Marie Laforêt (Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach, Soulac-sur-Mer, Gironde, F… Read Full Bio ↴Marie Laforêt (Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach, Soulac-sur-Mer, Gironde, France, 5 October 1939 – 2 November 2019) was a French-Swiss singer and actress.

Her career began accidentally in 1959 when she replaced her sister at the last minute in a French radio talent contest Naissance d'une étoile and won. Director Louis Malle then cast the young starlet in the film he was shooting at the time, Liberté, a project he finally abandonded, making Laforêt's first appearance on screen opposite actor Alain Delon in René Clément's 1960 drama Plein Soleil.
After this film she became very popular and interpreted many roles in the 1960s. She married director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, who cast her in some of his own works, including La Fille aux Yeux d'Or (The Girl with the Golden Eyes), based on the Balzac story, which would become her nickname.
In her second film, Saint Tropez Blues, accompanied by a young Jacques Higelin at the guitar, she sang the title song and immediately started releasing singles, her first hit being 1963's Les Vendanges de l'Amour. Her songs offered a more mature, poetic, tender alternative to the light, teenage yé-yé tunes charting in France at the time. Her melodies borrowed more from exotic folk music, especially South American and Eastern European, than from contemporary American and British pop acts. Laforêt worked with many important French composers,musicians and lyricists, such as André Popp and Pierre Cour, who provided her with a panoply of colorful, sophisticated orchestral arrangements, featuring dozens of musical instruments and creating a variety of sounds, sometimes almost Medieval, Rennaissance or Baroque, other times quite modern and innovative.
At the end of the 1960s, Marie had become a rather unique figure in the French pop scene. Her music stood out, perhaps too much for her new label CBS Records, which expected of her more upbeat, simpler songs. She was interested in making more personal records, but finally gave in. Although her most financially successful singles (Viens, Viens, a cover of a British hit, and Il a neigé sur Yesterday, a ballad about the break-up of the Beatles) were released in the 1970s, Marie progressively lost interest in her singing career, moving to Geneva, Switzerland in 1978, where she opened an art gallery and abandoned music more or less altogether.
In the 1980s, Marie concentrated on her acting career, appearing in a few French and Italian films. Some music singles were eventually released, but were not popular. She made a comeback, however, in 1993 with an album (her last) for which she wrote the lyrics. In the 1990s, she again continued to work as an actress, both on screen and on stage. She has performed in a number of plays in Paris over the years, acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. In September 2005 she took the stage of Les Bouffes Parisiens for a two-weeks sold-out concerts, her first (and last) concerts since 1972. Laforêt moved to Geneva in 1978 and obtained Swiss citizenship.

Records
Marie Laforêt, the folk singer

Laforêt has been fond of folk music ever since she began recording in the early 1960s. She helped popularize the Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind" in France with her 1963 interpretation. On the B-side of the same EP she sings the classic American folk ballad "House of the Rising Sun". Other folk recordings include: "Viens sur la montagne", a 1964 French adaptation of the African-American spiritual "Go Tell It on the Mountain", recorded by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary the previous year, "Coule doux" (Hush-a-Bye), another Peter, Paul and Mary song, 1966's "Sur les chemins des Andes", a French version of the traditional Peruvian song "El Cóndor Pasa", and "La voix du silence", a 1966 cover of American duo Simon and Garfunkel's first hit, "The Sound of Silence".

Marie Laforêt, the rocker

She also recorded some rock songs in the 1960s, her most famous being "Marie-douceur, Marie-colère", a 1966 cover of the Rolling Stones hit "Paint It Black". Another popular recording was 1965's girl group-style "A demain, my darling", known by English-speakers as "The Sha La La Song" written by Marianne Faithfull on her debut eponymous album.

Marie Laforêt, the pop singer

Some of her most memorable pop songs are those written or arranged by French composer André Popp, such as "Entre toi et moi", "L'amour en fleurs", "Les noces de campagne", "Mon amour, mon ami", and "Manchester et Liverpool". The melody of the latter song gained fame in the former Soviet Union as the background music to the Vremya television news programme's weather forecast in the 1970s.[7]

Other important records

The quiet, bittersweet and minimally arranged ballad "Je voudrais tant que tu comprennes" (1966), composed by Francis Lai, is a Marie Laforêt favorite. Homage was paid to the song in the 1980s when French pop superstar Mylène Farmer added it to her own concert repertoire.

The 1973 hit "Viens, viens" was a cover version of a German song "Rain, Rain, Rain" performed by Simon Butterfly.

Marie's 1977 hit "Il a neigé sur Yesterday", perhaps her most well-known recording, was penned by musician Jean-Claude Petit, and lyricist Michel Jourdan, (famous for his work with Dalida, Nana Mouskouri, Michel Fugain and Mike Brant) and who had written the words for earlier Laforêt songs, such as "Les vendanges de l'amour" and "L'orage".

Katy Cruelle
Marie Laforêt Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Où vas-tu Katy sans coeur ?

Je vais où va le vent
Jamais je ne m'en défends
Toute ma vie d'avant
Au jour le jour s'efface
Depuis pour tous mes amants
Je suis la fille du vent
Qui souffle au coeur et passe
Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle ?
Où vas-tu Katy sans coeur ?

Pourtant le vent le soir souvent
Me parle d'espoir et quand j'ose le croire
Alors mon coeur devient lourd
Qu'il vienne enfin cet amant !
Lui qui pourrait faire du vent
Le beau tourment de l'amour

Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle ?
Sans coeur !

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Marie Laforêt’s song Katy Cruelle are about a woman named Katy who is seen as an unfaithful and heartless person. The first verse talks about how Katy used to dream of traveling far away while listening to the wind. However, as she grew up, she took her first lover at 16, without blinking an eye. The chorus questions where Katy, the unfaithful and cruel person, is going. Katy’s response is that she goes where the wind goes and does not resist it. She is forgetful of her past and is seen as a breeze in the hearts of her lovers. The second verse portrays Katy’s inner struggles. She longs for true love and hopes it can help her settle down her wild heart. She listens to the wind, which sometimes symbolizes hope, and wishes for the right lover to come to her life.

The song portrays a woman who is liberated and follows her heart’s desire without being tied to anyone or anything. She is criticized for her lack of stability and commitment by the ones who do not understand her. However, Katy is not a bad person but rather misunderstood by the people who cannot comprehend how she feels.

Line by Line Meaning

Lorsque j'étais enfant
As a child, I used to listen to the wind and dream of going to the ends of the earth.

Tout en écoutant le vent
I would listen to the wind while lost in my thoughts.

Je partais en rêvant
My mind would wander as I daydreamed.

Tout au bout de la terre
My imagination would take me to the farthest places on Earth.

J'ai pris mon premier amant
At almost sixteen, I had my first lover.

Quand j'avais presque 16 ans
I was almost sixteen years old at the time.

Sans baisser les paupières
I didn't hesitate, nor did I look back.

Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle ?
Where are you going, unfaithful and cruel one?

Où vas-tu Katy sans coeur ?
Where are you going, heartless Katy?

Je vais où va le vent
I follow the direction of the wind.

Jamais je ne m'en défends
I don't resist the wind's pull.

Toute ma vie d'avant
My life before now has faded away with each passing day.

Au jour le jour s'efface
I live each day as it comes, without looking back.

Depuis pour tous mes amants
Ever since, I've been known to my lovers as the girl who is swept away by the wind.

Je suis la fille du vent
I am the daughter of the wind.

Qui souffle au coeur et passe
The wind that blows into my heart and then passes by.

Pourtant le vent le soir souvent
However, at night, the wind often speaks to me of hope.

Me parle d'espoir et quand j'ose le croire
It tells me about hope, and sometimes I dare to believe it.

Alors mon coeur devient lourd
But then my heart becomes heavy.

Qu'il vienne enfin cet amant !
Oh, if only that lover would finally come!

Lui qui pourrait faire du vent
He is the one who could turn the wind into the beautiful torment of love.

Le beau tourment de l'amour
The beautiful agony of love.

Sans coeur !
Heartless!

Contributed by Lauren J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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Sasa Belle

2y↑8

Lorsque j'étais enfant
Tout en écoutant le vent
Je partais en rêvant
Tout au bout de la terre
J'ai pris mon premier amant
Quand j'avais presque 16 ans
Sans baisser les paupières
Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle?
Où vas-tu Katy sans cœur?
Je vais où va le vent
Jamais je ne m'en défends
Toute ma vie d'avant
Au jour le jour s'efface
Depuis pour tous mes amants
Je suis la fille du vent
Qui souffle au cœur et passe
Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle?
Où vas-tu Katy sans cœur?
Pourtant le vent le soir souvent
Me parle d'espoir et quand j'ose le croire
Alors mon cœur devient lourd
Qu'il vienne enfin cet amant
Lui qui pourrait faire du vent
Le beau tourment de l'amour
Où vas-tu toi l'infidèle, toi la cruelle?
Sans cœur