After yesterday's Lilac Wine by three great artists, a flower theme continuation with two more, written by the French star in 1945, released in 1947, and a classy interpretation the Jamaican in 1977. There were many subsequent renditions, including by Louis Armstrong, Tony Martin, Bing Crosby and Donna Summer, but these versions in the French original are arguably the best. In the shadow of the Second World War, much of 1940s songwriting was all about escapism, but while this all about finding true love and was written when sitting in a café on the Champs Elyseé (where else?) the passion and pathos in Piaf captured the romantic but thorniness of those difficult times, even just after the war. It also has a fabulous melody.
Jones's version from her debut album, Portfolio, comes with a bossa nova style, but somehow that doesn't cheapen it, but gives it new energy, and the equally passionate singer, who adopted France as a natural home for much of career, makes it her own. Lyrics are below, with an approximate English translation.
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche
Voilà le portrait sans retouches
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 cœur
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 cœur 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 cœur
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause
C'est toi pour moi, moi pour toi dans la vie
Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie
Et dès que je t'aperçois
Alors je sens dans moi
Mon cœur qui bat
La la, la la, la la
La la, la la, ah la
La la la la.
Eyes that make me lower my own
A laugh that is lost on his lips –
That is the portrait not retouched
Of the man to whom I belong
When he takes me into his arms
He speaks to me softly
And I see life through rose-colored glasses
He speaks words of love to me
They are every day words
And they do something to me
He has entered into my heart
A bit of happiness
That I know the cause of
It’s only him for me
And me for him, for life
He told me, he swore to me, for life
As soon as I notice him
I feel inside me
My heart beating
Endless nights of love
Bring great happiness
The pain and bothers fade away
Happy, so happy I could die
When he takes me into his arms
He speaks to me softly
And I see life through rose-colored glasses
He speaks words of love to me
They are every day words
And they do something to me
He has entered into my heart
A bit of happiness
That I know the cause of
It’s only him for me
And me for him, for life
He told me, he swore to me, for life
As soon as I notice him
I feel inside me
My heart beating.
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