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.
Mon Fou Coeur
Jean Sablon Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Le prisonnier sa liberté
Moi je ne cherche qu'à te plaire
Tu ne peux en douter
Mon amour est une prière
Voudras-tu l'écouter ?
Refrain :
Dans un sourire
Ma main cherche ta main,
Donne-la-moi
Mes yeux cherchent tes yeux
Pour mieux leur dire
Toute ma joie et mon émoi
Quand je te vois.
Mon coeur cherche ton coeur,
Tu le devines
Alors, je t'en supplie, entends ma voix
Qui monte dans la nuit,
Tendre, câline,
Avec le chant si doux des mandolines
Tu fais semblant de ne pas croire
A mes aveux les plus fervents
Tu dis que ce sont des histoires
Qu'emportera le vent
Mais le vent a bonne mémoire
Et te dira souvent
Refrain
The lyrics of Jean Sablon's song Mon Fou Coeur express the singer's passionate love for another person. The opening lines, "Si la fleur cherche la lumière / Le prisonnier sa liberté" (If the flower seeks the light / The prisoner seeks his freedom), suggest that the singer's love is as natural and necessary as the basic needs of a flower or a prisoner seeking freedom. The singer declares that they only seek to please their beloved, and that their love is a prayer that they hope their lover will listen to.
The chorus of the song repeats the theme of the singer seeking connection with their beloved: "Mon coeur cherche ton coeur / Dans un sourire / Ma main cherche ta main / Donne-la-moi / Mes yeux cherchent tes yeux / Pour mieux leur dire / Toute ma joie et mon émoi / Quand je te vois" (My heart seeks your heart / In a smile / My hand seeks your hand / Give it to me / My eyes seek your eyes / To better express to them / All my joy and my emotion / When I see you). The singer pleads with their lover to hear their voice in the night, soft and comforting like the sound of mandolins.
The second verse addresses the lover's skepticism toward the singer's love, indicating that they might have rejected the singer's advances in the past. The singer insists that their feelings are genuine and that the wind will carry their love forevermore.
Overall, the lyrics of Mon Fou Coeur are a romantic declaration of love, and the theme of seeking connection with one's beloved recurs throughout the song.
Line by Line Meaning
Si la fleur cherche la lumière
Just as a flower searches for light
Le prisonnier sa liberté
And a prisoner seeks freedom
Moi je ne cherche qu'à te plaire
I only seek to please you
Tu ne peux en douter
You cannot doubt that
Mon amour est une prière
My love is a prayer
Voudras-tu l'écouter ?
Will you listen to it?
Refrain :
Mon coeur cherche ton coeur
My heart seeks your heart
Dans un sourire
In a smile
Ma main cherche ta main,
My hand seeks your hand
Donne-la-moi
Please give it to me
Mes yeux cherchent tes yeux
My eyes search for your eyes
Pour mieux leur dire
So that I can better express
Toute ma joie et mon émoi
All my joy and my excitement
Quand je te vois.
When I see you.
Mon coeur cherche ton coeur,
My heart seeks your heart
Tu le devines
You can guess it
Alors, je t'en supplie, entends ma voix
So I implore you, hear my voice
Qui monte dans la nuit,
That rises in the night
Tendre, câline,
Tender, soothing
Avec le chant si doux des mandolines
With the sweet, gentle sound of mandolins
Tu fais semblant de ne pas croire
You pretend not to believe
A mes aveux les plus fervents
My most ardent confessions
Tu dis que ce sont des histoires
You say that they are stories
Qu'emportera le vent
That the wind will carry away
Mais le vent a bonne mémoire
But the wind has a good memory
Et te dira souvent
And will often tell you
Refrain
Lyrics © LES NOUVELLES EDITIONS MERIDIAN
Written by: SALVATORE DESPOSITO, TITOMAGLIO DOMENICO, MIREILLE BROCEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind