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).
La Neige
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
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Cimetière enchanté fait de légères tombes
Elle tombe la neige, silencieusement
De toute sa blancheur d'un noir éblouissant
La neige...
Les yeux les mieux ouverts sont encore des paupières
Et Dieu pour le prouver fait pleuvoir sa lumière
Cœur de braise tendu dans une main d'argent
La neige...
Elle vient de si haut, la chaste damoiselle
Que sa forme voilée d'étoiles se constelle
Elle vient de si haut, cette sœur des sapins
Cette bombe lactée que lancent les gamins
Elle vient de si haut, la liquide étincelle
Au sommet de la terre elle brille éternelle
Brandissant son flambeau sur le pic et le roc
Comme la liberté dans le port de New York
La neige...
Meneuse de revue aux Folies-Stalingrad
Descendant l'escalier des degrés centigrades
Empanachée de plumes, négresse en négatif
Elle dansait un ballet angélique, explosif
Pour le soldat givré, agrippé à son arme
Œuf de sang congelé dans un cristal de larmes
Elle danse la neige dans la nuit de Noël
Autour d'un tank brûlé qu'elle a pris pour chapelle
La neige
Tout de suite moisson, tout de suite hécatombe
Oh la neige! Regarde la neige qui tombe...
The song "La Neige" by Claude Nougaro is a poetic ode to the beauty, purity, and power of snow. The lyrics describe the snowfall as an enchanted cemetery made of delicate graves, falling silently in all its white glory on blackness that's dazzling. The snow is personified as a chaste damsel coming from high above the earth, wearing a veil of stars. Nougaro then evokes the idea of God making it rain his frozen light, as an icy yet fervent heart, held in a silver hand.
The second verse continues with the metaphor of closed eyes, depicting them as the best ones to see the snow's thousand facets, as if God were testing humanity's ability to perceive beauty. Then, Nougaro uses an unexpected comparison between snow and a dancer at a theater called "Folies-Stalingrad," descending a staircase of centigrade steps, her feathers sparkling like a negative black girl, performing an angelic and explosive ballet for a frozen soldier. Nougaro personifies the snow one more time, describing it as a dancer that can be seen only on Christmas night, around a burned tank that she mistook for a chapel. Finally, the song ends with the haunting words "tout de suite moisson, tout de suite hécatombe" that can be translated as "immediate harvest, immediate slaughter."
Line by Line Meaning
Oh la neige! Regarde la neige qui tombe...
Oh, the snow! Look at the snow falling…
Cimetière enchanté fait de légères tombes
Enchanted cemetery made of light graves
Elle tombe la neige, silencieusement
The snow falls, silently
De toute sa blancheur d'un noir éblouissant
With all its whiteness and a dazzling blackness
Les yeux les mieux ouverts sont encore des paupières
The most open eyes are still eyelids
Et Dieu pour le prouver fait pleuvoir sa lumière
And God, to prove it, makes his light rain
Sa lumière glacée, ardente cependant
His frozen light, yet burning
Cœur de braise tendu dans une main d'argent
Heart of embers held in a silver hand
Elle vient de si haut, la chaste damoiselle
She comes from so high, the chaste damsel
Que sa forme voilée d'étoiles se constelle
That her veiled form is studded with stars
Elle vient de si haut, cette sœur des sapins
She comes from so high, this sister of the fir trees
Cette bombe lactée que lancent les gamins
This milky bomb thrown by children
Elle vient de si haut, la liquide étincelle
She comes from so high, the liquid spark
Au sommet de la terre elle brille éternelle
At the top of the earth she shines eternal
Brandissant son flambeau sur le pic et le roc
Waving her torch on the peak and the rock
Comme la liberté dans le port de New York
Like freedom in the port of New York
Meneuse de revue aux Folies-Stalingrad
Leader of the show at Folies-Stalingrad
Descendant l'escalier des degrés centigrades
Descending the staircase of centigrade degrees
Empanachée de plumes, négresse en négatif
Plumed up, negative negress
Elle dansait un ballet angélique, explosif
She danced an explosive angelic ballet
Pour le soldat givré, agrippé à son arme
For the frozen soldier, clinging to his weapon
Œuf de sang congelé dans un cristal de larmes
Egg of frozen blood in a crystal of tears
Elle danse la neige dans la nuit de Noël
She dances the snow on Christmas night
Autour d'un tank brûlé qu'elle a pris pour chapelle
Around a burnt tank that she mistook for a chapel
Tout de suite moisson, tout de suite hécatombe
Immediately harvest, immediately slaughter
Oh la neige! Regarde la neige qui tombe...
Oh, the snow! Look at the snow falling...
Contributed by Jake H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.