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".
La Plage
Marie Laforêt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Marie Laforêt's "La Plage" is a melancholic yet beautiful song that paints a vivid picture of the joys and sorrows of summer love. The singer reminisces about the pleasures of summer that came to her on the beach, with love offering the promise of eternity. However, she laments that summer loves often fear the winds of change and freedom. In her search for truth, her heart ultimately wrecks on the deserted beach.
The singer then describes the beach and ocean, which serve as a backdrop for their summer games. However, as time passes, she loses sight of those games, and the waves of the ocean eventually erase the imprint of those beautiful days. Nonetheless, as the sun returns to the beach, the singer's heart is content, and she regains her own sense of agency. The horizon offers her much more than just an illusion or a mirage- it's a beach that has been found again. The song ends on a bittersweet note, as the singer recognizes the impermanence of life and love, yet finds solace in the memories that still linger on the sunny beach.
Overall, "La Plage" is a touching reflection on the ephemerality of happiness and love, and how they're often intertwined with the beauty and transience of summer itself.
Line by Line Meaning
Quand sur la plage
When on the beach
Tous les plaisirs de l'été
All the pleasures of summer
Avec leurs joies
With their joys
Venaient à moi
Came to me
De tous côtés
From all sides
L'amour offrait l'éternité
Love offered eternity
A cette image
To this image
De la plage ensoleillée
Of the sunny beach
C'est bien dommage
It's really too bad
Mais les amours de l'été
But summer loves
Bien trop souvent
Too often
Craignent les vents
Fear the winds
En liberté
In freedom
Mon cœur cherchant sa vérité
My heart seeking its truth
Vient fair' naufrage
Comes to wreck
Sur la plage désertée.
On the deserted beach.
Le sable et l'océan
The sand and the ocean
Tout est en place
Everything is in place
De tous nos jeux pourtant
Of all our games, however
Je perds la trace
I lose the track
Un peu comme le temps
A little bit like time
La vague efface
The wave erases
L'empreinte des beaux jours
The imprint of beautiful days
De notre amour.
Of our love.
Mais sur la plage
But on the beach
Le soleil revient déjà
The sun is already coming back
Passe le temps
Time passes
Le cœur content
The contented heart
Reprends ses droits
Takes back its rights
A l'horizon s'offre pour moi
On the horizon is offered to me
Mieux qu'un mirage
Better than a mirage
Une plage retrouvée
A rediscovered beach
Mieux qu'un mirage
Better than a mirage
C'est la plage ensoleillée.
It's the sunny beach.
Contributed by Jayce A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@abderrahimmeriche2924
Quand sur la plage
Tous les plaisirs de l'été
Avec leurs joies
Venaient à moi
De tous côtés
L'amour offrait l'éternité
A cette image
De la plage ensoleillée
C'est bien dommage
Mais les amours de l'été
Bien trop souvent
Craignent les vents
En liberté
Mon cœur cherchant sa vérité
Vient fair' naufrage
Sur la plage désertée.
Le sable et l'océan
Tout est en place
De tous nos jeux pourtant
Je perds la trace
Un peu comme le temps
La vague efface
L'empreinte des beaux jours
De notre amour.
Mais sur la plage
Le soleil revient déjà
Passe le temps
Le cœur content
Reprends ses droits
A l'horizon s'offre pour moi
Mieux qu'un mirage
Une plage retrouvée
Mieux qu'un mirage
C'est la plage ensoleillée 😘😘😘
@andres123gaspar8
Nous étions à Oujda MAROC vers 1966-71 , et on allait à la plage de SAIDIA et sur la radio Laforêt chantait "QUAND SUR LA PLAGE" .....Quelle voix , quelle douceur de vivre !
@Clickmoi
J'ai découvert Laforêt à 33 ans grâce à des remix électro, je ne savais pas que la France avait eu une chanteuse de cette trempe. On a beaucoup de grandes chanteuses, mais Laforêt sublime la chanson française et la musique est tout aussi qualitative. On sent la puissance de l'émotion, il y a un côté Fado.
@annettemalingo7608
Paix a son âme décédée l même jour que Giscard destin
@CandelariaMartinez-wn8kc
preciosa canción.
@abderrahimmeriche2924
Quand sur la plage
Tous les plaisirs de l'été
Avec leurs joies
Venaient à moi
De tous côtés
L'amour offrait l'éternité
A cette image
De la plage ensoleillée
C'est bien dommage
Mais les amours de l'été
Bien trop souvent
Craignent les vents
En liberté
Mon cœur cherchant sa vérité
Vient fair' naufrage
Sur la plage désertée.
Le sable et l'océan
Tout est en place
De tous nos jeux pourtant
Je perds la trace
Un peu comme le temps
La vague efface
L'empreinte des beaux jours
De notre amour.
Mais sur la plage
Le soleil revient déjà
Passe le temps
Le cœur content
Reprends ses droits
A l'horizon s'offre pour moi
Mieux qu'un mirage
Une plage retrouvée
Mieux qu'un mirage
C'est la plage ensoleillée 😘😘😘
@minasemoi2867
Muchas gracias!! ❤️👏👏👏
@vivablank
J'adore sa voix. Merci Marie pour ces voyages
@jeanpierrezutter587
Une belle chanson !!
Une grande artiste est partie !!
@baekjinwon
너무 좋습니다~. 좋은 곡 감사드려요~.
@barbaros9313
❤❤❤