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".
Tom
Marie Laforêt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tom tu te fiches de moi
Tom tu t'fais du cinéma
Tom je n'aime pas beaucoup ça
Tom tu mens comme un voleur
Tom tu triches avec ton cur
Tom tu piétines les fleurs
Un jour je vais m'en aller
Un jour je vais te quitter
Et tu me regretteras
Et tu te mordras les doigts
Tom tu cours après les filles
Tom tu découches la nuit
Tom je suis seul dans mon lit
Tom tu n'es pas très gentil
Tom tu aimes les copains
Tom tu caresses les chiens
Tom les enfants t'aiment bien
Tom c'est bientôt le matin
Un jour je vais m'en aller
Un jour je vais te quitter
Et tu me regretteras
Et tu te mordras les doigts
Tom ceci et Tom cela
Tom ça vit et Tom ça va
Tom ça ne durera pas
Tom sois gentil avec moi
Tom tu grattes ta guitare
Tom tu n'es pas très bavard
Tom l'orage se prépare
Tom il est presque trop tard
Un jour je vais m'en aller
Un jour je vais te quitter
Je sais quand je te dis ça
Que c'est toi qui partira
In "Tom," Marie Laforêt sings about a troubled relationship with Tom. She starts by addressing the different ways in which he doesn't act properly - he lies, cheats with his heart, tramples on flowers, and lives like a juggler. She claims that one day she will leave him and he will regret it, but for now, she is left alone in bed while Tom stays out with other women. Marie sings that he likes his friends, pets dogs, and is good with children, but that this doesn't excuse his bad behavior towards her.
Despite her attempts to leave, she knows that it is Tom who will eventually leave her. The song ends with a foreboding sense that something is coming, represented by the approaching storm, and that the situation between Marie and Tom is close to a breaking point.
Line by Line Meaning
Tom tu dis n'importe quoi
Tom, you are saying whatever comes to your mind without thinking
Tom tu te fiches de moi
Tom, you don't care about me
Tom tu t'fais du cinéma
Tom, you are being melodramatic
Tom je n'aime pas beaucoup ça
Tom, I don't like it very much
Tom tu mens comme un voleur
Tom, you are lying like a thief
Tom tu triches avec ton cur
Tom, you are cheating with your heart
Tom tu piétines les fleurs
Tom, you are trampling on the flowers
Tom tu vis comme un jongleur
Tom, you are living like a juggler
Un jour je vais m'en aller
One day, I will leave
Un jour je vais te quitter
One day, I will leave you
Et tu me regretteras
And you will regret losing me
Et tu te mordras les doigts
And you will bite your fingers in regret
Tom tu cours après les filles
Tom, you chase after other girls
Tom tu découches la nuit
Tom, you stay out all night
Tom je suis seul dans mon lit
Tom, I am alone in my bed
Tom tu n'es pas très gentil
Tom, you are not very nice
Tom tu aimes les copains
Tom, you like hanging out with your friends
Tom tu caresses les chiens
Tom, you pet the dogs
Tom les enfants t'aiment bien
Tom, children like you
Tom c'est bientôt le matin
Tom, it's almost morning
Tom ceci et Tom cela
Tom this and Tom that
Tom ça vit et Tom ça va
Tom lives on and Tom continues
Tom ça ne durera pas
Tom, it won't last
Tom sois gentil avec moi
Tom, be nice to me
Tom tu grattes ta guitare
Tom, you are playing your guitar
Tom tu n'es pas très bavard
Tom, you are not very talkative
Tom l'orage se prépare
Tom, the storm is brewing
Tom il est presque trop tard
Tom, it's almost too late
Je sais quand je te dis ça
I know when I say this to you
Que c'est toi qui partira
That it's you who will leave
Contributed by Wyatt Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
France Invrai
Un charme fou et une élégance hors du commun. Elle nous manque.
Marcel Avez
Rythme endiablé cette chanson j'aime cette période .Marie avec sa voie unique assume la cadence....
antonin yacobé
Qu'est-ce qu'elle est belle, et dieu que ces chansons ont de charme !!
Alain.10B
J'adore cette période Marie Laforêt. Des chansons d'une fraîcheur et d'une simplicité bien agréables, sans prétention et la belle jeunesse d'une femme exquise au regard fascinant. Bravo pour le travail d'amélioration de la vidéo. Je ne saurais pas faire.
wise cat
Merci! ☺Cette période était, probablement, la meilleure période.. 🤷♀❤
PS. parfois, la synchronisation des pistes vidéo et audio est un travail difficile.. parfois, c'est facile. On a juste besoin d'un logiciel spécial pour faire ce travail.
Alain.10B
@wise cat Merci à vous pour votre travail artistique et vos trouvailles qui nous enchantent.
wise cat
@Alain.10B ❤☺
Denis
Merci pour toute ces videos vous etes exceptionnel vous aussi mes amities.
wise cat
🙏☺️❤️
Denis
Tres belle excellent travail de votre part mercii