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 Playa
Marie Laforêt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Y cuando el mar con su rumor habló de amor
Cuando soñaba en el azul fue a imitar este soñar llegaste tú
Flor de un verano nuestro amor tal vez será
Que una fatal brisa otoñal marchitará
Fin de mi sueño de ilusión
Y en esta playa naufragará mi corazón
Y seguiré igual, arena y mar
Y en el comienzo su voz se extinguira
Las huellas de los dos se borrarán
Cuando en el playa nuevamente brille el sol
Ahí estaré y junto al mar recordaré
Ebocaré la inmensidad de nuestro amor
Que me brindó felicidad
Haz de volver, aquí en la playa te esperaré.
The lyrics to Marie Laforêt's song La playa capture the singer's emotions as they reflect on a past love that was born on a beach, but may not last forever. The opening lines describe the beach coming to life with light and sun, and the sound of the waves murmuring about love. The singer then reminisces about dreaming of being lost in the blue sky, but then their dream became reality as their partner arrived. The start of their relationship was like a flower that bloomed in the summer, but the singer fears that it may be doomed to wither in the fall. The end of their love would mean the end of the singer's illusions and they predict that their heart will be shipwrecked on the shore of this very beach.
Despite the heartbreak that the singer anticipates, they also acknowledge that the beach itself will remain unchanged with its sand and sea, and eventually the memories of their love will fade away. However, the singer finds comfort in the thought of returning to the beach one day, basking in the sun, and recalling the vastness of the love they once shared. The closing lines serve as an invitation to their former lover to come back to the beach where they will be waiting.
Overall, the lyrics capture the bittersweet nature of love that is found in a fleeting moment, but forever changes a person's life. The beach serves as a metaphor for the impermanence of love but is also a place of solace and nostalgia for the singer.
Line by Line Meaning
Cuando la playa se inundó de luz, y sol
When the beach was flooded with light and sun
Y cuando el mar con su rumor habló de amor
And when the sea spoke of love with its murmur
Cuando soñaba en el azul fue a imitar este soñar llegaste tú
When I was dreaming about the blue, you came to make my dream come true
Flor de un verano nuestro amor tal vez será
Our love might be a summer flower
Que una fatal brisa otoñal marchitará
That an autumnal fatal breeze will wither away
Fin de mi sueño de ilusión
The end of my dream of illusion
Y en esta playa naufragará mi corazón
And my heart will shipwreck on this beach
Y seguiré igual, arena y mar
And I will remain the same, sand and sea
La playa en soledad se quedará
The beach will remain in solitude
Y en el comienzo su voz se extinguira
And at the beginning, its voice will extinguish
Las huellas de los dos se borrarán
The footprints of the both of us will disappear
Cuando en la playa nuevamente brille el sol
When the sun shines again on the beach
Ahí estaré y junto al mar recordaré
I will be there, and by the sea, I will remember
Ebocaré la inmensidad de nuestro amor
I will evoke the immensity of our love
Que me brindó felicidad
That gave me happiness
Haz de volver, aquí en la playa te esperaré.
Please come back, I will be waiting for you on this beach.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Georges Joseph Van Wetter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
abdullah ekşi
Em B7 Cuando la playa se inundó de luz y sol Em y cuando el mar con su rumor habló de amor. E E7 Am Cuando soñaba en el azul, Em B7 Em Am B7 fue realidad este soñar: llegaste tú. Em B7 Flor de un verano nuestro amor tal vez será Em que una fatal brisa otoñal marchitará. E E7 Am Fin de mi sueño de ilusión, Em B7 Em MI7 y en esta playa naufragará mi corazón.
Am D7 G Em
Y seguirán igual arena y mar, Am B7 Em E7
la playa en soledad se quedará. Am D7 G Em
Y el eco de tu voz se extinguirá, Am B7
la huella de los dos se borrará. Em B7
Cuando en la playa nuevamente brille el sol Em
aquí estaré y junto al mar recordaré, E E7 Am
evocaré la inmensidad Em B7 Em [MI7] de nuestro amor que me brindó felicidad. Am D7 G Em Am B7 Em MI7 Am D7 G Em Y el eco de tu voz se extinguirá, Am B7 la huella de los dos se borrará. Em B7 Cuando en la playa nuevamente brille el sol Em
aquí estaré y junto al mar recordaré, E E7 Am
evocaré la inmensidad Em B7 Em Am
de nuestro amor que me brindó felicidad. Em B7 Em Has de volver, aquí en la playa te esperaré
Luis Lopez
Una preciosa melodía bien interpretada por esta dama un buen recuerdo antes de dormir me relaje y me vinieron los recuerdos
Oswaldo Raza Domínguez
Hermosa interpretación, inolvidable tema....
Jose molero ortiz
Soy músico y dede hace muchos años que la considero una de mis preferidas aun que todas las canciones son muy bonitas sin quitar merito a ninguna
Miguel Contreras
primera vez que lo escucho en forma lírica y pensar que tengo 53 anios vivirá siempre en mi corazón
María Eugenia Arismendi
Qué hermosa, melodia, me recuerda, mi linda juventud y de mi primer amor!!
Игорь Алексеевич
Nuestra juventud, excelente rendimiento suave, esta melodía para las edades!!!
Alfredo Fierro
¡¡¡Ohh.... Mujer!!! que sublime dulzura hay en tu voz que me acarias el alma.
Roberto Gormaz
Que mujer y que voz más tierna. Definitivamente debí nacer en esa época y lugar.
alfredo López Garcés
Recuerdo mis 17 años en Bolívar - Cauca - Colombia. Maravillosa canción y una voz inolvidable,
Orlando parra medina
Aunque han pasado tantos años, ésta Música hace percibir que la vida es muy corta, a que tiempos tan hermosos, canciones con mensajes que hacen soñar.