Son of an opera singer and an Italian piano teacher (Liette), he was raised by his grandparents in Toulouse, where he heard Glenn Miller, Édith Piaf and Louis Armstrong (among others) on the radio.
In 1947 he failed his baccalaureat and commenced a career in journalism, writing for various journals including Le Journal des Curistes at Vichy and L'Echo d'Alger. At the same time he wrote songs for Marcel Amont (Le barbier de Belleville, Le balayeur du roi) and Philippe Clay (Joseph, La sentinelle). He met Georges Brassens, who became his friend and mentor.
In 1949 he performed his military service in the foreign legion at Rabat, Morocco.
He sent his lyrics to Marguerite Monnot, Édith Piaf's songwriter, who put them to music. (Méphisto, Le Sentier de la guerre). He started to sing for a livelihood in 1959 in a Parisian cabaret in Montmartre, Le lapin agile.
In 1962, he decided to sing his works himself: Une petite fille and Cécile ma fille (dedicated to his daughter, born in 1962 to his wife Sylvie, whom he met at Le lapin agile). These songs made him immediately known to the larger public, which he had already started to penetrate by participating in the concerts of Dalida.
A car accident immobilised him for several months in 1963. The following year he travelled to Brazil, and sang in prestigious halls in Paris: the Olympia, the Palais, the Théâtre de la Ville.
Following the death of his friend Jacques Audiberti in 1965 he wrote, in homage, the song Chanson pour le maçon.
The events of May 1968 inspired him to the torrential Paris Mai, a plea for life, which would be banned from the airwaves. The same year he recorded his first live album at the Olympia: Une soirée avec Claude Nougaro.
His career continued normally punctuated with success: Le jazz et la java, Tu verras, Île de Ré, Armstrong, Toulouse, Petit taureau. But in 1984, his recording company did not renew his contract. Nougaro left for New York, seeking inspiration, and while there wrote and recorded a self-financed disc, Nougayork, whose resounding success was a surprise.
In 1988 Victoires de la musique rewarded him with best album and best artist, and between 1993 and 1997 he released three new albums.
His health deteriorated after 1995, when he underwent a heart operation. In 2003, his condition left him unable to appear at the festival du Verbe at Toulouse. From 1998 to 2004 he devoted himself more to concerts and festivals, apart from an album in aid of children suffering from AIDS. Having undergone further surgery in early 2004, he died of cancer in March, 74 years old.
His music drew inspiration, among other sources, from American jazz, from which he borrowed heavily (Charles Mingus, Louis Armstrong, Dave Brubeck, Sonny Rollins), but also from Brazilian music (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell de Aquino, Chico Buarque).
Bozambo
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Deux ou trois pinceaux
Aujourd'hui je peins le tableau
Terminées les études
Allez, au boulot
C'est parti j'attaque le tableau
Un festival de gerbes, un concert d'eau de touffes
Ça fait dresser le poil du pinceau qui se fraie
Un sentier lumineux au sein de la forêt
Des serpents ravissants gambadent dans la brousse
Un tigre se déploie avec sa robe rousse
Il rugit de bonheur et bondit d'un bond " (dos?) "
Car d'une liane d'or, qui descend ? Bozambo !
Bozambo, Bozambo
Le roi de la forêt
Bozambo, Bozambo
Ça mérite un arrêt
Je tripote des tubes
J'essuie mes pinceaux
En scrutant l'état du tableau
J'ai pas pour habitude de lâcher le morceau
Allez, à l'assaut Picasso
Bozambo le portrait tout craché de mon âme
Cette épaisse forêt où pulsent des tam-tams
Bozambo le Pygmée, mais aux âmes biens nées
La hauteur n'atteint pas la grandeur des Pygmées
La grandeur des Pygmées (x2)
Bozambo tu es beau
Ta petite sagaie
Et ta chute de reins à damner tous les gays
Bozambo, Bozambo
Mais Bozambo se calte
Dans du noir d'ivoire
Du bleu de cobalt
Il ne m'aura laissé pour éclairer ma jungle
Que dix petits croissants : les lunes de ses ongles
Bozambo, Bozambo !
Dieu seul sait où il est...
Il ne m'aura laissé pour éclairer ma jungle
Que dix petits croissants : les lunes de ses ongles
Je revisse mes tubes et d'un fin pinceau
Je me signe au bas du tableau
Une belle peinture mérite le repos
Je vais peindre des nus au dodo
The lyrics of Claude Nougaro's song "Bozambo" are about the process of creating a painting, with the singer describing his approach to the canvas and the images that come to mind as he works. He starts by choosing some paint tubes and brushes, declaring that he is finished with his studies and ready to get to work. He begins to paint, starting with a horse that is rearing up, which he creates with broad strokes of the brush. He describes the scene as a festival of water and grass, with a path of light leading through the forest.
As the painting takes shape, the singer's mind fills with images of animals and the lush vegetation of the forest. He sees graceful snakes and a majestic tiger with a russet coat, which he describes as leaping in delight. Suddenly, he is interrupted by the appearance of Bozambo, the king of the forest, who appears swinging from a golden vine. The singer stops to admire him, noting his beauty and strength.
The song ends with the singer stepping back from the painting, satisfied with his work, and turning his attention to painting nudes. Throughout the song, Nougaro's use of vivid imagery and wordplay creates a sense of the artist's inspiration and the passion he brings to his work.
Line by Line Meaning
J'ai choisi quelques tubes
I have selected a few tubes of paint
Deux ou trois pinceaux
Two or three paintbrushes
Aujourd'hui je peins le tableau
Today I am painting the painting
Terminées les études
Studies are finished
Allez, au boulot
Let's get to work
C'est parti j'attaque le tableau
Here we go, I'm starting the painting
Le cheval est cabré, je brosse à larges touches
The horse is reared up and I am using broad brushstrokes
Un festival de gerbes, un concert d'eau de touffes
A festival of sprays, a concert of water and tufts
Ça fait dresser le poil du pinceau qui se fraie
It makes the hairs of the paintbrush stand up as it makes its way
Un sentier lumineux au sein de la forêt
A luminous path through the forest
Des serpents ravissants gambadent dans la brousse
Lovely snakes frolic in the bush
Un tigre se déploie avec sa robe rousse
A tiger unfolds with his red coat
Il rugit de bonheur et bondit d'un bond " (dos?) "
He roars with happiness and leaps with one bound (back?)
Car d'une liane d'or, qui descend ? Bozambo !
For, from a golden vine, who is descending? Bozambo!
Bozambo, Bozambo
Bozambo, Bozambo
Le roi de la forêt
The king of the forest
Ça mérite un arrêt
That deserves a stop
Je tripote des tubes
I fiddle with tubes of paint
J'essuie mes pinceaux
I wipe my brushes
En scrutant l'état du tableau
While analyzing the state of the painting
J'ai pas pour habitude de lâcher le morceau
I don't have the habit of giving up
Allez, à l'assaut Picasso
Come on, let's attack like Picasso
Bozambo le portrait tout craché de mon âme
Bozambo, a portrait that is the spitting image of my soul
Cette épaisse forêt où pulsent des tam-tams
This thick forest where drums pulse
Bozambo le Pygmée, mais aux âmes biens nées
Bozambo, the Pygmy, but with noble souls
La hauteur n'atteint pas la grandeur des Pygmées
Height does not reach the greatness of the Pygmies
Bozambo tu es beau
Bozambo, you are handsome
Ta petite sagaie
Your small arrow
Et ta chute de reins à damner tous les gays
And your lower back curve that would damn all gays
Mais Bozambo se calte
But Bozambo disappears
Dans du noir d'ivoire
Into black ivory
Du bleu de cobalt
Some cobalt blue
Il ne m'aura laissé pour éclairer ma jungle
He will have left me with only ten small crescents to light up my jungle
Que dix petits croissants : les lunes de ses ongles
Only ten small crescents: the moons of his nails
Dieu seul sait où il est...
Only God knows where he is...
Je revisse mes tubes et d'un fin pinceau
I tighten my tubes and, with a small paintbrush
Je me signe au bas du tableau
I sign my name at the bottom of the painting
Une belle peinture mérite le repos
A beautiful painting deserves rest
Je vais peindre des nus au dodo
I'm going to paint nudes and go to bed
Contributed by Mia A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Lao Vanglao
"Embarquement immédiat"
Après ce repas d'amour, une vidéo de Maître
Un signe, l'écran s'éveille avec Mademoiselle Maman
Nous voici au pays des chants Nougaro
Sous les caresses du géant Cassar
Vaguant jusqu'aux rives de nos champs, feu Bourbon
Où rézone le coeur kayambé de Bozambo..
Claudy Pezet
Nougaro SUBLIMENT Nougaro ! Un grand grand merci pour ce partage !!!
MAHÉ FLORENCE
Chanson aux couleurs de NOUGARO!
Олег Дёмин
Бозомбо умер. Вечная память.
Michel Cathala
C'est un bo tablo, c'est du nougat ro... Whaou la j'ai fait fort !!
Evgeniy Kireev
Edi ,,Bozambo" Buitre O'ngaro . Thank you, comrade.
christiane lavigne
La encore tu vas nous faire ton cinema
Nous y sommes dans la brousse
Ecoute les tam tam le tigre va bondir
J adore cette orchestration
La toile esr vivante le peintre a fini
Alors au dodo .mon dieu que cest beau
oliounidizlove
Merci pour vos jolis commentaires Christiane ! :)