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about

Baudelaire, ah! How much more gorgeous can an ode to woman be? The ultimate homage to la femme! Set to music by Léo Ferré

lyrics

La très-chère était nue, et, connaissant mon cœur,
Elle n'avait gardé que ses bijoux sonores,
Dont le riche attirail lui donnait l'air vainqueur
Qu'ont dans leurs jours heureux les esclaves des Mores.

Quand il jette en dansant son bruit vif et moqueur,
Ce monde rayonnant de métal et de pierre
Me ravit en extase, et j'aime à la fureur
Les choses où le son se mêle à la lumière.

Elle était donc couchée et se laissait aimer,
Et du haut du divan elle souriait d'aise
À mon amour profond et doux comme la mer,
Qui vers elle montait comme vers sa falaise.

Les yeux fixés sur moi comme un tigre dompté,
D'un air vague et rêveur elle essayait des poses,
Et la candeur unie à la lubricité
Donnait un charme neuf à ses métamorphoses ;

Et son bras et sa jambe, et sa cuisse et ses reins,
Polis comme de l'huile, onduleux comme un cygne,
Passaient devant mes yeux clairvoyants et sereins ;
Et son ventre et ses seins, ces grappes de ma vigne,

S'avançaient, plus câlins que les Anges du mal,
Pour troubler le repos où mon âme était mise,
Et pour la déranger du rocher de cristal
Où, calme et solitaire, elle s'était assise.

Je croyais voir unis par un nouveau dessin
Les hanches de l'Antiope au buste d'un imberbe,
Tant sa taille faisait ressortir son bassin.
Sur ce teint fauve et brun le fard était superbe !

– Et la lampe s'étant résignée à mourir,
Comme le foyer seul illuminait la chambre,
Chaque fois qu'il poussait un flamboyant soupir,
Il inondait de sang cette peau couleur d'ambre !

ENGLISH (By William Aggeler, it is almost impossible to achieve the beauty of verse and feelings of the original French, but at least you know where you are!)

The Jewels

My darling was nude, and knowing my heart well, 

She was wearing only her sonorous jewels, 

Whose opulent display made her look triumphant 

Like Moorish concubines on their fortunate days.

When it dances and flings its lively, mocking sound, 

This radiant world of metal and of gems 

Transports me with delight;
I passionately love 

All things in which sound is mingled with light.

She had lain down; and let herself be loved 

From the top of the couch she smiled contentedly 

Upon my love, deep and gentle as the sea, 

Which rose toward her as toward a cliff.
Her eyes fixed upon me, like a tamed tigress, 

With a vague, dreamy air she was trying poses, 

And by blending candor with lechery, 

Her metamorphoses took on a novel charm;
And her arm and her leg, and her thigh and her loins,

Shiny as oil, sinuous as a swan,

Passed in front of my eyes, clear-sighted and serene;

And her belly, her breasts, grapes of my vine,
Advanced, more cajoling than angels of evil, 

To trouble the quiet that had possessed my soul, 

To dislodge her from the crag of crystal, 

Where calm and alone she had taken her seat.
I thought I saw blended in a novel design

Antiope's haunches and the breast of a boy,

Her waist set off so well the fullness of her hips.

On that tawny brown skin the rouge stood out superb!

— And when at last the lamp allowed itself to die,

— Since the fire alone lighted the room,

— Each time that it uttered a flaming sigh,

— It drenched with blood that amber colored skin!

credits

from Le gamin de Paris - Jean Brassard chante Montand, released July 19, 2014
Synthesizer - Alexandre Racine; percussions - Pierre-Emmanuel Beaudoin
Vocals: Jean Brassard

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Jean Brassard New York

Bistro Award winner singer-actor Jean Brassard recently seen in The Fault In Our Stars hails from both Quebec & New York. Brassard provides an exquisite updated tribute to Yves Montand, one of France's most pioneering stars and pillar of French chansons. A first rate tribute to the man as well as select composers and lyricists from Montand's sparklingly eclectic catalogue. New songs to come soon! ... more

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