Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother ac… Read Full Bio ↴Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. Gréco also became involved in the Résistance, and was caught but not deported because of her young age. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the Navy.

Gréco became a devotee of the bohemian fashion of some intellectuals of post-war France. She dressed generally in black and let her long, black hair hang free.

A famous description of Gréco is that her voice "encompasses millions of poems".[cite this quote] She was known to many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Boris Vian.[cite this quote]

Gréco spent the post liberation years frequenting the Saint Germain cafes, immersing herself in political and philosophical Bohemian culture. As a regular figure at legendary music and poetry venues like Le Tabou on Rue Dauphine, Greco became acquainted with Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau, even being given a role in Cocteau’s film ‘Orphee’ in 1949. During the same year, she began a new singing career with a number of well-known French writers writing lyrics – Raymond Queneau’s ‘Si Tu T’Imagines’ was one of her earliest songs to become popular. [1]

American movie producer and studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who was Gréco's paramour, cast her in several films from the late 1950s to early 1960s.[2]

She has been married three times: to actor Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956; one daughter, Laurence-Marie Lemaire, b. 1954), actor Michel Piccoli (1966-1977), and pianist Gérard Jouannest (1988-).

S'il pleuvait des larmes
Juliette Greco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

S′il pleuvait des larmes
Lorsque meurt un amour
S'il pleuvait des larmes
Lorsque les cœurs sont lourds

Sur la terre entière
Pendant quarante jours
Des larmes amères

Engloutiraient les tours

S′il pleuvait des larmes
Lorsque meurt un enfant
S'il pleuvait des larmes
Pour rire des méchants

Sur la terre entière
En flots gris et glacés
Des larmes amères
Rouleraient le passé

S'il pleuvait des larmes
Quand on tue les cœurs purs
S′il pleuvait des larmes
Quand on crève sous les murs

Sur la terre entière
Il ya aurait le déluge
Des larmes amères
Des coupables et des juges

S′il pleuvait des larmes
Chaque fois que la mort
Brandissant ses armes
Fait sauter les décors

Sur la terre entière

Il n'y aurait plus rien
Qu′les larmes amères

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of the song "S'il pleuvait des larmes" by Juliette Gréco convey the idea that tears could serve as a universal language that could express pain, sorrow, and emotions that are impossible to convey by words. The song imagines a world where it rains tears in different situations, such as the death of love or a child, the triumph of evil, or the killing of pure hearts. The tears would be bitter and endless, and they would engulf the world, wiping out the past, and leaving nothing behind.

The first stanza of the song speaks about the death of love and how tears could express the pain that comes with it. The second stanza talks about the different situations where tears could be shed, including when children die, and when people celebrate the downfall of the innocent. The third stanza portrays a world where people kill each other, and tears would be the consequence of that evil. The last stanza talks about the inevitable death and how tears could be the only symbol of the end of life.

Line by Line Meaning

S'il pleuvait des larmes
If tears were falling incessantly

Lorsque meurt un amour
When love dies

S'il pleuvait des larmes
If tears were falling incessantly

Lorsque les cœurs sont lourds
When hearts feel heavy

Sur la terre entière
All over the world

Pendant quarante jours
For forty days

Des larmes amères
Bitter tears

Engloutiraient les tours
Would engulf the towers

S'il pleuvait des larmes
If tears were falling incessantly

Lorsque meurt un enfant
When a child dies

S'il pleuvait des larmes
If tears were falling incessantly