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).
Le Coq Et La Pendule
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Un coq aimait une pendule
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature...
D\'ailleurs ce coq avait bon goût
Car la pendule était fort belle
Et son tic tac si doux si doux
Que le temps ne pensait surtout
Qu\'à passer son temps auprès d\'elle
Un coq aimait une pendule
De l\'aube jusqu\'au crépuscule
Et même la nuit comme un hibou
L\'amour le rendant coqtambule
Des cocoricos plein le cou
Le coq rêvait à sa pendule
Du Poitou
Dans une ferme du Poitou
Un coq aimait une pendule
Ça faisait des conciliabules
Chez les cocottes en courroux
\" Qu\'est ce que c\'est que ce coq, ce cocktail,
Ce drôle d\'oiseau, ce vieux coucou
Qui nous méprise et qui ne nous
Donne jamais un petit coup dans l\'aile ? \"
Dans une ferme du Poitou
Un coq aimait une pendule
Ah, mesdames, vous parlez d\'un jules !
Le voilà qui chante à genoux:
\" Ô ma pendule je t\'adore
Ah ! laisse moi te faire la cour,
Tu es ma poule aux heures d\'or
Mon amour \"
Dans une ferme du Poitou
Un coq aimait une pendule
Il est temps de venir à bout
De cette fable ridicule,
De cette crête à testicules
Qui chante l\'aurore à minuit
\" Il avance ou bien je recule \"
Se disait notre horlogerie
Qui trottinait sur son cadran
Du bout de ses talons aiguilles
En écoutant son don Juan
Lui seriner sa séguedille
Pour imaginer son trépas
Point n\'est besoin d\'être devin
La pendule sonne l\'heure du repas
Coq au vin
Dans une ferme du Poitou
Un coq aimait une pendule
The song "Le Coq Et La Pendule" by Claude Nougaro tells the story of a rooster who is in love with a clock, or pendule, on a farm in the Poitou region of France. The rooster is depicted as having good taste because he is attracted to the clock's beauty and the soft ticking sound it makes. He spends all his time with the clock, dreaming about it day and night, even as the other chickens become annoyed with him and start to question his obsession. The lyrics suggest that the rooster's love for the clock is all-consuming and irrational, and ultimately leads to his downfall as he becomes too distracted to protect himself from being eaten by the farmer.
The song can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of becoming too fixated on something or someone to the point where it blinds us to the realities of the world around us. The rooster's infatuation with the clock can be seen as a metaphor for the ways in which we sometimes allow our desires and obsessions to dominate our lives, leaving us unable to see the bigger picture or make rational decisions. The song also highlights the theme of mortality, as the clock eventually signals the rooster's demise and becomes the instrument of his death.
Overall, "Le Coq Et La Pendule" is a thought-provoking and somewhat melancholy song that explores themes of love, obsession, and mortality in a unique and memorable way.
Line by Line Meaning
Dans une ferme du Poitou
In a farm in Poitou
Un coq aimait une pendule
A rooster loved a clock
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature...
There are all sorts of tastes in nature...
D'ailleurs ce coq avait bon goût
Moreover, this rooster had good taste
Car la pendule était fort belle
For the clock was very beautiful
Et son tic tac si doux si doux
And its tick-tock, so soft, so soft
Que le temps ne pensait surtout
That time only thought about
Qu'à passer son temps auprès d'elle
Passing its time next to it
De l'aube jusqu'au crépuscule
From dawn until dusk
Et même la nuit comme un hibou
And even at night like an owl
L'amour le rendant coqtambule
Love making him go crazy
Des cocoricos plein le cou
With cock-a-doodle-doo's all around his neck
Le coq rêvait à sa pendule
The rooster dreamed of his clock
Ça faisait des conciliabules
It caused some commotion
Chez les cocottes en courroux
Amongst the angry hens
" Qu'est-ce que c'est que ce coq, ce cocktail,
"What is this rooster, this cocktail,
Ce drôle d'oiseau, ce vieux coucou
This funny bird, this old cuckoo
Qui nous méprise et qui ne nous
Who looks down on us and doesn't
Donne jamais un petit coup dans l'aile ? "
Give us even the slightest attention?"
Ah, mesdames, vous parlez d'un jules !
Ah, ladies, you're talking about a Casanova!
Le voilà qui chante à genoux:
Here he is singing on his knees:
Ô ma pendule je t'adore
"Oh my clock, I adore you
Ah ! laisse moi te faire la cour,
Oh! Let me court you,
Tu es ma poule aux heures d'or
You are my golden hen
Mon amour "
My love"
Il est temps de venir à bout
It's time to put an end to
De cette fable ridicule,
This ridiculous fable,
De cette crête à testicules
This testicle-headed rooster
Qui chante l'aurore à minuit
Who sings the dawn at midnight
" Il avance ou bien je recule ",
"He moves forward, or I step back",
Se disait notre horlogerie
Said our clockwork
Qui trottinait sur son cadran
Who trotted on its dial
Du bout de ses talons aiguilles
With the tips of its slender hands
En écoutant son don Juan
Listening to its Don Juan
Lui seriner sa séguedille
Singing a Seguidilla to it
Pour imaginer son trépas
To imagine its death
Point n'est besoin d'être devin
One doesn't have to be a psychic
La pendule sonne l'heure du repas
The clock strikes dinner time
Coq au vin
Chicken with wine
Lyrics © LES EDITIONS DU CHIFFRE NEUF
Written by: Maurice VANDER, Claude NOUGARO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind