Born in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, Henriette Ragon began her working life as a typist, then a factory worker, a shoeseller and an antique dealer.
In 1948, with her husband Jean Billon she took over a cabaret-restaurant in Montmartre, called Patachou. (Their son Pierre Billon had some success as a singer in the 1970s and wrote J'ai oublié de vivre for Johnny Hallyday.) She began to sing in the bistro, and journalists began to call her Patachou after the name of her cabaret (pâte-à-choux means cream puff dough). Georges Brassens sang there, and together they sang the duet "Maman, papa". She was the first to interpret other songs he composed such as "Le bricoleur", "La chasse aux papillons", etc.
The evening she sang them for the first time, she suggested her audience stay to the end of the show and meet the writer of these songs, and Brassens went up on to the Patachou stage for the first time and sang Le Gorille and P..de toi. Sometimes she would collect half-ties (she would snip the neckties of customers reluctant to join in the singing) – Thomas Dewey and Errol Flynn were among her victims.
Her first records were released in 1952. She appeared at the 'Bobino', a Montparnasse music-hall, toured in France and then further afield. From 1953 onwards, she could be seen on-stage at the Palladium, the Waldorf Astoria, and Carnegie Hall, and throughout the United States. From the beginning of the 1970s she toured Japan and Sweden where 'L'eternal Parigot', with her cheeky Parisian register, was popular.
Patachou was made Officier of the Légion d'honneur on 1 January 2009.
Patachou died on 30 April 2015 at the age of 96.
Pigalle
Patachou Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Mais il se peut que ce soit aussi
Entre Blanche et Clichy
Quelquefois un poète affamé
Qui loge près du moulin de la Galette
Va chanter dans les bars mal famés
Et c'est comme ça que bien souvent
Bien souvent traîne une chanson
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Qu'on retient sans avoir appris
Entre Blanche et Clichy
Les voyous sont pas si méchants que ça
Et pourraient faire la pige aux poètes
Ils se ruinent en roses et en lilas
Sans compter puisqu'ils ont la galette
Des bons pigeons qui se font piquer
Qui se font piquer tout leur pognon
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Et n'auront rien mais rien compris
Entre Blanche et Clichy
Ceux qui viennent renifler dans ce coin là
Tout l'amour qui traîne sur le macadam
Et marchandent les filles à soldat
Feraient mieux de prier pour leurs âmes
Car c'est pour eux qu'elles ont perdu
Qu'elles ont perdu leurs illusions
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Leur cœur et puis autre chose aussi
Entre Blanche et Clichy
Sur les bancs tout le long du boulevard
Loin de tout loin des joies défendues
Y a des anges dont les yeux trop bavards
Parlent d'amour au milieu de la cohue
Des mômes heureux qui ont gardé
Qui ont gardé leurs illusions
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Et croient encore au paradis
Entre Blanche et Clichy
The song "Pigalle" by Patachou is a nostalgic and melancholic tribute to Parisian nightlife. The song starts with the singer hearing a song somewhere between Pigalle and Blanche, two areas in Paris known for their red-light district and cabarets. The singer suggests that sometimes a hungry poet who lives near the Moulin de la Galette (a famous windmill in Montmartre) will sing in seedy bars for very little money. This is how many songs are born and spread from Pigalle to Blanche and beyond.
The song then reflects on the curious relationship between the outcasts of society - the poets and the thugs. The singer suggests that perhaps the thugs are not as bad as they seem, and that they could learn a thing or two from the poets. But in reality, they just spend their money on roses and lilacs, and rob those who are foolish enough to fall for their scams.
The song takes a bitter turn when the singer addresses those who come to sniff around the area for love and lust. They haggle over the price of the girls, but should instead pray for their souls. The girls have already lost everything - their hearts and something else too. The song ends on a somewhat hopeful note, with the mention of happy children who still believe in paradise.
Overall, "Pigalle" is a poignant ode to a bygone era of Parisian life, where naive dreamers, lost souls, and desperate lovers mingled in the seedy underworld of Pigalle.
Line by Line Meaning
Je viens d'entendre une chanson
I just heard a song
Entre Pigalle et Blanche
Between Pigalle and Blanche
Mais il se peut que ce soit aussi
But it could also be
Entre Blanche et Clichy
Between Blanche and Clichy
Quelquefois un poète affamé
Sometimes a starving poet
Qui loge près du moulin de la Galette
Who lives near the Moulin de la Galette
Va chanter dans les bars mal famés
Goes to sing in seedy bars
Pour 3 tunes au fond de sa casquette
For 3 coins in his cap
Et c'est comme ça que bien souvent
And that's often how
Bien souvent traîne une chanson
A song comes about
Les voyous sont pas si méchants que ça
The thugs aren't that mean
Et pourraient faire la pige aux poètes
And could give the poets a run for their money
Ils se ruinent en roses et en lilas
They spend their money on roses and lilacs
Sans compter puisqu'ils ont la galette
Not to mention since they have the dough
Des bons pigeons qui se font piquer
Good pigeons who get taken
Qui se font piquer tout leur pognon
Who get swindled out of all their money
Ceux qui viennent renifler dans ce coin là
Those who come to sniff around this area
Tout l'amour qui traîne sur le macadam
All the love that lingers on the pavement
Et marchandent les filles à soldat
And haggle over soldier girls
Feraient mieux de prier pour leurs âmes
Would do better to pray for their souls
Car c'est pour eux qu'elles ont perdu
Because of them that they've lost
Qu'elles ont perdu leurs illusions
Their illusions
Sur les bancs tout le long du boulevard
On the benches along the boulevard
Loin de tout loin des joies défendues
Far from everything and from forbidden pleasures
Y a des anges dont les yeux trop bavards
There are angels with overly talkative eyes
Parlent d'amour au milieu de la cohue
Speaking of love amidst the hustle and bustle
Des mômes heureux qui ont gardé
Happy kids who have kept
Qui ont gardé leurs illusions
Their illusions
Et croient encore au paradis
And still believe in paradise
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JACQUES JEAN MARIE DATIN, ROLAND VALADE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Yvonne Ruffio
que de bons souvenirs 😃
Candelario de Jesús SALDÍVAR CANTÚ
Merci Holdabaum, a nouveau pour avoir publié cette chanson qui me fait des souvenirs de l'epoque quand J' etait a Paris...
tychaton08
Merci!