I am still pretty much in “Break Week” mode and just back from La Belle France, so this post may not seem as well researched as some others have been. Anyway, as I was riding a train from Versailles to Paris last week, a short, white-haired gentleman walked through the cars with an accordion and tip jar playing “La Vie en Rose” for the tourists. “Ah,” I thought, “what could be better for a Song of the Week than the signature song of the renowned French chanteuse, Edith Piaf?”
Since then, my mind has been changed. “La Vie en Rose” was written 70 years ago, and Piaf has been dead for more than 50 years. The song was written at about the same time as the German occupation of Paris was ending. It is a song about rediscovered love and symbolized the hope and excitement of a nation that had regained its independence and identity.
Times are different now. The problems with the Nazis and World War II still impact some aspects of French thought, but they are mostly seen as just a “blip” in thousands of years of French history.
The song, itself, is also dated. The singer is able to see the world “through rose colored glasses,” with her own hope and excitement because she is in the arms of a man whom she loves, and whom she believes is a being superior to herself. When the song was published, Piaf was required to share composing credits with a man (Louis Guglielmi) because she did not have the qualifications necessary to copyright the work under the strict rules in force at the time. The sea change in the role of women in today’s society reinforces the realization that times are just different now.*
So, I have chosen a song that I heard several times while I was in France – making it contemporary. It is called “Mon Petit Pays” by Fréro Delavega.
Fréro Delavega is two guys named Jérémy Fréro and Flo Delavega who got together in 2014 to audition for the French version of the television musical competition, The Voice. It seems they were very popular, but were eliminated in the quarter final round in April of that year. They signed a recording contract and quickly released an album in July that became the number one album in the country the first week it was out.
“Mon Petit Pays” was on that album, and it was released as a single in October of 2014. The album contained a few original songs and several cover versions of a weird assortment of other people’s songs. I have been unable to determine who wrote “Mon Petit Pays.”
It is easy to see why the song is popular. It has a very “catchy” tune, is melodic and the lyrics are intriguing, if ambiguous. The title may be translated as “My Small Country.” The singer tells of being away from “you” and dreaming about “you” and learning what it is like to be “far from home.” I am not certain whether the song is really being sung to and about the singer’s homeland,or whether the “country” is a metaphor for a girlfriend or family or neighborhood or dog. It could be any of those things. I have included a rough translation of the lyrics at the end of this article; but since I don’t know what was originally intended, I think I have only added to the ambiguity.
I am going to go with assumption that it really is a song to the homeland; and it is nice (for me) to be back.