The son of a composer, with brothers and sisters who had successful careers of their own in musical entertainment, Jean Sablon studied piano at the Lyceé Charlemagne in Paris. He left before graduating to enroll at the Paris Conservatoire in order to concentrate on a vocal career. He started in the cabarets of Paris at the age of 17, and was subsequently accompanied on his first album by the pianist/composer Mireille, whose song Couchés dans le foin became a great success. Later, he partnered the wildly popular Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris and boosted his career considerably. He was the first cabaret singer to use a microphone in his stage act. In the 1920s he spent time in Brazil where his recordings remain extremely popular today.
In 1937 he won the Grand Prix du Disque for the song "Vous qui passez sans me voir," written for him by Charles Trenet and Johnny Hess. That same year, he went to the United States, where he sang on live radio broadcasts for CBS and made several records in the English language. On Broadway, he worked with luminaries such as Cole Porter and George Gershwin. He returned to Paris but with the German occupation of France in World War II, he went back to America for the duration.
Jean Sablon became one of the most widely acclaimed male French singers, considered second only in overall lifetime popularity to Maurice Chevalier. His records sold in the millions around the world and he is frequently referred to as the French equivalent of America's Bing Crosby. During his career, he recorded with some of the world's top musicians, including Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. Sablon is credited with arranging Reinhardt's debut in a fashionable cabaret in 1933. He is also recognized for his talents as a lyricist and a composer. Sablon appeared in a number of motion pictures and television films performing as a vocalist or pianist, his last coming in 1984 when he sang "April in Paris" in Mistral's Daughter, the popular American TV miniseries filmed in France.
Jean Sablon died in 1994 and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris.
Ces Petites
Jean Sablon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Vous avez cru tout effacer
Dans votre geste
Mais il me reste
Mille t??moins des jours pass??s
Un peu de vous partout qui tra??ne
M??apporte les joies et les peines
Les nuits ?? bord du Normandie, si belles
La lampe qui repose
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Ce doux refrain d??amour que Crosby chante
...bababababa...
Le vent du soir l??-bas qui se lamente
Et votre porte close
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Ch??rie, pourquoi m??avoir quitt???
Pourquoi m??avoir quitt??
Apr??s ce que nous avons ??t???
Ce "toi et moi" ??crit ?? notre image
Ouvert ce soir ?? la derni??re page
Partout o?? mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Le parc au soir, lorsque la cloche sonne
Ce vieux boudoir o?? ne vient plus personne
Partout o?? mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous.
In Jean Sablon's song Ces petites choses, the singer is addressing a former lover and reminisces about the memories they shared together. The lyrics express the singer's pain and longing for their partner, who left them believing they could erase everything. However, the singer reveals that despite their partner's departure, there are still tangible remnants of their relationship scattered around them. The small things that remain are daily reminders of the good and bad times they shared, such as an old ticket that brings back memories of a lovely trip they once took together on the Normandie, or a lamp that serves as a reminder of their past. These "petites choses" (little things) continue to evoke emotion and longing for the former lover.
The lyrics are quite nostalgic, and each item mentioned has a strong emotional attachment to the singer's memories. The singer yearns to understand the reason for their lover's departure and expresses this in the repeated line "Chérie, pourquoi m'avoir quitté?" (Darling, why did you leave me?). The song is an intimate portrayal of the singer's ongoing heartache and loss, and Sablon delivers the words with a gentle and emotive vibrato.
Overall, Ces petites choses is a melancholy and reflective piece that evokes the feelings of lost love and the longing for the past. The song's charm lies in its simplicity, as Sablon's voice and the light instrumentation allow the lyrics' emotional impact to shine through.
Line by Line Meaning
Le jour o?? vous m??avez laiss??
The day you left me
Vous avez cru tout effacer
You thought you could erase everything
Dans votre geste
In your gesture
Mais il me reste
But I still have
Mille t??moins des jours pass??s
A thousand witnesses of the past days
Un peu de vous partout qui tra??ne
A little bit of you everywhere that lingers
M??apporte les joies et les peines
Brings me joys and sorrows
Ce vieux billet, ch??rie, qui me rappelle
This old ticket, darling, that reminds me
Les nuits ?? bord du Normandie, si belles
The beautiful nights on the Normandie
La lampe qui repose
The lamp that rests
Ces petites choses
These little things
Me parlent de vous
Speak to me of you
Ce doux refrain d??amour que Crosby chante
This sweet love refrain that Crosby sings
...bababababa...
Le vent du soir l??-bas qui se lamente
The evening wind over there that laments
Et votre porte close
And your closed door
Ces petites choses
These little things
Me parlent de vous
Speak to me of you
Ch??rie, pourquoi m??avoir quitt???
Darling, why did you leave me?
Pourquoi m??avoir quitt???
Why did you leave me?
Apr??s ce que nous avons ??t???
After what we have been through
Ce "toi et moi" ??crit ?? notre image
This 'you and me' written in our image
Ouvert ce soir ?? la derni??re page
Opened tonight to the last page
Partout o?? mes yeux se posent
Everywhere my eyes rest
Des petites choses
Little things
Me parlent de vous
Speak to me of you
Le parc au soir, lorsque la cloche sonne
The park in the evening, when the bell rings
Ce vieux boudoir o?? ne vient plus personne
This old boudoir where no one comes anymore
Partout o?? mes yeux se posent
Everywhere my eyes rest
Des petites choses
Little things
Me parlent de vous.
Speak to me of you.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: HOLT MARVELL, JACK STRACHEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Alain Cubeddu
Le jour où vous m’avez laissé
Vous avez cru tout effacer
Dans votre geste
Mais il me reste
Mille témoins des jours passés
Un peu de vous partout qui traîne
M’apporte les joies et les peines
Ce vieux billet, chérie, qui me rappelle
Les nuits à bord du Normandie, si belles
La lampe qui repose
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Ce doux refrain d’amour que Crosby chante
...bababababa...
Le vent du soir là-bas qui se lamente
Et votre porte close
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Chérie, pourquoi m’avoir quitté?
Pourquoi m’avoir quitté
Après ce que nous avons été?
Ce "toi et moi" écrit à notre image
Ouvert ce soir à la dernière page
Partout où mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Le parc au soir, lorsque la cloche sonne
Ce vieux boudoir où ne vient plus personne
Partout où mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous.
Evelyne Ségura
Mon père qui a 97 ans et qui est toujours en vie a navigué sur ce bateau .. Il était le plus jeune mousse embauché sur le paquebot Le Normandie en 1932...
Frank Osborne
A very evocative song. I was given a copy of this exact same record by a lady who kept it throughout the time she was imprisoned by the Germans during the war. I played it regularly and them forgot it. Recently I found it again - broken. I was shattered. Thanks for sharing it.
Alain Cubeddu
Le jour où vous m’avez laissé
Vous avez cru tout effacer
Dans votre geste
Mais il me reste
Mille témoins des jours passés
Un peu de vous partout qui traîne
M’apporte les joies et les peines
Ce vieux billet, chérie, qui me rappelle
Les nuits à bord du Normandie, si belles
La lampe qui repose
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Ce doux refrain d’amour que Crosby chante
...bababababa...
Le vent du soir là-bas qui se lamente
Et votre porte close
Ces petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Chérie, pourquoi m’avoir quitté?
Pourquoi m’avoir quitté
Après ce que nous avons été?
Ce "toi et moi" écrit à notre image
Ouvert ce soir à la dernière page
Partout où mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous
Le parc au soir, lorsque la cloche sonne
Ce vieux boudoir où ne vient plus personne
Partout où mes yeux se posent
Des petites choses
Me parlent de vous.
Donald Fedosiuk
Lovely photos of the incomparable Ship of Light. AND Eric Marscwitz's incomparable "These Foolish Things" en francais! The song has a backstory that could make a feature film in itself, involving 30's Hollywood, the BBC, Anna Mae Wong, the wartime British SOE , Edwina Mountbatten, London cafe society and the unjustly forgotten Lesley Hutchinson. Until now, though, I'd never known it had a French translation. Thank you for posting a beautiful video.
Princess Madeira
It might actually be about Jean Ross, the inspiration behind Sally Bowles
Donald Fedosiuk
@Princess Madeira At one time it was thought also to have been written about Anna May Wong, with whom the lyricist had a then-scandalous inter-racial relationship while working as a screenwriter in Hollywood. But Eric Maschwitz (aka Holt Marvell) denied this. Maschwitz was the Cambridge-educated son of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants to the UK, who became a higher-up at the BBC and a colonel in the British SOE during the war. And then there's Leslie Hutchinson, the Bahamian law student and cabaret singer who became the darling of London cafe society (as well as the lover of Edwina Mountbatton and quite possibly Lord Louis) , who literally discovered the song buried in a stack of sheet music in Maschwitz's BBC office and made it a hit by the end of that week. This is a song that should be a movie!
Nick Staresinic
@Donald Fedosiuk I've always heard/read that Anna May Wong was the inspiration, but you recount a version that is so detailed that I doubt it was invented.
"This is a song that should be a movie!" It was used as the theme of a rarely-screened Bogart film, "Tokyo Joe" (including some Japanese lyrics in a cabaret.)
Donald Fedosiuk
@Nick Staresinic Sadly enough, Marchwitz himself denied the Anna May Wong component of the story, saying the song was about another woman in his life. A case, I guess, of "if it wasn't true, maybe it should have been." Still, the "other woman" must have been something else again!
Nick Staresinic
@Donald Fedosiuk If I were to over-think it, I might suggest that his pain was so great that he didn't want to give Anna May Wong the satisfaction of knowing that she was the cause. Better to deflect with a mystery woman.
Regardless of the back-story, it remains a great standard.
françoise Collinet
magnifique ce diaporama et cette belle voix de cette chanson va très bien ensemble!