Tiersen has been honing his musical aesthetic since he could stand on two legs. He started learning piano at the age of four, taking up violin at the age of six and receiving classical training at musical academies in Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. Then, at the age of 13, he chose to alter his destiny, breaking his violin into pieces, buying a guitar and forming a rock band.
Yann Tiersen has collaborated with vocal artists like Claire Pichet ("Le phare" and "Rue des cascades"), Elizabeth Fraser ("Les retrouvailles") and Shannon Wright ("Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright"). Other musicians he has worked with include The Divine Comedy, Noir Désir, Dominique A., Francoiz Breut, Les Têtes Raides, The Married Monk and Sage Francis
Tiersen got a musical education from the city of Rennes' annual Transmusicales festival, seeing acts like Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubaten, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Television and Suicide. When his band broke up a few years later, instead of hunting for some new musicians, he bought a cheap mixing desk, an eight-track reel, and started recording music solo with a synth, sampler and drum machine, poring over the grooves of old records on the hunt for loops and orchestral strings to plunder.
As it turned out, though, the key to his new approach lay in his own past. "One day I thought, instead of spending days on research and listening to tons of records to find the nearest sound of what I have in mind, why don't I fix this fucking violin and use it?" Through the summer of 1993, Tiersen stayed in his apartment, recording music alone with guitar, violin and accordion, guided not by the classical canon, but by intuition and his vision of "a musical anarchy".
By the end of the summer of 1993, Tiersen had recorded over 40 tracks, which would form the bulk of his first two albums. 1995's La Valse Des Monstres, inspired by Tod Browning's Freaks and Yukio Mishima's The Damask Drum was the second album to be released on Nancy-based label Ici, d'ailleurs. It would be followed six months later by Rue Des Cascades, a collection of short pieces recorded with toy piano, harpsichord, violin, accordion and mandolin. Six years later, the record would find a much larger audience when several tracks, along with a couple of Tiersen originals, would be used on the soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Amelie (2001).
Tiersen's commercial breakthrough would come earlier, though, and off his own back. 1998's Le Phare (The Light House) was recorded in self-imposed seclusion on the isle of Ouessant, where Tiersen spent two months living in a rented house. At night, he watched the Creach'h, the most powerful lighthouse in Europe, as it illuminated the surrounding scenery. "I was amazed how the rays of lights from the lighthouse revealed some hidden details of the land, how we can rediscover something we have everyday, just in front of us, by a light pointing on it," says Tiersen.
Le Phare went on to sell over 160,000 copies, confirming Tiersen's status as one of the most pioneering and original artists of his generation and commencing a run of successful albums like 2001's L'Absente (featuring orchestral group Synaxis, Lisa Germano and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon) and 2005's Les Retrouvailles (with guests Stuart Staples of Tindersticks, Jane Birkin and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins). In this period, Tiersen also took his music out around the world, playing shows with a full orchestra and an amplified string quartet – a set-up captured on 2002's electrifying live album C'etait ici. And following the box-office success of Amelie, Tiersen's skills as a soundtracker were much in demand, leading to scores for the likes of Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and Tabarly (2008), a documentary about the French sailor Éric Tabarly, who ate his final meal on Ouessant Island before he meeting a watery end in the Irish sea.
Discography:
La valse des monstres (1995)
Rue des cascades (1996)
Le phare (1998)
Tout est calme (1999)
Black session (1999, radio concert)
L'absente (2001)
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001, Soundtrack)
C'était ici (2002, Live and Best Of)
Good Bye Lenin! (2003, Soundtrack)
Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright (2004)
Les Retrouvailles (2005)
On Tour (2006, Live)
Tabarly (2008)
Dust Lane (2010)
Le parapluie
Yann Tiersen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Elle cheminait sans parapluie
J'en avais un, volé sans doute
Le matin même à un ami
Courant alors à sa rescousse
Je lui propose un peu d'abri
En séchant l'eau de sa frimousse
D'un air très doux, elle m'a dit oui
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
Contre un coin d'paradis
Elle avait quelque chose d'un ange
Un p'tit coin d'paradis
Contre un coin d'parapluie
Je n'perdais pas au change, pardi
Chemin faisant, que ce fut tendre
D'ouïr à deux le chant joli
Que l'eau du ciel faisait entendre
Sur le toit de mon parapluie
J'aurais voulu, comme au déluge
Voir sans arrêt tomber la pluie
Pour la garder, sous mon refuge
Quarante jours, quarante nuits
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
Contre un coin d'paradis
Elle avait quelque chose d'un ange
Un p'tit coin d'paradis
Contre un coin d'parapluie
Je n'perdais pas au change, pardi
Mais bêtement, même en orage
Les routes vont vers des pays
Bientôt le sien fit un barrage
A l'horizon de ma folie
Il a fallu qu'elle me quitte
Après m'avoir dit grand merci
Et je l'ai vue toute petite
Partir gaiement vers mon oubli
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
Contre un coin d'paradis
Elle avait quelque chose d'un ange
Un p'tit coin d'paradis
Contre un coin d'parapluie
Je n'perdais pas au change, pardi
The lyrics of the song "Le parapluie" by Yann Tiersen tell a story of a chance encounter on a rainy day. The singer sees a woman walking along a road in a heavy downpour without an umbrella, while he himself stole one from a friend that morning. He runs to offer her shelter and dry her face with a gentle touch, and she agrees to share his makeshift umbrella. The two of them walk together, enjoying the sound of raindrops on the canopy of the umbrella, and the singer dreams of keeping her under his protection for forty days and nights.
As they walk, the reality of life sets in, and they each have to go their separate ways. The woman thanks him before departing, and the singer watches her leave, a feeling of bittersweet satisfaction in his heart for having briefly shared a moment of closeness with someone who felt like an angel. The song is a wistful reflection on a fleeting moment of connection during a rainy day, beautifully capturing both the romance and the transience of the encounter.
Overall, "Le parapluie" is a beautiful and evocative song that speaks to the power of small moments shared between two people. It reminds us that even something as simple as a chance encounter on a rainy day can carry profound meaning and emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Il pleuvait fort sur la grand-route
It was raining heavily on the main road.
Elle cheminait sans parapluie
She was walking without an umbrella.
J'en avais un, volé sans doute
I had one, probably stolen, from a friend that morning.
Le matin même à un ami
That morning from a friend.
Courant alors à sa rescousse
Running to her rescue.
Je lui propose un peu d'abri
I offered her some shelter.
En séchant l'eau de sa frimousse
As I dried the water from her face.
D'un air très doux, elle m'a dit oui
She softly said yes.
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
A little corner of umbrella.
Contre un coin d'paradis
In exchange for a corner of paradise.
Elle avait quelque chose d'un ange
She had something angelic about her.
Je n'perdais pas au change, pardi
I wasn't losing in the deal, of course.
Chemin faisant, que ce fut tendre
Along the way, it was tender.
D'ouïr à deux le chant joli
Hearing together the beautiful song.
Que l'eau du ciel faisait entendre
That the rain was making on the umbrella.
Sur le toit de mon parapluie
On the roof of my umbrella.
J'aurais voulu, comme au déluge
I would have liked, like in the flood.
Voir sans arrêt tomber la pluie
To see the rain falling without stopping.
Pour la garder, sous mon refuge
To keep her under my shelter.
Quarante jours, quarante nuits
Forty days, forty nights.
Mais bêtement, même en orage
But stupidly, even in a storm.
Les routes vont vers des pays
The roads lead to other places.
Bientôt le sien fit un barrage
Soon hers became a barrier.
A l'horizon de ma folie
On the horizon of my madness.
Il a fallu qu'elle me quitte
She had to leave me.
Après m'avoir dit grand merci
After thanking me.
Et je l'ai vue toute petite
And I saw her so small.
Partir gaiement vers mon oubli
Leaving happily into my oblivion.
Contributed by Bella T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@paraderadesconocida
Hoy al salir al cielo abierto de las calles…
..llovían paraguas a mi alrededor..
..me ví sorprendida por una torrencial felicidad..
..abrazos multicolores que hicieron sobre mi protección..
..para que la tristeza no me mojara la mirada..
..empapándome de silencio..
..pintaron de bonito un firmamento propio..
..de purpurinas alegrías..
..su magia de flores desplegadas..
..cuyos versos delicados fueron acunándome la ilusión..
..hasta llevarme a casa de la sinfonía Iris de azul despejado..
..y en su recuerdo de luz dejaron el Arco de su firma..
…con esta canción.
@DiegoGalles001
Il pleuvait fort sur la grand-route
Ell' cheminait sans parapluie
J'en avais un, volé, sans doute
Le matin même à un ami
Courant alors à sa rescousse
Je lui propose un peu d'abri
En séchant l'eau de sa frimousse
D'un air très doux, ell' m'a dit " oui ".
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
Pour un coin d'paradis
Elle avait quelque chos' d'un ange
Un p'tit coin d'paradis
Pour un coin d'parapluie
Je n'perdais pas au chang', pardi!
Chemin faisant, que ce fut tendre
D'ouïr à deux le chant joli
Que l'eau du ciel faisait entendre
Sur le toit de mon parapluie !
J'aurais voulu, comme au déluge
Voir sans arrêt tomber la pluie
Pour la garder, sous mon refuge
Quarante jours, quarante nuits.
Un p'tit coin d'parapluie
Pour un coin d'paradis
Elle avait quelque chos' d'un ange
Un p'tit coin d'paradis
Pour un coin d'parapluie
Je n'perdais pas au chang', pardi!
Bêtement, même en orage
Les routes vont vers des pays
Bientôt le sien fit un barrage
À l'horizon de ma folie!
Il a fallu qu'elle me quitte
Après m'avoir dit grand merci
Et je l'ai vu', toute petite
Partir gaiement vers mon oubli.
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@sauvagebri
Quelle poésie ! J'aime la simplicité de la vidéo, une seule image qui va très bien avec la chanson
@giovanni5898
Dans cette formidable "reprise"on se rend compte que l ange de Brassens en partant gaiement vers son oubli n en pensait pas moins que l auteur sur cette rencontre !Bravo et merci!
@Jenhka
En boucle tellement c'est beau.
@lyracrisier
La cancion perfecta para contar todos los secretos en una tarde lluviosa. Nostalgic yet filled with so much joy simply beautiful
@paraderadesconocida
Hoy al salir al cielo abierto de las calles…
..llovían paraguas a mi alrededor..
..me ví sorprendida por una torrencial felicidad..
..abrazos multicolores que hicieron sobre mi protección..
..para que la tristeza no me mojara la mirada..
..empapándome de silencio..
..pintaron de bonito un firmamento propio..
..de purpurinas alegrías..
..su magia de flores desplegadas..
..cuyos versos delicados fueron acunándome la ilusión..
..hasta llevarme a casa de la sinfonía Iris de azul despejado..
..y en su recuerdo de luz dejaron el Arco de su firma..
…con esta canción.
@VCGCHILE
Gracias, es linda la letra. podrías escribirla completa?
@rocio8390
un mundo hermoso, gracias por compartirlo!
@saxoul17
:)
@ocehana82
Tout simplement magnifique...!!!
@clairenocq6990
une grande douceur de vivre dans cette chanson