French Language Blog

Bonsoir mes amis!

This Saturday night, discover with us which songs French people have been listening to the most in the past few days!

Like we always like to say here on The French Blog: 

Pour le meilleur ou pour le pire (For better or worse), here is the May 9th, 2012 Official French Singles Chart Top 50

 The Official French Singles Chart Top 50 (Week 20/2012)

Compiled by Aatos Jalo

* * *

Compare with the charts of la dix-septième semaine (the 17th Week, i.e. two weeks ago):

1	1	gotye and kimbra somebody that i used to know	peak 1	wks on 18
2	2	michel teló ai se eu te pego	peak 1	wks on 20
3	3	sexion d’assaut avant qu’elle parte	peak 3	wks on 15
4	5	tal le sens de la vie	peak 4	wks on 13
5	4	lykke li i follow rivers	peak 4	wks on 19
6	17	carly rae jepsen call me maybe	peak 6	wks on 3
7	6	nicki minaj starships	peak 5	wks on 10
8	12	dj antoine and mad mark 2k12 ma chérie 2k12	peak 8	wks on 6
9	9	orelsan la terre est ronde	peak 9	wks on 18
10	8	rihanna where have you been	peak 8	wks on 7
11	7	shaka ponk my name is stain	peak 7	wks on 17
12	10	lana del rey video games	peak 2	wks on 29
13	11	sexion d’assaut ma direction	peak 10	wks on 8
14	22	gusttavo lima balada	peak 14	wks on 4
15	13	irma i know	peak 2	wks on 18
16	15	katy perry part of me	peak 13	wks on 9
17	19	adele someone like you	peak 1	wks on 54
18	16	flo rida and sia wild ones	peak 11	wks on 19
19	14	shakira je l’aime a mourir	peak 1	wks on 21
20	39	al. hy la foule	peak 20	wks on 2
Al Hy “La Foule” (“The Crowd”) The famous song of Édith Piaf has already been featured here in The French Blog!
21	23	snoop dogg featuring wiz khalifa and bruno mars young, wild & free	peak 6	wks on 26
22	50	lil wayne and bruno mars mirror	peak 22	wks on 16
23	20	david guetta and sia titanium	peak 3	wks on 38
24	18	marlon roudette new age	peak 14	wks on 23
25	32	collectif paris-africa pour l’unicef des ricochets	peak 5	wks on 27
26	41	jennifer lopez and pitbull dance again	peak 26	wks on 4
27	34	kelly clarkson stronger (what doesn’t kill you)	peak 27	wks on 7
28	40	drake and rihanna take care	peak 28	wks on 4
29	25	sexion d’assaut wati house	peak 25	wks on 8
30	29	jason derülo breathing	peak 28	wks on 13
31	28	adele rolling in the deep longest chart sitter	peak 3	wks on 66
32	56	thomas mignot comme un boomerang	peak 32	wks on 2
33	51	selah sue this world	peak 33	wks on 14
34	48	madonna girl gone wild	peak 23	wks on 6
35	59	basto! and yves v cloudbreaker	peak 35	wks on 5
36	36	lmfao sorry for party rocking	peak 16	wks on 10
37	31	lmfao sexy and i know it	peak 3	wks on 32
38	35	adele set fire to the rain	peak 9	wks on 44
39	re-entry	radiohead creep best comeback	peak 39	wks on 6
40	61	fun. and janelle monáe we are young	peak 40	wks on 4
41	new	al. hy wuthering heights highest debut	peak 41	wks on 1
42	43	coldplay and rihanna princess of china	peak 33	wks on 5
43	38	kavinsky nightcall	peak 10	wks on 30
44	46	david guetta the alphabeat	peak 44	wks on 2
45	27	david guetta and nicki minaj turn me on	peak 10	wks on 17
46	30	jessie j domino	peak 11	wks on 17
47	new	matt houston and p-square positif	peak 47	wks on 1
48	84	sean paul hold on	peak 35	wks on 14
49	37	instrumental beats 2012 niggas in paris	peak 37	wks on 2
50	98	tacabro tacatà greatest gainer	peak 50	wks on 3

Who said that la culture française rarely opened itself to cross-border influences and inspirations, and that the French always lived secluded within the stone walls of their village gaulois ? 

With her outstanding song “La Foule” (“the Crowd”), Édith Piaf dispels such prevaling misconceptions about her country, by interpreting a Peruvian Waltz titled “Que nadie sepa mi sufrir” (“Let no one know my suffering”), originally conceived by two Argentinian-born songwriters…

Et quelle interprétation (and what an interpretation) delivered by Madame Édith Piaf!

* * *

First, the original Piaf – “La Foule” (“The Crowd”)…

… then a Guitar reprise (cover) by MattRach, which you may wish to discover!

Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne
Écrasés l’un contre l’autre
Nous ne formons qu’un seul corps

Et le flot sans effort
Nous pousse, enchaînés l’un et l’autre
Et nous laisse tous deux
Épanouis, enivrés, et heureux

Entraînés par la foule qui s’élance
Et qui danse
Une folle farandole
Nos deux mains restent soudées

Et parfois soulevés
Nos deux corps enlacés s’envolent
Et retombent tous deux
Épanouis, enivrés et heureux

Et la joie éclaboussée par son sourire
Me transperce et rejaillit au fond de moi
Mais soudain je pousse un cri parmi les rires
Quand la foule vient l’arracher d’entre mes bras

Emportés par la foule qui nous traîne
Nous entraîne
Nous éloigne l’un de l’autre.
Je lutte et je me débats

Mais le son de sa voix
S’étouffe dans les rires des autres
Et je crie de douleur, de fureur et de rage
Et je pleure

Entraînée par la foule qui s’élance
Et qui danse
Une folle farandole
Je suis emportée au loin

Et je crispe mes poings
Maudissant la foule qui me vole
L’homme qu’elle m’avait donné
Et que je n’ai jamais retrouvé I still can see again the town, festive and in a frenzy
Joyfully suffocating beneath the sun
And I hear amid the music the shouts, the laughters
That burst and resound around meAnd lost amongst these people that push me around
Dazed and confused, I stay there
When all of a sudden I turn around, he moves back
And the crowd threw me into his arms

Carried by the crowd that drags us along
Carries us away
Crushed against each other
We are but one body

And the stream easily
Pushes us, chained to each other
And leaves us bith
Beaming, exhilarated, and happy

Carried away by the crowd that goes on
And that dances
A crazy farandole
Our two hands are firmly joined

And sometimes lifted up
Our two intertwined bodies fly off
And both fall back
Beaming, exhilarated and happy

And the joy splashed by his smile
Pierces me and gushes within me
But suddenly I scream in the midst of the laughters
When the crowd came to pull him off my arms

Carried by the crowd that drags us along
Carries us away
Move us away from each other
I wrestle and struggle

But the sound of his voice
Is muffled by the laughters of the others
And I scream out of pain, fury and rage
And I cry

Carried away by the crowd that goes on
And that dances
A crazy farandole
I am carried far away

And I clench my fists
Cursing the crowd that robs me
Of the man that it gave me
And that I never found again

À la demande populaire (at popular demand), here she is back again for you:

“Non, je ne regrette rien” (“No, I don’t regret anything”)!

Il n’y a pas l’ombre d’un doute là-dessus (there is not a shadow of a doubt about it), this is definitely among the French classic de tous les temps (of all times.)

It was sung times and times again, by de nombreux artistes (numerous artists), and was throughout history mixed up with personalities de toutes les sauces politiques (of all political flavors): From the pro-colonialist right-wing Légionaires who hazarded a putsch against the Général de Gaule in 1961, (among other attemps on the life of the FrenchGeneral), and to whom the singer allegedly had dedictad initially, to the anti-colonialist and anti-Nazi Dutch, hero of the Indonesian war of liberation, “Poncke Princen“…

You take your pick, bien entendu!

This song was also featured in many movies, American and otherwise: In Intolerable Cruelty (starring George Clooney); in La Haine (remember Vincent Cassel,TTC‘s buddy—See “Une “Casse à-la-Cassel” ! (Grand “Théft” à-la-Menthe)“, or “YELLE (à tue-tête) if you like “le FRI€” the TTC way“); in Inception, starring Marion Cotillard, the actrice who performed the incarnation of Édith Piaf in her film biographique called La Vie en Rose; and finally, its lyrics made a “cameo” in the intro of a song by the German metalband Rammstein, in their album titled “Frühling in Paris“, meaning “Printemps à Paris“ (Springtime in Paris)!

* Non, je ne regrette rien ! (Édith Piaf):

Non, je ne regrette rien

C’est payé, balayé, oublié

Je me fous du passé 

Avec mes souvenirs, j’ai allumé le feu

Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs, je n’ai plus besoin d’eux

Balayés, les amours, avec leurs trémolos

Balayées pour toujours, je repars à zéro 

Non, rien de rien

Non, je ne regrette rien

Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Ni le mal, tout ça m’est bien égal

Non, rien de rien

Non, je ne regrette rien 

Car ma vie, car mes joies

Aujourd’hui, ça commence avec toi !No, nothing at all 
I regret nothingNeither the good that was done to me

Nor the bad, all that doesn’t matter to me

No, nothing at all,

I regret nothing

It’s been paid, swept away, forgotten

I don’t care about the past

Onto my memories, I set  fire

My griefs, my pleasures, I don’t need them anymore 

Swept away my loves, and their quavers

Swept them forever, I restart from zero

No, nothing at all

I have no regrets

Neither the good that was done to me
Nor the bad, all that doesn’t matter to me 

No, nothing at all

No, I don’t regret anything

Because my life, because my joys

Today, it starts with you!