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.
La chanson des rues
Jean Sablon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Un accordéon prélude
Dans la rue chaque soir
Au beau milieu du trottoir
Les passants s'arrêtent
Et reprennent en choeur
Le refrain que tout le monde sait par coeur...
Et la voix émue
Sans façon répètent
La vieille chanson des rues
Modeste musique
Poésie d'un sou
Mais cet air mélancolique
Vous poursuit partout.
On y parle de jeunesse
D'amour et de longs baisers,
De serments et de tendresse.
De clair de lune et d'été...
Bien des gens s'arrêtent
Et la voix émue
Sans façon répètent
La chanson des rues
La chanson de la rue
C'est tout à fait notre histoire,
La chanson de la rue
Chacun s'y est reconnu.
Les couplets, les refrains s'y ressemblent, toujours,
Car on y parle uniquement d'amour...
Bien des gens s'arrêtent
Et la voix émue
Sans façon répètent
La vieille chanson des rues...
Modeste musique
Poésie d'un sou
Mais cet air mélancolique
Vous poursuit partout
On y parle de tristesse
De rêves et d'amours déçus
Et du regret que vous laisse
Les années qui ne sont plus...
Bien des gens s'arrêtent
Et la voix émue
Sans façon répètent
La chanson des rues
Jean Sablon's song "La chanson des rues" (The Song of the Streets) is a nostalgic and poetic tribute to the street musicians and their music that used to fill the streets of Paris, particularly in the evenings. The lyrics describe how every night, an accordion player would start playing, and the passers-by would stop and join in singing the familiar chorus. The song talks about the simple and modest music and the poetry of the streets. It is a reminder of the power of music to bring people together and evoke emotions, particularly feelings of love, tenderness, and melancholy.
The song continues to capture the imagination of its listeners, particularly its French audiences. The nostalgic melody, combined with Jean Sablon's soothing and sentimental voice, makes it a classic tune. The lyrics of the chanson talk about the shared experiences that everyone goes through, such as love, tenderness, heartbreak, nostalgia, and the feeling of time passing by.
Line by Line Meaning
Dans la rue chaque soir
Every evening on the street
Un accordéon prélude
An accordion plays a prelude
Au beau milieu du trottoir
Right in the middle of the pavement
Les passants s'arrêtent
The passersby stop
Et reprennent en choeur
And sing along in chorus
Le refrain que tout le monde sait par coeur...
The chorus that everyone knows by heart...
Bien des gens s'arrêtent
Many people stop
Et la voix émue
And with an emotional voice
Sans façon répètent
Repeat without hesitation
La vieille chanson des rues
The old song of the streets
Modeste musique
Modest music
Poésie d'un sou
A penny's worth of poetry
Mais cet air mélancolique
But this melancholic tune
Vous poursuit partout
Follows you everywhere
On y parle de jeunesse
It talks about youth
D'amour et de longs baisers
Of love and long kisses
De serments et de tendresse.
Of promises and tenderness.
De clair de lune et d'été...
Of moonlight and summer...
La chanson de la rue
The song of the street
C'est tout à fait notre histoire,
It's our story,
Chacun s'y est reconnu.
Everyone recognizes themselves in it.
Les couplets, les refrains s'y ressemblent, toujours,
The verses, the choruses are always similar,
Car on y parle uniquement d'amour...
Because it only talks about love...
On y parle de tristesse
It talks about sadness
De rêves et d'amours déçus
Of dreams and disappointed loves
Et du regret que vous laisse
And of the regret that it leaves you
Les années qui ne sont plus...
Of the years that are no more...
Lyrics © SEMI, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: RUDOLPH GOEHR, MICHEL VAUCAIRE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
André Lemoine
Chanson sublime.
Bird man
Sooo gorgeous!!