Charles Aznavour: Hier Encore

Charles Aznavour wrote and released "Hier encore" in 1964 with music composed by his French-Armenian collaborator (and eventual brother-in-law) Georges Garvarentz, with whom he wrote more than 100 songs over many years. In combination with "La bohème" the following year, Aznavour thereby nailed two prevalent perspectives on youthful days: nostalgia and regret. "La bohème" displayed nostalgia. "Hier encore" delivered regret. Identifying Aznavour’s distinctive role in stretching the emotional range of “chanson,” Jean Cocteau, who directed him in a 1960 film “Le testament d’Orphée,” commented: “Before Aznavour, despair was unpopular.” With "Hier encore," that changed.

“Hier Encore” is a lament for wasted youth. The simple, two-word title must have occasioned considerable thought in the choice and sequence of words. The literal translation is “Yesterday Again” but it is commonly translated as: “Just Yesterday,” “Only Yesterday,” or “Not So Long Ago.” The English language version covered by many artists, “Yesterday When I Was Young,” stretched the meaning even further but neatly sidesteps the ambiguity of the French title. None of these is completely satisfactory to express the “meaning” of the song. This may be appropriate since great poetry stimulates multiple interpretations.

The French word “encore” normally means “again,” “more” or “still.” In a theatrical context, audiences shout “encore” for “again” or “more.” Aznavour's song, however, is not asking for “more.” On the contrary, it laments the lingering and immutable quality of a past that is done but not finished since it comprises decisions that still haunt the present and will continue to do so into the future. The placement of the words in the title also affects their meaning. “Hier Encore” strongly implies “Yesterday Still” while “Encore Hier” would emphasize “Again/More Yesterday.” The title also carries a sardonic quality because the text makes clear that the speaker is of a “certain age” and his twenties were not “only” or “just” yesterday but quite some time ago and those years were wasted in youthful misadventures. There’s no going back, there’s little time left, and yesterday is done but its consequences and regrets linger. The translation "Only Yesterday" seems to capture all of these diverse but complementary sentiments.

Hier encore

J’avais vingt ans,

Je caressais le temps

Et jouais de la vie

Comme on joue de l’amour,

Et je vivais la nuit

Sans compter sur mes jours

Qui fuyaient dans le temps.

J’ai fait tant de projets

Qui sont restés en l’air,

J’ai fondé tant d’espoirs

Qui se sont envolés,

Que je reste perdu,

Ne sachant où aller,

Les yeux cherchant le ciel,

Mais le cœur mis en terre.

Hier encore

J’avais vingt ans

Je gaspillais le temps

En croyant l’arrêter

Et pour le retenir

Même le devancer

Je n’ai fait que courir

Et me suis essoufflé.

Ignorant le passé,

Conjuguant au futur,

Je précédais de moi

Toute conversation

Et donnais mon avis

Que je voulais le bon

Pour critiquer le monde

Avec désinvolture.

Hier encore

J’avais vingt ans

Mais j’ai perdu mon temps

À faire des folies

Qui ne me laissent au fond

Rien de vraiment précis

Que quelques rides au front

Et la peur de l’ennui

Car mes amours sont mortes

Avant que d’exister

Mes amis sont partis

Et ne reviendront pas

Par ma faute j’ai fait

Le vide autour de moi

Et j’ai gâché ma vie

Et mes jeunes années

Du meilleur et du pire

En jetant le meilleur

J’ai figé mes sourires

Et j’ai glacé mes pleurs

Où sont-ils à présent ?

À présent, mes vingt ans ?

Only yesterday

I was twenty years old.

I enjoyed time

I played with life

Like we play with love.

And I lived nights

Without counting my days

That faded in time.

I made so many plans

That remained in thin air.

I had so many hopes

That flew away.

So I remain lost

Not knowing where to go

Eyes scanning the sky

But heart fallen to earth.

Only yesterday

I was twenty years old

I wasted time

Thinking to stop it

And to hold it back

Or even get ahead of it

I did nothing but run

And ran out of breath

Ignoring the past,

Thinking about the future,

I jumped ahead in

Every conversation.

And I spoke my mind

How I wanted to do good

By criticizing the world

Casually.

Only yesterday

I was twenty years old.

But I wasted my time

Doing foolish things

That basically left me

Nothing really specific

Except wrinkles on my brow

And fear of boredom.

Because my romances died

Before even existing.

My friends have gone

And will never return.

It’s my fault--I’ve created a void

Around myself.

I’ve wasted my life

And my youthful years.

From the best and the worst

While throwing away the best.

I fixed my smiles

And I froze my tears.

Where are they now?

Now--my twenty years?

Yesterday When I Was Young

English journalist and lyricist Herbert Kretzmer was a close collaborator with Charles Aznavour. Kretzmer (1925-20) was born in South Africa of emigré Lithuanian Jewish parents. He moved to London in 1954 and worked as a journalist and lyricist. After Aznavour released "Hier encore" in 1964, Kretzmer wrote an English language adaptation named “Yesterday When I was Young.” Kretzmer himself acknowledged that although the French title was "untranslatable," the song's English title was a disadvantage in the American market: "Yesterday When I Was Young implied that the singer was no longer young--a fatal thing to say if you're an American!" The song was sent to Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Sinatra, but nobody wanted it. Finally, in 1969 it became a huge hit in America for country singer Roy Clark of Hee Haw fame who took it to the #9 position on the "Hot Country Singles" chart and even earned a spot on the "List of One Hit Wonders." In 1970, Aznavour's own English language version was a hit single release in Europe and the song was subsequently covered by a long list of artists. When it comes to vocal artistry, none surpasses Aznavour himself in expression, articulation, modulation and phrasing. Combined with Kretzmer's adaptation, it's a winner.

Kretzmer's lyrics for Aznavour's song differ from the French original but are faithful to its spirit and represent an outstanding interpretation. Aznavour himself once commented that it was even more poetic than the original. The two versions are remarkably isometric in poetic structure, each with 7 stanzas of 7 or 8 lines. Curiously, the French version proceeds at a more rapid pace and feels rushed, clocking only 2m22s compared with the more leisurely pace of the English version at 3m40s. Neither the French nor the American version exhibits significant narrative or melodic progress during the course of the song. Both songs are an extended lament in old age about disappointments and bad decisions during life with each verse accounting for a segment of the sad story. Things began with high hopes and living life to the fullest but ultimately missed what life was really all about. The two versions diverge in their portrayal of past mis-steps but by-and-large they depict mirror images of a wastrel’s life. Regret arises from failed projects, lost relationships and the rapidly approaching end of life. Melodically, stanzas are similar with some uplift in the chorus and a more somber tone in the outgoing outro.

Kretzmer also wrote English lyrics with Aznavour for "She," a song that was originally written in English as a theme song for a BBC show "The Seven Faces of Women." That show ran from 1974-78 and the song was a huge #1 hit on British charts. Aznavour released it in France 1974 under its French name "Tous les visages de l'amour" because the word "She" sounded like a slang word to French people. Elvis Costello later sang "She" in 1999 in the film "Notting Hill" starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.

Kretzmer’s work with Aznavour on “Hier Encore” and “Tous Les Visages de l’Amour” (“She”) caught the ears of English producer Cameron Mackintosh (Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon). Kretzmer was primarily a "newspaper man" but also a part-time lyricist with remarkable gifts in the English language despite his childhood incubation in Yiddish and Afrikaans. In 1984, Mackintosh asked Kretzmer to write English lyrics for a little-known French musical "concept album" named Les Misérables written by Alain Boublil (lyrics) and Claude-Michel Schoenberg (music). It had premiered in 1980 for a short run in Paris at the Palais des Sports. Kretzmer’s adaptation expanded the show from 2 to 3 hours. Its songs, themes, characters and narrative created a global phenomenon. Les Miz opened in London in October 1985 and continues today as the longest-running West End musical in history. The success of the London show brought a 1991 Paris revival in French, and another one in Fall 2024 at the Chatelet Theater (reworked by Alain Boublil).

Since Aznavour's version of "Yesterday When I was Young" is superior to most, we feature it below.

Verse

Yesterday, when I was young

The taste of life was sweet

As rain upon my tongue

I teased at life as if it were

A foolish game

The way the evening breeze

May tease a candle flame

Verse

The thousand dreams I dreamed, The splendid things I planned

I always built alas

On weak and shifting sand

I lived by night and shunned

The naked light of day

And only now, I see

How the years ran away

Chorus

Yesterday, when I was young

So many drinking songs

Were waiting to be sung

So many wild pleasures

Lay in store for me

And so much pain

My dazzled eyes refused to see

Verse

I ran so fast that time,

And youth at last ran out

I never stopped to think

What life was all about

And every conversation

I can now recall

Concerned itself with me, me

And nothing else at all

Verse

Yesterday, the moon was blue

And every crazy day

Brought something new to do

I used my magic age

As if it were a wand

I never saw the waste

And emptiness beyond

Verse

The game of love I played

With arrogance and pride

And every flame I lit,

Too quickly, quickly died

The friends I made all seemed Somehow to drift away

And only I am left on stage

To end the play

Verse

There are so many songs

In me that won't be sung

I feel the bitter taste

Of tears upon my tongue

The time has come for me

To pay for yesterday

When I was young, young, young

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When I was young, young, young