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).
Des Gouts Et Des Couleurs
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Aux minces doigts, au petit cul
Perché à la cime invaincue
De leurs jambes de sauterelles
Devant leur pâle flamme frêle
Je sens mon charbon rougeoyer
Et mon sous marin déployer
Fusées illuminant mes gouffres
Leur miel poivré brûle mes yeux
Les anges laissent derrière eux
Hélas, un sillage de soufre
L'une d'entre elles, dernière en date
Me croisa, allée des Brouillards
Ses cheveux sur son ciré noir
Avaient une blondeur de dattes
Sur son cahier de feuilles mortes
Novembre écrivait sa chanson
Elle avait ce côté garçon
Qui, chez les filles, me transporte
Ah ! posséder les chromosomes
Qui forgent les bourreaux des cœurs !
Je lui eus dit : " Ma chère sœur
Je vous propose un petit somme
Dans ma chambre ou mieux dans la vôtre,
Dans votre lit aux plis bleutés
Vous serez dans mon cou blottie
Comme le ciel dans un apôtre "
Mais retenu par un garrot
J'ai laissé fuir la jouvencelle
Alors peut être qu'elle appelle
Son nounours borgne Nougaro
À part ce style de gonzesses,
J'ai un faible pour les négresses
Au dos luisant comme un boa,
Etc., etc.
Etc., etc.
Des Gouts Et Des Couleurs is a Claude Nougaro song that celebrates individual tastes and preferences. The song's lyrics describe the singer's attraction to a particular type of woman, namely tall and slender, with tiny buttocks and long legs like grasshoppers. A pale, frail flame emanates from these women, which causes his "charcoal" to ignite, and his periscope to rise. The singer is unabashed in his enthusiasm and celebrates his taste for women who may not be the mainstream ideal.
The singer's description of the woman he sees is vivid, and he wistfully describes the encounter. He notes her blonde hair, reminiscent of dates, and her boyish charm, which excites him. The lyrics imply a sexual attraction and a desire to "possess the chromosomes that make up the executioners of hearts." The singer's urge to engage in a sexual encounter with this woman is evident when he suggests they take a nap together in her blue-tinted bed. However, he is held back, and the woman disappears into the mist. The song is explicit in the fact that tastes differ, and one is free to love whom they wish.
Line by Line Meaning
J'aime ces longues demoiselles
I am attracted to these tall girls
Aux minces doigts, au petit cul
Their slim fingers and small butts
Perché à la cime invaincue
Perched at the unconquered height
De leurs jambes de sauterelles
With their grasshopper-like legs
Devant leur pâle flamme frêle
In front of their pale and frail flame
Je sens mon charbon rougeoyer
I feel my coal burning hot
Et mon sous marin déployer
And my submarine deploying
Son périscope droit sur elles.
Its periscope right on them.
Fusées illuminant mes gouffres
Rockets illuminating my caverns
Leur miel poivré brûle mes yeux
Their honey-pepper burns my eyes
Les anges laissent derrière eux
Angels leave behind them
Hélas, un sillage de soufre
An unfortunate trail of sulfur
L'une d'entre elles, dernière en date
One of them, the latest
Me croisa, allée des Brouillards
Crossed me, on the path of the fogs
Ses cheveux sur son ciré noir
Her hair on her black raincoat
Avaient une blondeur de dattes
Had a date-like blondness
Sur son cahier de feuilles mortes
On her notebook of dead leaves
Novembre écrivait sa chanson
November was writing its song
Elle avait ce côté garçon
She had a boyish side
Qui, chez les filles, me transporte
That, among girls, transports me
Ah! posséder les chromosomes
Ah! To possess the chromosomes
Qui forgent les bourreaux des cœurs!
That forge the executioners of hearts!
Je lui eus dit: "Ma chère sœur
I would have said to her: "My dear sister
Je vous propose un petit somme
I propose a little nap for you
Dans ma chambre ou mieux dans la vôtre,
In my room or better yet in yours,
Dans votre lit aux plis bleutés
In your bed with blue folds
Vous serez dans mon cou blottie
You'll be snuggled in my neck
Comme le ciel dans un apôtre"
Like the sky in an apostle."
Mais retenu par un garrot
But held back by a garrote
J'ai laissé fuir la jouvencelle
I let the young girl escape
Alors peut-être qu'elle appelle
So maybe she's calling
Son nounours borgne Nougaro
Her one-eyed teddy Nougaro
À part ce style de gonzesses,
Apart from this style of girls,
J'ai un faible pour les négresses...
I have a weakness for black women...
Au dos luisant comme un boa,
With backs shining like a boa,
Etc., etc.
Etc., etc.
Lyrics © LES EDITIONS DU CHIFFRE NEUF
Written by: Henri SALVADOR, Claude NOUGARO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind