| La (as opposed to 'Ma') Baker's signature tune. Madeleine Peyroux (American singer who sings like a French Billie Holiday) has also done a fine version of this. J'ai deux amours - Josephine Baker (1931) There's a timeless appeal to this tale of a woman aware of her own self-destructive dedication to her man. Again, there's a link to Billie Holiday, who really made the song famous as 'My Man', but only in the French text can the vowels in 'homme' and particularly 'femme' be drawn out to such moving effect. Mon homme - Mistinguett (1937) Considered the French Bing Crosby. 'I Bow My Way Out' is a bitter-sweet tale of parting that Sablon used to close his live shows. I can't fail to mention that the Independent's obituary refers to his occasional 'world-weary moustache'. Fantastic. Je tire ma reverence - Jean Sablon (1940) | As a boy he sang alongside Mistinguett, and he was later married to Edith Piaf (below), but this nostalgic love song encapsulates his style - that of an insouciant crooner. Cheveux dans la vent - Jacques Pills (1943) Yet another tale of heartbreak, or rather of a man whose heart has never grown up. It has many of the qualities of a bar-stool ballad, which is probably why it later attracted the attention of Sinatra et al. Clopin-clopant - Pierre Dudan (1948) If you've seen the film La Vie En Rose, then knowing that these words were written by Piaf about her lover, the boxer Marcel Cerdan - and that it was recorded by her shortly after his fatal plane crash - makes this song particularly poignant. The last line appears, just as touchingly, to have been added by Piaf after the event: "God reunites those in love." Hymne a l'amour - Edith Piaf (1950) |
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