04 October 2018

Charles Aznavour — parti mais retrouvé

When I was about 15 years old, like many people back then I was a member of the Columbia Record Club in the U.S. If I remember correctly, through the record club I bought one 33 rpm record album every month for several years. I was learning French in school in those days. In the small town where I lived, there weren't any big record stores where I could find albums from exotic places like France. From the mail-order record club, I could.

I remember three record albums featuring French songs that I bought through the club. One was an album by Diane Warwick, who had performed at the Olympia music hall in Paris with the French singer Sasha Distel. She sang La Vie en Rose and C'est si bon, among other songs (most of them American). Another was an album recorded by The Singing Nun, known also as Sœur Sourire, who was Belgian and sang in French. Her biggest hit was the song called Dominique ('nique, 'nique). The third album I remember was a collection of songs written and performed by Charles Aznavour.

I don't know how I had heard of Charles Aznavour. You might be aware that he died earlier this week, at the age of 94. He did have some fame in the U.S., but I can't imagine anybody in my little North Carolina town listened to his songs or even knew about him. Maybe he appeared on the Ed Sullivan variety show on TV at some point. Anyway, I loved that Aznavour album and and started to get a sense of what French really sounded like by listening to Aznavour's songs and working to understand the words. I'd never been to France at that point.

In 2003, when Walt and I moved from San Francisco to Saint-Aignan, I decided to get rid of all my old LPs. They were heavy and had been played so many times that they sounded kind of scratchy. I hated to throw them into the trash. I had several hundred albums and I still had a turntable, but I'd been buying music on CDs for years by then. For most of my favorite vinyl LPs, I ended up buying new copies on CD. In January 2003, we had a big "garage sale" and I sold (basically gave away) a few of my albums, but most people weren't interested.

That spring, I loaded all the LPs into the trunk of my car and drove to used record stores all around the city to see if anybody would want them. I found out that the records I owned had been were not considered rare or unusual. Anybody who was a vinyl album enthusiast already had them. The record stores weren't interested. I didn't want to sell the albums, necessarily — I just didn't want to throw them into the garbage can. To tell you the truth, I don't remember what I finally did with them. I do remember that I sold the turntable to a kid who was thrilled to have it.


Here's an example of Aznavour's singing from YouTube

One of the albums I was never able to find on CD was Charles Aznavour's. Ever since I let go of his record, I've regretted it. I don't exactly remember, but I might have thought that I'd surely be able to find it on CD once I got to France. For years, I bought Charles Aznavour CDs that had included some or even most of the songs I remembered. The problem was, the songs were always different arrangements of the old songs. They didn't sound right. By the way, I never managed to see a live performance by Aznavour.

Aznavour recorded dozens and dozens of albums over the course of his long career. He was not immediately successful in France back when he started performing and recording in the 1950s and '60s, so I suppose he re-did songs to try to make them more appealing. They weren't more appealing to me, however. I liked the arrangements, the tempo, the sound of Aznavour's voice, and the phrasings on the songs I had listened to since about 1964. I didn't want "new and improved" versions. I finally gave up hope of ever finding them again.

And then when his death was announced on Monday, I had one more look at Amazon's French web site to see what albums of his were available. And there it was! At least I felt sure it was the same album, even though I didn't recognize the cover art. All the old songs — I could listen to them on the Amazon site — sounded right. I could download them all — the whole album — for the princely sum of 2.59 euros. Wow. I of course downloaded it immediately. In five minutes' time, I had all songs on my hard disk and I quickly integrated them into our iTunes music database. And I listened to them. You can do the same here: Et Voici.......Aznavour.

16 comments:

  1. Since I was a classical music nut, I have but a faint recollection of Aznavour's songs, even though the sound of his voice is still in my ear. At the time my favorite non classical male singers were Charles Trenet, Georges Brassens, Jacques Brel, Léo Ferré, and for female singers, Édith Piaf, Juliette Greco, Anne Sylvestre. I probably forget a few others who really didn't make a stronger impression on me. He was just a few months older than me! RIP

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  2. Brassens wrote great songs (poems, really) but he wasn't much of a singer. Don't forget Patachou, who introduced Brassens to the public in Paris. She had a very rich and clear voice. Aznavour wrote or co-wrote some 1,000 songs in his life, I read. He recorded 1,200 songs in 8 languages, they say. He also wrote the first popular song in France about a gay man without being derisive or condemning. It's called Comme ils disent.

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    1. Nosing around on the internet, I just learned that Aznavour wrote the song Plus bleu que tes yeux, which I've always enjoyed listening to Patachou sing. Piaf and Aznavour also recorded it. I think he wrote it for Piaf. Aznavour also wrote Rien de rien for her. Here's a page with an interesting bio of Aznavour in French.

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    2. I agree this bio in French is much more interesting than the Aznavour page on Wikipedia.

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  3. Well done, Ken. After all, it's great to cherish beautiful memories. Yesterday I found myself some old LP's back which I'm enjoying right now; merci beaucoup, Charles!

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    1. One of Aznavour's songs that sends a kind of thrill up my spine is Quand tu vas revenir (When you come back to me...), which is a kind of athem anthem. It's on the album I link to. It starts:

      Quand tu vas revenir
      Tout va refleurir
      Et je vais renaître

      Quand au bout du chemin
      Me tendant les mains
      Tu vas apparaître

      Moi je vais courir, courir
      Sur la route
      Me jeter dans tes bras
      Sur la route

      Me serrer contre toi
      Et sans doute
      Rire et pleurer de joie...

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  4. My husband lived in Paris for a while and all these years later I am still enjoying his Aznavour and Piaf albums .. their voices are one of a kind .. thank god for recordings !

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    1. Agreed about recordings. I don't listen to music as much as I used to — it makes me kind of sad because it reminds me of my well-spent youth.

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  5. "the Columbia Record Club" Wow; now that's ancient history.
    As to Aznavour, we have a CD of his, which I believe we picked up in France. I'll have to dig it out.

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    1. His funeral and a national day of recognition is going on this morning at Les Invalides in Paris, with Macron in attendance.

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  6. I was in high school in Poland in the 1960s. Aznavour, Adamo - they were all immensely popular. And in a way, better understood than the Beatles or American pop music. There wasn't a party where we didn't dance to Adamo's Mes Mains Sur Tes Haunches!

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    1. I like Adamo too. He has a friend, another Belgian, who lives in our village. Adamo visits once in a while, but I haven't met him yet. One Saturday morning back in the 1980s, I happened to see him out taking a walk on the Champs-Elysées, with a man I assume was his bodyguard. I didn't try to talk to him.

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  7. I had the Singing Nun albun. We listened to it quite a bit!

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    1. Somehow that song became a minor hit in the U.S.

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  8. That Columbia Record club was so much fun. Getting rid of albums, not so much fun! I'm glad you found the songs you wanted- they will bring back those long ago days.

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    1. All true. Those were the arrangements, tempos, and phrasings that I remembered and liked. There are still LP albums that I had that I've never been able to replace with CD or MP3 versions.

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