Born on the 24th August 1916 in Monaco, Ferré mixed lyricism with slang; love with anarchy. He took a central place in the world of French song. He was involved in anarchism, and worked with Radio Libertaire, an anarchist free-radio broadcasting in Paris and around France. He died on the 14th July 1993.
Clair De Lune
Léo Ferré Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.
Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,
Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres
Parmi les marbres.
Clair De Lune, a song composed by Léo Ferré, features the poem of Paul Verlaine from 1869. The opening line, "votre âme est un paysage choisi", translates to "your soul is a chosen landscape", sets the melancholic tone of the entire piece. Verlaine uses symbolism and metaphors to describe the landscape of one's soul that is being entertained by masks and costumes that are playing music and dancing. However, there is an air of sadness that permeates through the lyrics, which is further emphasized through the minor notes of the melody. The dancers do not seem to believe in their happiness and are lost in their phantasmic world.
As the song progresses, Verlaine introduces the motif of "clair de lune," the French term for "moonlight." The second stanza speaks of the moon's serene and melancholic light that encapsulates everything, including the trees, the birds, and the fountains - which even seem to sob in ecstasy. The description of the scenery further accentuates the sadness that seems to permeate the entire poem. Despite the beauty and magic of the landscape, there is an underlying theme of loneliness and longing that is enhanced by the song's melody.
Overall, this poem is an elegy for lost love, and Ferré's haunting composition manages to capture that perfectly. The use of minor notes in the melody infuses the poem's sorrowful narrative with more potent emotion, making it a classic French ballad.
Line by Line Meaning
Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Where charming masks and bergamasques go
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Playing the lute, dancing, and nearly
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.
Sad beneath their fanciful disguises.
Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
While singing in the minor mode
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune
Of victorious love and opportune life
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
They don't seem to believe in their happiness
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune
And their song mingles with the moonlight
Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
In the calm, sad and beautiful moonlight,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
That makes birds dream in the trees
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
And makes jets of water sob with ecstasy
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres
The tall, slender jets of water among the marble.
Contributed by Audrey K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.