Claude Nougaro (September 9, 1929 Toulouse – March 4, 2004 Paris) was a Fre… Read Full Bio ↴Claude Nougaro (September 9, 1929 Toulouse – March 4, 2004 Paris) was a French songwriter and singer.

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).

Déjeuner Sur L'herbe
Claude Nougaro Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Tous les deux, on déjeunait sur l'herbe
Et moi j'en avais fumé un peu
À travers mes paupières entrouvertes
L'air bleu
Ton visage à l'envers sur ton buste
Un baiser que tu me donnes à boire
À se croire dans un tableau d'Auguste
Renoir

Un chardonneret qui sifflote
Dans l'eau un bouchon qui flotte
Ma plume qui pêche à la ligne
Un vers insigne

Tous les deux, on déjeunait sur l'herbe
Et moi j'en avais fumé un peu
Tu me disais je t'aime, que ce verbe
M'émeut
Donne-moi encore ta bouche qu'on déguste
L'eau-de-vie de pomme, de prune, de poire,
Dans la toile étoilée de l'auguste
Renoir

Un rouge-gorge qui sifflote
Dans l'eau un bouchon qui flotte
Ma plume qui pêche à la ligne
Une plume de cygne

Tous les deux, on déjeunait sur l'herbe
Et moi j'en avais fumé un peu
Dans mes yeux, un triangle superbe
Tes yeux
Puis le soir obscurcit la pelouse
Pour l'oiseau, laissons les gâteaux secs

C'est parfait. On repart à Toulouse-
Lautrec.

Overall Meaning

The song "Déjeuner Sur L'herbe" by Claude Nougaro is a ballad that tells the story of a romantic picnic in the park. The singer is with his lover and they are both enjoying a joint while appreciating the beauty of nature. He describes how the air is blue and how his lover's face looks upside down on her chest. The kiss she gives him feels like he is in a painting by August Renoir. There is a finch whistling, a fishing feather floating in the water, and the perfect moment of love.

The second verse describes the moments of joy and contentment that the couple has. The singer repeats the scene of their picnic, this time adding more objects in the scene, such as a feather fishing rod, and they drink homemade fruit brandy. A robin bird whistles, and the feather fishing rod is replaced by a swan's feather. He tells his lover that he loves her and wants to taste her lips again.

In the final verse, the evening comes and the two of them leave the park, but not before the singer appreciates his lover's amazing eyes. They leave behind the dry bread and the bird cakes and go back to Toulouse-Lautrec, another great artist. The lyrics of "Déjeuner Sur L'herbe" combine the beauty of nature, art, music, and love to create a poetic story of a perfect moment of romance.

Line by Line Meaning

Tous les deux, on déjeunait sur l'herbe
Two of us having lunch on the grass

Et moi j'en avais fumé un peu
I had smoked a little bit

À travers mes paupières entrouvertes
Through my half-opened eyelids

L'air bleu
The blue sky

Ton visage à l'envers sur ton buste
Your face upside down on your chest

Un baiser que tu me donnes à boire
A kiss that you give me to drink

À se croire dans un tableau d'Auguste
As if we were in a painting by Auguste (Renoir)

Renoir
Renoir

Un chardonneret qui sifflote
A goldfinch whistling

Dans l'eau un bouchon qui flotte
A cork floating in the water

Ma plume qui pêche à la ligne
My feather fishing on the line