandes cités
Which cause the unhappiness in big cities
Toutes excitées
All excited
On chante, on fête
We sing, we celebrate
Les oliviers sont bleus ma p'tite Lisette
The olive trees are blue, my dear Lisette
L'amour joyeux est là qui fait risette
Happy love is here making us smile
On est heureux Nationale 7
We are happy on National Route 7
Qui traversent la plus partie de la France
Crossing most of France
On est heureux Nationale 7
We are happy on National Route 7
On est heureux Nationale 7
We are happy on National Route 7
Lyrics © RAOUL BRETON EDITIONS, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: Charles Trenet
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nellie K. Adaba
J'adore. Repose en paix Charles Trenet.
Eiiji Ridoutt
Nôtre professeur de Géographie, le meilleur nous fait écouter cette pépite musicale et historique, un grand merci à lui.
LatynaH
les mariés n'y font pas très attention, dommage, car c'est un luxe d'avoir eu Trenet .
Brigitte Janeau
J'aime son sourire et sa joie en chansons
Laissy Thierry
Magnifique route des vacances ☺😊😀
Elisabeth Duncker
Dans cette même émission Michel Simon interprèrte "La polka du roi"
INES DEL RIO
Pendant cette émission France Gall chante 'Toi que je veux'
Philippe Labanche
Il y a trenet, michel simon et celui que l on voit à l écran entre 2mn40 et 2mn46 c est René Simon, celui qui a donné son nom au fameux cours de théâtre.
gruyer olivier
Merci pour l info
C est bien d apprendre toujours qqchose relié à ce que l on aime!
GRM AR
Les mariés n'ont pas l'air très heureux