{"id":30468,"date":"2018-07-02T19:42:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T17:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=30468"},"modified":"2018-07-02T19:42:36","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T17:42:36","slug":"french-music-guy-bearts-leau-vive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/french-music-guy-bearts-leau-vive\/","title":{"rendered":"French Music: Guy B\u00e9art’s “L’Eau vive”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, my house has been afflicted by\u00a0un ver d’oreille.\u00a0<\/em>The literally definition of this term is an “earworm.” But, don’t worry\u2014this post isn’t about those nasty little insects. Rather, in French,\u00a0un ver d’oreille\u00a0<\/em>is a catchy tune that you just can’t get out of your head.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Pixabay.<\/p><\/div>\n

It began with my mother-in-law (ma belle m\u00e8re<\/em>) singing a song to my son to put him to sleep. She said it was one of her mother’s favorite songs, and that she would sing it to her as a child. It has the melody of a child’s lullaby, but it is a really lovely and simple tune that was written by Guy B\u00e9art in 1958 for a French film of the same name\u2014L’Eau vive<\/em>. Every time my mother-in-law would finish singing, my son would shout “Encore! Encore!<\/em>” (Again! Again!). And, now, my house is filled with the tune\u2014we hum it, sing it outright, and translate the lyrics into English.<\/p>\n

Guy B\u00e9art is one of the best-known French auteurs-compositeurs-interpr\u00e8tes\u00a0<\/em>(singer-songwriters). “L’Eau vive”<\/em> might be one of his most famous songs, and it is considered a classic of the French chanson style, but he had many more successes including “L’Agent double<\/em>” (“The Double Agent”) and “L’Ane<\/em>” (“The Donkey”). The shy B\u00e9art famously disagreed with Serge Gainsbourg over the status of songwriting in the arts\u2014with Gainsbourg calling it\u00a0un art mineur\u00a0<\/em>(“a minor art”), while B\u00e9art believed in the power and artistic integrity of songwriting. As\u00a0Le Figaro<\/em> wrote for his obituary in 2015, “Il \u00e9tait certainement le grand chanteur fran\u00e7ais le plus sous-estim\u00e9 de tous<\/em>.” (“He was certainly the greatest underestimated French singer.”) Today, B\u00e9art is known for his most famous song\u00a0L’Eau vive<\/em>, as well as for being the father of French actress Emmanuelle B\u00e9art.<\/p>\n

You can listen to the song and read the French lyrics (and their translation) below. Maybe it will become your\u00a0ver d’oreille<\/em>, too!<\/p>\n