Lyr Req: Le Vieux Piano (Piaf)

Subject: Lyrics: Le Vieux Piano (The Old Piano) Piaf
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 02:30 PM

Thanks, Monique.    I could get the basic idea but without knowing some of these specific words & idioms (which are not that easy to find in dictionaries) it was hard to come up with a really good translation.

I had copied the mondegreen "argentier" in the French lyrics above.   The correct lyric is "Chez Bianco, l'Argentin."   


Here's what I've come up with, for now, putting your clarifications (and the changes you suggested in PM) together with what I had before:

THE OLD PIANO
Music: Claude Léveillée; Lyrics: Claude Léveillée / Henri Contet

 1960

(Spoken:)
A piano has died and that woman loved it
When she was young, when she would come and drown her sorrows*
(Sung:)
by rubbing up against the nostalgic piano.


How beautiful was that piano! - good piano,
the piano of good friends in their day,
at Bianco's, the Argentinian, around three o'clock in the morning,
When she drank her pint of forgetfulness.
And alone now, she thinks about the life of this old dead piano.

She sees, she hears the masses from its twenty years spilling out of a chord.
At the bar, when she drinks, she is truly recalling hands on the white ivory.
Bianco's hands, hands that give her the gift of a bit of the old times.
But in his jeans, a ghost in blue jeans,
a second one and then twenty who talk as friends
About an old-fashioned bistro, about an old-fashioned piano.
She cried: "Me, I know! I know!"

She's going tell the story that's locked up in the old dead piano,
And this is the adventure that beats time louder and stronger.

In the light of life, the hands of friends,
The eyes of tomorrow, life before us,
Love, and then everything;
And everything and nothing more.
They have all died in the middle of a chord.
They died in Ravel, in a funny rainbow.
A soldier has come in, a soldier has come in ...

(Spoken:)
A piano has died and she loved it when she was young,
when she would come and drown her sorrows
(Sung:)
by rubbing up against the nostalgic piano.

-----
*get her soul drunk with deep sadness

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Le Vieux Piano (Piaf)
From: Monique
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 06:46 AM

I pm'ed you Genie.
Now: quand elle venait se saoûler l' dedans de pathétique =lit. when she would come to get her "inside/within/inner self/soul" drunk with pathos/deep sadness/despair...
An argentier is a guy who deals with money -could be a treasury ministre/secretary but also a money seller or the like
un demi is a half pint of beer then un demi d'oubli is a half pint of beer meant to bring her forgetfulness
un accord here is a chord (both times)
the ghosts converse as friends about the bistrot and the piano
l'histoire enfermée dans le piano means the story shut/locked up within the piano

Subject: Lyrics: Le Vieux Piano (The Old Piano) Piaf
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 12:04 AM

Here is the closest translation I've been able to piece together.   Maybe Monique or someone else who's fluent in French can come up with a better translation in some parts (where I'm not sure of the idioms).

THE OLD PIANO
Music: Claude Léveillée; Lyrics: Claude Léveillée / Henri Contet

 1960

A piano has died and she (this woman) loved him (it)
When she was young, when she would come and get drunk in her sadness
By rubbing the nostalgic piano.

It was beautiful, the piano, good piano,
old piano buddies, in the time of friends,
at the Argentine Bianco around three o'clock in the morning
When she drank herself halfway to forgetfulness.

And alone now, she thinks of the life of this old dead piano.
She sees, she hears masses of his twenty years falling to an accord.

At the bar, when she drinks, it's true that she is remembering hands on the white ivory.
Bianco's hands, hands that made a gift of a bit of old times.

But in his jeans, a ghost in blue jeans
A second and then twenty
Friends who converse
From an old-fashioned bistro on the old-fashioned piano.
She shouted: "Me, I know! I know!"


She is going tell the completed story of the old dead piano
And this is the adventure which beats the time stronger and stronger.

In the light of life, the hands of friends,
The eyes of tomorrow,
Life before us, love, and then everything
And all and nothing more.

They are all dead in the middle of an accord.
They died in Ravel, in an odd rainbow in the sky. A soldier has come in, a soldier has come in ...

A piano has died, and she loved him,
When she was young and she came to get drunk in her sadness
By touching the nostalgic piano.



---

I'll admit that in some places the 'translations' I've found or come up with don't make a lot of sense, and I'm not sure how to translate some of the French phrases.

Subject: Lyr Add: LE VIEUX PIANO (Contet, Léveillée)
From: Genie
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 10:47 PM

Here are the words I found at ABC de la Chanson Francophone.
Unfortunately, the song is too new for the program I had intended to use it for (assuming the 1960 composition date is correct).

Thanks again for the site, Mick.

I see now, looking over my first post, recalling what I thought Piaf was singing, and comparing both with these lyrics, that between my typos, fuzzy memory, and some just plain misheard lyrics (How do you say "mondegreen" in French?), there were a lot of mistakes on my part.

Genie

Le vieux piano

Paroles: Henri Contet. Musique: Claude Léveillée   1960

 

Un piano est mort
Et celle-là l'aimait...
Quand elle était jeune
et quand elle venait se saoûler l' dedans de pathétique
En se frottant au piano nostalgique,

Qu'il était beau, le piano, bon piano,
vieux piano des copains.
A l'époque des copains,
Chez Bianco l'argentier,
Vers trois heures du matin
Quand elle buvait son demi d'oubli...
Et seule, maintenant,
Elle pense au vivant
De ce vieux piano mort.

Elle voit, elle entend
Les messes de ses vingt ans
Tomber d'un accord...
Au bar, quand elle boit,
C'est vrai qu'elle revoit
Des mains sur l'ivoire blanc,
Les mains de Bianco,
Des mains qui lui font cadeau
D'un peu du vieux temps
Mais dans son jean,
Un fantôme en blue jean,
Un deuxième et puis vingt
Qui discutent en copains
D'un bistrot démodé
D'un piano démodé.
Elle a crié : "Moi je sais ! Moi je sais !"

Elle va raconter
L'histoire enfermée
Dans le vieux piano mort
Et c'est l'aventure
Qui bat la mesure
De plus en plus fort.

Au clair de la vie,
Les mains des amis,
Les yeux des lendemains,
La vie devant nous,
L'amour, et puis tout
Et tout, et plus rien...
Ils sont tous morts
Au milieu d'un accord.
Ils sont morts dans Ravel,
Dans un drôle d'arc-en-ciel.
Un soldat est entré...
Un soldat est entré...
Un piano est mort, et celle-là l'aimait,
Quand elle était jeune
et quand elle venait se saoûler l' dedans de pathétique
En se frottant au piano nostalgique...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Le Vieu Piano (Piaf)
From: Genie
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 10:34 PM

Merci, Mick
It's been decades since my 2 years of college French, but I thought "vieux" was plural (like "beaux," as opposed to "beau"). Anyway, not being sure, I had googled it both ways, including searching several Piaf lyrics sites, but je n'lai pas trouvez.

I'll try your link and hope for better results.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Le Vieu Piano (Piaf)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 06:44 AM

You can find the words at ABC de la Chanson Francophone. Type vieux piano in the box marked Recherche rapide and press the button marked Titres and you will get a link to the Piaf words. (Note that the correct spelling is vieux)

Mick

Subject: Lyr Req: Le Vieu Piano (Piaf)
From: Genie
Date: 13 Oct 05 - 01:50 AM

Looking for the lyrics to Edith Piaf's song "Le Vieu Piano" (The Old Piano).

Lycos and yahoo don't even seem to understand that it's singular (vieu), not plural (vieux), and neither has a link to the lyrics.

If anyone has them and can post them, I would really appreciate it.

Here's what I recall, from memory:

"Un piano est mort.
Ça, c'est la lament.
Quand il etait jeune,
Quand il etait beau.
....


Elle va rencontrer l'histoire r'enfewrme
De le vieu piano mort.
...


Then all I can recall are a few scattered words.

M'aidez, s'il vous plaît?

Genie