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).
Tout feu tout femme
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Aucune pompe à incendie
N'éteindra ce feu qui ravage
Et consume ma vie
Je brûle, je flambe, je grille, je crame
Dès que je vous vois, mes chéries
Je suis tout feu tout femme
Tout feu tout femme
Si vous me donnez l'eau de votre bouche
Vous mettez de l'huile sur le feu
Si votre regard glacé me douche
Cette douche me brûle encore mieux
A peine une brune aux yeux de braise
Vient-elle de m'incinérer
Que je replonge dans la fournaise
D'une blonde cendrée
Jusqu'au dernier tison de l'âme
Toute ma vie je souffrirai
D'être tout feu tout femme
Tout feu tout femme
Tout feu tout femme
Comme la neige, ô toi tu es pure
Fraîche comme une source, pourtant
Eteins-moi vite sous tes couvertures
Je suis sur des charbons ardents
J'pourrais tomber dans un cratère
Les flammes me laisseraient froid
Mais que passe la moindre bergère
Et je m'allume déjà
Soyez mes Jeanne d'Arc, mesdames
Montez sur mon bûcher à moi
Qui suis tout feu tout femme
Tout feu tout femme
Tout feu tout femme
In Claude Nougaro's song Tout feu tout femme, the lyrics depict a person who finds themselves consumed by uncontrollable passion for women. They describe how no amount of rain or fire department intervention could extinguish the fire that ravages and consumes their life whenever they lay eyes on a woman. They are 'tout feu tout femme,' meaning they are all fire and all female, highlighting the intensity of the passion. The singer finds his obsession to be overwhelming and uncontrollable, expressing how even if he falls into a crater, the flames leave him cold; his only source of warmth and passion lies with women.
He goes on to explain how he finds himself drawn back into the fire, whether it be through the mysterious allure of a brown-eyed seductress or an ash-blond beauty. The lyrics imply that he must suffer throughout his life, burning with desire and passion for any woman he encounters.
The final verse suggests that the singer is aware of his own downfall and begs for the women around him to be like Jeanne d'Arc, a French martyr who faced death by fire. He asks them to climb onto his 'bûcher à moi', or personal stack, meaning his heart or soul, implying that he is happy to be consumed by flames as long as it is by the passion of a woman.
Overall, the lyrics depict the singer's overwhelming desire for women and his need to constantly satisfy his passion or feel incomplete without it.
Line by Line Meaning
Aucune pluie, aucun orage
No rain, no thunderstorm
Aucune pompe à incendie
No fire hose
N'éteindra ce feu qui ravage
Will extinguish this raging fire
Et consume ma vie
That consumes my life
Je brûle, je flambe, je grille, je crame
I burn, I flare up, I toast, I scorch
Dès que je vous vois, mes chéries
As soon as I see you, my darlings
Je suis tout feu tout femme
I am all fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Si vous me donnez l'eau de votre bouche
If you give me water from your mouth
Vous mettez de l'huile sur le feu
You add fuel to the fire
Si votre regard glacé me douche
If your cold look showers me
Cette douche me brûle encore mieux
This shower burns me even more
A peine une brune aux yeux de braise
As soon as a dark-haired woman with fiery eyes
Vient-elle de m'incinérer
Has just incinerated me
Que je replonge dans la fournaise
I dive back into the furnace
D'une blonde cendrée
Of an ash blonde
Jusqu'au dernier tison de l'âme
Until the last ember of the soul
Toute ma vie je souffrirai
All my life I will suffer
D'être tout feu tout femme
From being all fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Comme la neige, ô toi tu es pure
Like snow, you are pure
Fraîche comme une source, pourtant
Fresh like a spring, however
Eteins-moi vite sous tes couvertures
Quickly extinguish me under your covers
Je suis sur des charbons ardents
I am on hot coals
J'pourrais tomber dans un cratère
I could fall into a crater
Les flammes me laisseraient froid
The flames would leave me cold
Mais que passe la moindre bergère
But as soon as the slightest shepherdess passes by
Et je m'allume déjà
And I am already ablaze
Soyez mes Jeanne d'Arc, mesdames
Be my Joan of Arc, ladies
Montez sur mon bûcher à moi
Climb onto my own pyre
Qui suis tout feu tout femme
Who is all fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Tout feu tout femme
All fire, all woman
Contributed by Brooklyn B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.