Céline Dion at the Eiffel Tower
Celine Dion stopped the world in its tracks with her rendition of “Hymne à l’amour” at the conclusion of the Paris Olympics' 4-hour Opening Ceremony in Paris the evening of Friday, June 26, 2024. The first floor of the Eiffel Tower served as a fitting pedestal for the coronation of the reigning queen of French song. It was a rare public performance by Céline since her diagnosis in 2022 with the life-threatening neurological disease of “stiff-body syndrome.”
Louvre pyramid and Olympic torch aloft
The ceremony itself was the spectacular brainchild of artistic director Thomas Jolly, whose earlier work included the revival production of the French rock opera “Starmania,” with music written by Michel Berger and Luc Plamondon. The ceremony’s Parade of Nations occurred, not inside a stadium like every other opening ceremony, but on a flotilla of 100 boats along a 3.7 mile stretch of the Seine river in Paris. The boats threaded their way past riverside music and dance performances staged in 12 historic "tableaux" at historic landmarks in celebration of salient moments and themes in French history. Statues of prominent historical characters lined the riverbanks. In effect, the entire city of Paris became a theatrical "stage" for an expansive rendition of French history in music and dance.
The song’s lyrics were written and performed in 1950 by Edith Piaf with music by Piaf’s lifelong collaborator, composer Marguerite Monnot. Piaf wrote the song in September 1949 to her lover Marcel Cerdan, an Algerian-born French boxer and (briefly) world middleweight champion until June 1949 when he dislocated his right arm in the first round and was defeated by "Raging Bull" Jake LaMotta. Cerdan died in October that year in an Air France plane crash in the Azores while traveling from Paris to New York to visit Piaff and prepare a rematch with LaMotta. Claude LeLouche depicted their relationship in a 1983 film, Edith and Marcel.
The song unfolds in four stanzas and one final, concluding line. The first and fourth stanzas have 8 lines each, and the two intervening refrains are 6 lines each. The first and fourth stanzas raise hypothetical circumstances while the second and third stanzas draw conclusions. The rhyming scheme of stanzas one and four is AABCDDBB while stanzas two and three are AABDDA.
The song unfolds in four stanzas and one final, concluding line. The first and fourth stanzas have 8 lines each, and the two intervening refrains are 6 lines each. The first and fourth stanzas raise hypothetical circumstances while the second and third stanzas draw conclusions. The rhyming scheme of stanzas one and four is AABCDDBB while stanzas two and three are AABDDA.
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Le ciel bleu sur nous peut s'effondrer
Et la Terre peut bien s'écrouler Peu m'importe si tu m'aimes Je me fous du monde entier Tant qu'l'amour innondera mes matins Tant qu'mon corps frémira sous tes mains Peu m'importe les problèmes Mon amour, puisque tu m'aimes J'irais jusqu'au bout du monde Je me ferais teindre en blonde Si tu me le demandais J'irais décrocher la Lune J'irais voler la fortune Si tu me le demandais Je renierais ma patrie Je renierais mes amis Si tu me le demandais On peut bien rire de moi Je ferais n'importe quoi Si tu me le demandais Si un jour, la vie t'arrache à moi Si tu meurs, que tu sois loin de moi Peu m'importe si tu m'aimes Car moi je mourrais aussi Nous aurons pour nous l'éternité Dans le bleu de toute l'immensité Dans le ciel, plus de problème Mon amour, crois-tu qu'on s'aime? Dieu réunit ceux qui s'aiment |
The blue sky over us can fall down
And earth can also collapse Little matters if you love me I don't care about the entire world As long as love floods my mornings As long as my body trembles under your hands Problems matter little My love, since you love me I would go to the end of the earth I would dye my hair blonde If you asked me to I would unhook the moon I would go steal a fortune If you asked me to I would deny my country I would deny my friends If you asked me to People can laugh at me I would do anything If you asked me to If one day, life tears you from me If you die, though you be far from me Little matters, if you love me Because me, I will die also We will have eternity for ourselves In the blue of great immensity In the sky, no more problems My love, do you believe we love each other? God reunites those who love each other |
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