La Mer
Posted in Chanson on Mar 9th, 2009 3 Comments »
I have a collection of old 78rpm records. Mainly of jazz and dance music from the 1930s. But included are one or two of the more popular French songs, that ended up being played regularly on Two Way Family Favourites, a BBC record request programme which was very popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
This is Charles Trenet singing his own song “La Mer”, which he composed on toilet paper on a long train journey. Many other singers, in England and America (including Frank Sinatra) have sung and recorded “La Mer” in its English version “Beyond the Sea”. But none compares with Trenet’s version. Here are the opening words of the song.
La mer qu’on voit danser le long des golfes clairs a des reflets d’argent
La mer des reflets changeants sous la pluie
The chanson continues in this vein for four verses, all much the same. In the last verse, while Trenet is still declaiming how the sea dances along the bay like a love song and gently caresses his heart, the massed female choirs of Montmartre rise up like a school of matronly mermaids behind him, singing along with him in marching tempo at the tops of their voices. It is absolutely hilarious. No other version can begin to match it for its wonderful comic effect.
The French, of course, never notice it.
