Thursday, September 04, 2008






I had been planning to blog about school today, but I can't resist changing my plan, as I just found out some great news: my absolute favorite singer is giving a concert in Geneva in November. I don't know if I'll be able to go, but I have hopes...
I've been a Francis Cabrel fan ever since I heard the song "Petite Sirene" on the radio back in 1990. Not only are the songs he writes wonderful, he's also a genuinely nice guy who mostly avoids the spotlight , hasn't divorced his wife and writes really poetic songs.
But his most absolutely beautiful song is the one I've included here. He wrote it for his two daughters and it's very, very moving. In English, the title translates as "I Have Loved You, I Love You, I Will Love You." (It works out more elegantly in French). Anyway, here is my very rough translation of the words. I took a few liberties to get the real meaning across. (For those who speak French, it's easy to find the lyrics online.)

My child, you lie bare on the pebbles,

the wind breezing through your undone hair,

like springtime in my path or a diamond fallen out of the treasure box.

Only the Light itself could erase the secret marks of my fingertips on your wrists.

I have loved you, I still love you and I always will love you.

(chorus)And regardless of what you do, there is Love wherever you look -

in the smallest recesses of space and the briefest dreams where you linger.

Love - as if it rained down, bare onto the pebbles.

The heaven claims to know you,

And it's so lovely that it must surely be true.

Though it never comes near,

I've seen it captured within your net.

The world is full of regrets, full of unfulfilled promises,

but you are the only one for which I was created

I loved you, I still love you and always will.

(chorus)

We will take flight from the same place,

with same reflections in our eyes.

In this life and in the one after

you will remain my only project.

I will go to hang your portrait on all the ceilings of every palace,

and all the walls that I am able to find.

Beneath them all I will write that only the Light itself could...

And my fingertips on your wrists

I have loved you, I still love you and I will always love you
. .

So, I adore Cabrel and Natasha St Pier. But what's in the cd holder in my car? Um...Jordin Sparks, Blake Lewis, Jonas Brothers, and the like. Yes, my three daughters rule the cd player and I am helpless before them. Even poor Severin has been forced to learn to sing along with Hannah Montana songs...



5 comments:

La Framéricaine said...

Thank you for posting the song by Francis Cabrel. I was struggling to complete a post on my husband's adolescent grandchildren and needed your help without knowing it.

I have linked your blog in several places in the post and on my blogroll to credit your inspiration for my photo post.

Amitiés,

Ali Ambrosio said...

The lyrics about 'I have loved you I will always love you' are eerily similar to a dream I had a couple weeks back about a friend who passed away...

Hope life in France is treating you and yours well!

leena miller said...

i love love love Cabrel, je t'aimais always, without fail, gives me a lump in the throat. hope you get to go to the concert!!!

Anonymous said...

I counter with this song, which I choose to think of as a paean to my grown children:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlfPqDxESQQ

Hannah Montana is in my CD player too, and my youngest daughter is 6 years older than your oldest.

Beth said...

Ha! Brilliant song for those waiting patiently for the nest to finally empty out!

Leena-I don't know about the Cabrel concert...I haven't found anyone to go with and am not sure I want to drive to go alone. And it's at Lyon, not Geneva as I'd thought- so it's a lot farther...