Et maintenants, nous ecoutons un chanson francais avec <La vie en rose> par Edith Piaf. I don't think there is a song more identifiable with the city of Paris than this song. Piaf herself wrote the lyrics, the melody being handled by "Louiguy" (real name Louis Gugliemi), written in 1945 and recorded by Piaf in 1946. Her friends told her it was a bad choice for her signature song, but audiences disagreed, making it a huge hit. La vie en rose - which translates to "a life through rose-coloured glass" is seen to reflect Piaf's tumultuous life and became her signature song, along with it's B side <Non, je ne regrette rien>. The song has been covered by, well, everyone, most notably Louis Armstrong and Grace Jones.
Now for a bit about Piaf's life. Ouf. Her life was a French soap opera, starting with her being born Edith Gassion (Piaf was a stage name, meaning 'sparrow') to a disinterested teen mom and sent to live with her grandmother in a bordello where she was raised by the prostitutes. At age 14 Piaf began singing on street corners and by age 17 met and fell in love with a man who would become the father of her child that year. Because history repeats itself, Piaf gave birth at 17 to a baby girl, but Piaf was disinterested in raising a child, so that child was neglected and died at age 2 from meninghitis. Piaf was very unlucky with men as well - the man who discovered her and brought her off the streets and onto the stage was murdered (turns out he was mobbed up) and the love of her life, a married boxer died in a plane crash flying out to see her. She married twice and was involved in a car accident where she suffered a broken arm and two broken ribs, which then turned into a morphine and alcohol addiction. In October of 1963 at age 47 Piaf succombed to liver cancer after drifting in and out of consciousness for several months, her last words being, "Every damn thing you do in this life, you have to pay for.". The Catholic Church refused her a funeral mass due to her questionable lifestyle but had a change of heart in 2013 where she was given a proper mass.
Now the reviews:
Holly:
La vie en rose (Edith Piaf): This song just screams France and all the things that I loved about living there! Edith’s voice is immediately recognizable and, though dated, is just so powerful. Somehow that weird fast vibrato seems to fit her just perfectly. The orchestration teeters right on the verge of being cheesy, but stays on the right side of that line, and the melody is just awesome. I love this song. My favourite part is right at the end with Piaf is just singing ‘lalala’ over the melody. 5/5
Kelly:
Oh man, this song is so French. A lot of people I've talked to didn't like Paris, but I loved it, and when I close my eyes and listen to this song, I'm walking along the Seine with my sister, checking out the book stalls, watching the women and their fashion, sipping coffee in a cafe. One thing I really like about Piaf (and this song) is that maybe aesthetically her voice isn't great, but it is instantly recognizable. There's no mistaking with her fast "sheep" vibrato and her nasal delivery that the singer in question is, in fact, La Piaf. The melody of this song will stick in your head forever, and that's just fine with me. 5/5
Listen here:
http://youtu.be/0g4NiHef4Ks
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