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).
les petits pavés
Claude Nougaro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A tous les jours toujours l'haleine fraîche
Quand il s'éveille réjoui
Il fait pipi et il pépie
Vous dire en deux mots ce qu'il dit ?...
Je n'entends goutte à son dialecte
Il appartient à une secte
Sachez toujours qu'il fait tutut
Et tututut dans le silence
La symphonie d'oiseaux commence
Sur ce poids plume de la flûte
L'arbre s'embrase de gosiers
Bruyants de contre chants, de fugues
Le paradis fait une fugue
Sur Marrakech il s'est posé
Il est tout neuf, tout gai, tout vif
Radieusement primitif
Il a fixé son port d'attache
À dix pieds du plancher des dattes
Ensuite l'homme reprendra
Du poil de la bête : Moteur !
Cours du dollar, goût de l'horreur
Qu'il soit nu tête ou en chéchia
Le p'tit oiseau de Marrakech
Assis sur son tapis de feuilles
Attendra que le Bon Dieu veuille
Ôter le noyau de la pêche
Il soupera d'un ver luisant
En tête à tête à la fauvette
Puis galipettes et navettes
Pour célébrer le jour suivant
Et se coucher dans le couchant
Et quand la nuit se met à poil
À vous renverser de vertige
Il dormira entre deux tiges
Les bras croisés sur une étoile
Le p'tit oiseau de Marrakech
A tous les jours d'amour l'haleine fraîche
Quand il s'éveille réjoui
Il fait pipi et il pépie
The lyrics of Claude Nougaro's "Le Petit Oiseau de Marrakech" talk about a little bird that wakes up with fresh breath every day. This bird's language is hard to understand because it belongs to a sect that is too close to heaven, so it speaks somewhat differently. However, the bird's sounds resemble tut-tut and tut-tut-tut in the silence, and when it makes them, a symphony of other birds begins.
The bird's song attracts other birds, who sing along in a chorus from the trees as the sun rises. Marrakech is painted as a paradise with the birds as an integral part of the landscape, and the little bird serves as a symbol of the purity and freedom that can only be found outside of human society. The last few lines of the song talk about how the bird lives a simple and carefree life, eating a glowing worm for dinner and sleeping among the stars.
Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of a world separate from human affairs that is pure, harmonious, and beautiful, where the only concerns are waking up with fresh breath, singing, flying, and finding a good place to sleep under the stars.
Line by Line Meaning
Le p'tit oiseau de Marrakech
This is a song about a small bird in Marrakech, Morocco.
A tous les jours toujours l'haleine fraîche
Every day, the bird wakes up with fresh breath.
Quand il s'éveille réjoui
When the bird wakes up happy,
Il fait pipi et il pépie
it goes to the bathroom and chirps.
Vous dire en deux mots ce qu'il dit ?...
Can I tell you in a few words what it says?
Je n'entends goutte à son dialecte
I don't understand its dialect at all.
Il appartient à une secte
It belongs to a group or tribe.
Trop près du ciel sans sauf conduit
It lives too close to the sky without permission.
Sachez toujours qu'il fait tutut
Know that it makes a toot toot sound.
Et tututut dans le silence
And multiple toot toots in the silence.
La symphonie d'oiseaux commence
The symphony of birds begins.
Sur ce poids plume de la flûte
On this featherweight flute,
L'arbre s'embrase de gosiers
The tree ignites with throats,
Bruyants de contre chants, de fugues
Loud with counter-chants and fugues.
Le paradis fait une fugue
Paradise flees.
Sur Marrakech il s'est posé
It has landed on Marrakech.
Il est tout neuf, tout gai, tout vif
The bird is new, happy, and lively.
Radieusement primitif
Radiantly primitive.
Il a fixé son port d'attache
It has fixed its base of operations.
À dix pieds du plancher des dattes
Ten feet from the floor of dates,
Ensuite l'homme reprendra
Then the man will take over again.
Du poil de la bête : Moteur !
With the spirit of the beast: Engine!
Cours du dollar, goût de l'horreur
The dollar's rate, the taste of fear,
Qu'il soit nu tête ou en chéchia
Whether it's bald or wearing a hat,
Le p'tit oiseau de Marrakech
The little bird of Marrakech,
Assis sur son tapis de feuilles
Sitting on its carpet of leaves,
Attendra que le Bon Dieu veuille
It will wait for God's will,
Ôter le noyau de la pêche
To remove the peach pit.
Il soupera d'un ver luisant
It will dine on a glow worm,
En tête à tête à la fauvette
One on one with a warbler,
Puis galipettes et navettes
Then somersaults and shuttles,
Pour célébrer le jour suivant
To celebrate the following day,
Et se coucher dans le couchant
And to lie down in the setting sun,
Et quand la nuit se met à poil
And when the night undresses,
À vous renverser de vertige
To make you dizzy,
Il dormira entre deux tiges
The bird will sleep between two stems,
Les bras croisés sur une étoile
Arms crossed on a star.
Le p'tit oiseau de Marrakech
The little bird of Marrakech,
A tous les jours d'amour l'haleine fraîche
Every day it wakes up with fresh breath of love.
Quand il s'éveille réjoui
When it wakes up happy,
Il fait pipi et il pépie
It goes to the bathroom and chirps.
Lyrics © LES EDITIONS DU CHIFFRE NEUF
Written by: Daniel GOYONE, Claude NOUGARO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind