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).
Petit Taureau
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mais moi c'est pas pareil
Je suis un petit taureau,
Mais moi, en plein soleil,
J'entrerai dans la reine,
Dans la reine des abeilles
Je suis sans doute un animal
Je peux échapper au mal
En jouant avec les mots
Je ne serai plus taureau,
Tonneau de sang vermeil
Je n'aurai plus au garrot
Ce collier de groseilles
J'entrerai dans la reine,
Dans la reine des abeilles
À partir de nos épousailles,
La morale va basculer
La reine va crier aïe!
Et moi je dirai olé!
Je la matadorerai
Avec mon appareil
Un bourdonnement doré
Emplira vos oreilles
Quand j'entrerai dans la reine,
Dans la reine des abeilles
Et si la reine tue ses amants
Comme l'arène tue ses taureaux,
Je crèverai vaillamment
Avec du miel aux naseaux!
On se souviendra de mon sort
Peut-être, deviendrai-je un mythe
J'ai rêvé d'un taureau mort
Sous une pluie de marguerites...
Un petit taureau...
The song "Petit Taureau" by Claude Nougaro is a poetic ode to the singer's identity as a small bull. The first verse speaks to the singer's unique qualities as a bull, saying that he is different from others. The second verse suggests that the singer may have some special powers, maybe the power to escape danger by playing with words. The third verse describes the singer's desire to enter the queen of the bees, which could have a metaphorical meaning of desire to reach a higher level of existence or power.
Line by Line Meaning
Je suis un petit taureau,
I am a small bull,
Mais moi c'est pas pareil
but I am not the same
Je suis un petit taureau,
I am a small bull,
Mais moi, en plein soleil,
but when I am in bright sunshine,
J'entrerai dans la reine,
I will enter the queen,
Dans la reine des abeilles
in the queen of the bees' hive.
Je suis sans doute un animal
I am surely an animal
Doué de pouvoirs anormaux
gifted with abnormal powers
Je peux échapper au mal
I can escape evil
En jouant avec les mots
by playing with words
Je ne serai plus taureau,
I will no longer be a bull,
Tonneau de sang vermeil
a barrel of crimson blood
Je n'aurai plus au garrot
I will no longer have around my neck
Ce collier de groseilles
that necklace of redcurrants.
J'entrerai dans la reine,
I will enter the queen,
Dans la reine des abeilles
in the queen of the bees' hive.
À partir de nos épousailles,
From our marriage,
La morale va basculer
morality will tip over
La reine va crier aïe!
the queen will cry out 'ouch!'
Et moi je dirai olé!
And I will say 'olé!'
Je la matadorerai
I will kill her like a matador
Avec mon appareil
with my equipment
Un bourdonnement doré
a golden buzzing sound
Emplira vos oreilles
will fill your ears
Quand j'entrerai dans la reine,
When I enter the queen,
Dans la reine des abeilles
in the queen of the bees' hive.
Et si la reine tue ses amants
And if the queen kills her lovers
Comme l'arène tue ses taureaux,
like the arena kills its bulls,
Je crèverai vaillamment
I will valiantly die
Avec du miel aux naseaux!
with honey in my nostrils!
On se souviendra de mon sort
They will remember my fate
Peut-être, deviendrai-je un mythe
Maybe I will become a myth
J'ai rêvé d'un taureau mort
I dreamed of a dead bull
Sous une pluie de marguerites...
under a rain of daisies...
Un petit taureau...
A small bull...
Contributed by Oliver W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Hervé Pépin
Je l'avais vu 2 fois en concert la même année (1988 ou 1989 ?). Dans une petite salle de 200 places max, et dans une grande salle parisienne (disons 5 à 7000 personnes). A chaque fois, la même énergie, la même générosité, le même don de soi. Et quel talent d'écriture !
Le petit taureau était un géant, insuffisamment reconnu comme tel. Il manque à la chanson française, il manque à l'époque, il me manque tout simplement...
Alain Mazza
Merci :-) j'étais a ce concert , quel bonheur
Alan Do Corso
Merveilles des mots et de leur mélodie... Immense Nougaro ! + Vander, Ecay, etc... Braves-hauts ! Très Haut...
Philippe AUFFRAY
En Arles, un soir de magie, avant d'attaquer le petit toro, Mr Claude Nougaro ouvrit le bal dans les arènes ainsi
- ''Arles, ce soir je te donne mes oreilles et ma queue...'' Olé !!!
6700adam
TROP PUISSANT
lffit
Fabulous!!