La mer - Charles Trenet

For today's song, we stay in France with prolific singer-songwriter Charles Trenet's hit, <La mer>.  The song was (according to legend) first written on the back of a napkin on a train in 1943, but Trenet's buddies didn't think the song was that great and didn't swing enough, so it sat in a drawer until Trenet recorded the song in 1946, and ended up being his biggest hit.  The song en francais is an ode to the ocean, with the chord progession and instrumentation acting as the hypnotic ebb and flow-like quality of the waves.  Eventually the song was translated into English and called "Beyond the Sea", recorded by over 400 artists, most popularly by Bobby Darin in the 1950s (heard here).

Charles Trenet the man, like out previous entry Edith Piaf had a pretty interesting life.  He wrote over a thousand songs and became a pretty popular cabaret artist during WWII, but made some questionable performance decisions - he played for Nazi occupier audiences in order to keep his fame rather than decline and keep his dignity.  France soured on him after the war for some of these choices, so Trenet moved to America for a few years, where he was arrested for allegedly pimping underage boys (it also came out that Trenet was gay, something he never publicly admitted to).  He toured and sang well into the 1970s when he retired, only to come back a few years later for a tribute concert, retired again, released an album (eat your heart out, Cher!).  Trenet eventually stroked out and died in 2001.

Revieeeeeews:

Holly:

La mer (Charles Trenet): Oh, another song I know but by a different name! This Charles Trenet guy has a super smooth, creamy voice, and he rolls his ‘r’s so perfectly. The song itself is pretty dated, and a bit harp heavy. As you listen to it you think “oh, this is pleasant! Maybe a little on the cheesy side, but I can deal with it”. Then you get smacked over the head by the background choir. Whoa, they just kicked the cheese into high gear! Still, a pleasant song to listen to. 3/5

Kelly:

I LOVE this song.  Unfortunately for Charles Trenet, I love the Bobby Darin version of this song (I love Bobby Darin.  He reminds me of Kevin Spacey, who I also love.).  Anyway, I was actually really impressed with Trenet's vocal performance.  His voices is strong and smooth, and I like that he gives 'er towards the end of the song.  I agree with Holly, ugh, that harp.  When the choir came in my immediate reaction was "holy shit, who orchestrated the choir, Puccini??"  It's a little dramatic and heavy handed for the lighter orchestration and content of the song.   It's a nice song, but sorry Charles, other people did it better.  3.5/5

Listen here:

La mer - Charles Trenet