Few French songs are more recognizable than Édith Piaf’s La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink/Rose-tinted Life). Since its release in 1947 the song has been referenced in a wide range of movies, TV shows and books. La Vie en Rose has been translated into a number of languages and covered by no less than 86 artists ranging from Louis Armstrong and The Three Tenors to Iggy Pop and Jack Nicholson. Its reputation as one of the greatest love songs ever written was cemented in 2007 with the release of the biographical film “La Vie en Rose” starring French actress Marion Cotillard playing Piaf (originally titled La Môme in France).

La Vie en Rose became Piaf’s signature song and would appear on most of her albums throughout her career. Piaf succumbed to liver cancer in 1963 at the age of forty-seven. She is buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

 

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens

Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche

Voilà le portrait sans retouche

De l’homme auquel j’appartiens

Quand il me prend dans ses bras

Il me parle tout bas

Je vois la vie en rose

Il me dit des mots d’amour

Des mots de tous les jours

Et ça me fait quelque chose

Il est entré dans mon coeur

Une part de bonheur

Dont je connais la cause

C’est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie

Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie

Et dès que je l’aperçois

Alors je sens en moi

Mon coeur qui bat

Des nuits d’amour à plus finir

Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place

Des ennuis, des chagrins s’effacent

Heureux, heureux à en mourir

Quand il me prend dans ses bras

Il me parle tout bas

Je vois la vie en rose

Il me dit des mots d’amour

Des mots de tous les jours

Et ça me fait quelque chose

Il est entré dans mon coeur

Une part de bonheur

Dont je connais la cause

C’est toi pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie

Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie

Et dès que je l’aperçois

Alors je sens en moi

Mon coeur qui bat

 

Eyes that lower mine,

A smile that is lost on his lips,

That’s the unembellished portrait

Of the man to whom I belong

When he takes me in his arms

He speaks to me softly,

I see life as if it were rose-tinted

He whispers words to declare to me his love

Words of the everyday

And that does something to me

He has entered into my heart

A piece of happiness

The cause of which I know

It’s him for me, me for him in life

He said that to me, swore to me “forever”

And as soon as I see him

So I feel in me

My heart that beats

May the nights on which we make love never end

A great joy that takes its place

The trouble, the grief are erased

Content, content to die of it

When he takes me in his arms

He speaks to me softly,

I see life as if it were rose-tinted

He whispers words to declare to me his love

Words of the everyday

And that does something to me

He has entered into my heart

A piece of happiness

The cause of which I know

It’s him for me, me for him in life

He said that to me, swore to me forever

And as soon as I see him

So do I feel in me

My heart that beats