C’est la vie c’est l’amour (MS2011-3222-001)

C’est la vie c’est l’amour (MS2011-3222-001)

French language song text from VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3222-001 Eva Lacourse Songbook. Pp. 3-6.

Scope and Content Note:

Strophic song; three verses, two refrains (first refrain follows first verse; second refrain follows third verse).

French composer Louis Billaut and French lyricist Raoul Le Peltier co-authored this song under the title “C’est la vie...c’est l’amour.” The exact date of composition is unknown; the earliest known printed setting is a 1910 sheet music setting printed in Paris by Delormel et cie with a reference to Henri Dickson (aka Elias Cohen), a popular crooner of the era. Other printings followed (e.g., this 1911 printing in Paris by Delormel et cie): http://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc102590s/ca59796879073765; around 1915 it appeared in a monthly Parisian sheet music publication called La musique pour tous (14e année, no. 109). Léonce Junca (aka Junka), a native of Bordeaux , Dickson's successor, recorded this song on the Pathé label some time in the 1910s: http://www.phonobase.org/7820.html .

Around 1926, Québec lyric baritone singer, music teacher, and retailer Joseph Fournier de Belleval (1892-1945) recorded this song in a New York City studio (Issue no.: 4008-F; matrix no.: 89776), one of over 100 such songs which he recorded for the Columbia label between 1921 and 1929. For more information about Belleval, see the Library and Archives Canada website: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/028011-1058-e.html.

The only other known manuscript transcription of this song appears in a hand-illustrated manuscript song book titled “Mes soirées au régiment,” created by Alphonse Bourgeois (1891-1970) between 1912 and 1914. The song, titled “C’est la vie, c’est l’amour,” is followed by an illustration with a handwritten date of 4 December 1913. Born in Genevreuille, France, Bourgeois was an agricultural clerk when he was conscripted in 1911 into the French Army 109th RI de Chaumaunt. He served in WWI until his demobilization in 1919. His songbook is illustrated with handmade drawings and includes 72 bawdy regimental songs; manuscript song entries from March 1914 forward are of a more patriotic nature. The catalog reference is FRAD077-025, Cahier de chansons d'Alphonse Bourgeois. SOURCE: http://embed.europeana1914-1918.eu/en/contributions/7970#prettyPhoto SONG: https://transcribathon.com/en/documents/id-7970/item-96255/

A lovely and innocent young Parisian woman welcomes men’s flirtations, believing (as the first refrain states) that love may bring both joy and sorrow but is worth the risk. She has a three-month love affair with a student which leaves her embittered and mistrustful (as stated in the final refrain, which reframes the sentiments of the first refrain).

VFC2006-0002 Beaudoin Family Collection. MS2011-3222 Eva Lacourse Songbook. Vermont Folklife Center Archive, Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America.

MS2011-3222-001

C’est la vie c’est l’amour

Vetu dun rien du tout

Billaut, Louis

Le Peltier, Raoul

1
Vetu d’un rien du tout
Mais toujour avec gout
Les cheveux en aureole
Jolie fleur d’atelier
Q’un rien peu etialer
Elle allais dans le paris frivole
Et d’un air malicient
Elle acceuillais tout ceux
Qui voulais lui conte Fleurette
Mais en elle parfois
S’elevait une voix
Qui lui disait
Mefie toi fillette

Refrain
Si ton Coeur s’eveille un jour
A la vie a l’amour
Tu verra dans la douleur
chavire ton Bonheur
puis un autre espoir naitra
ton chagrin s’en ira
ne craind rien en tout cas
l’amour tu verra
on en meurt pas

2
Or un jour l’amour vint
Et mensonge divin
Tout ceda devant son mirage
Et fut un eduant
Qui l’aima simplement
Un printemp trois mois pas davantage
Et par un soir brumeux
Vers les quais tenbreux
Vers la seine attirante et somber
Elle allais tristement
Lorque le flot mouvant lui semblais
Murmurer dans l’ombre
Meme refrain

3
Lion du flot qui gemit
Vers la claret qui luit
Vers paris qui gueri console
Elle a fuit le passer
Et le Coeur apaise
Elle s’est dit : oublions j’etais folle
Maintenant l’air soupconneux
Elle chasse les amoureux
D’une voix meprisante et breve
Car en elle a present
Les mensonges d’antan
Pour toujour on tue le reve
Refrain

Quand le Coeur se brise un jour
C’est la vie, c’est l’amour
On paye cher un court bonheur
De chagrin, de douleur
Et des voiles de l’oublie
Cache mal sur leur plie
L’amertune des pleurs
Lointaine douleur
Le Coeur en meure

Fin

English summary: A lovely and innocent young Parisian woman welcomes men’s flirtations, believing (as the first refrain states) that love may bring both joy and sorrow but is worth the risk. She has a three-month love affair with a student which leaves her embittered and mistrustful (as stated in the final refrain, which reframes the sentiments of the first refrain).