Co-written by Aznavour and French lyricist Jacques Plante and recorded in 1965, Aznavour’s “signature” song “La Bohème” represents a nostalgic anthem to long-gone days of youth and specifically the bohemian culture of the village-like artist quarter of Montmartre and its steep, winding cobbled streets. In many ways, Montmartre was birthplace of the modern “chanson.” In its heyday during the Belle Epoque (1872-1914), Montmartre buzzed with nightlife at cabarets like Le Chat Noir, featured entertainers like Aristide Bruant, and was memorialized by artists like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Theophile Steinlen,1896 Toulouse-Lautrec 1893
“La bohème” is a French noun that became popular during the 19th century. Originally, the word “bohèmien” referred to the Roma (gypsy) people who were thought to have originated in Slavic lands of Bohemia. As such, it carried a derogative connotation closely associated with nomadism.This geographic and administrative region encompassed much of what subsequently became Czechoslovakia.
During the 19th century, largely through literary incarnation (Victor Hugo, Honoré de Balzac, Henri Murger, Giacomo Puccini), the word "La bohème" acquired a romantic air that described a condition of life or state of mind that included penury, freedom, and unconventional mores. As captured in Henri Murger’s autobiographical stories (“Scènes de la vie de bohème,” 1851) and Arthur Rimbaud’s poem “Ma Bohème” (written in 1870 but published in 1889), “La Bohème” signified a romanticized lifestyle. Giacomo Puccini provided an apex depiction in his famous 1896 opera of the same name.
Over the years, this conceptualization of life on the fringes of society subsequently found expression in novel terms like “boho,” “beat,” and “hippie.” Following WWII, such notions and 19th century French poets were welcome as inspiration during the heyday of "chanson." In 1962, Serge Gainsbourg celebrated Charles Baudelaire's "Le serpent qui danse." In 1964, Léo Ferré set Rimbaud's poem and others to music in his album "Verlaine et Rimbaud," with which Aznavour was undoubtedly acquainted. By 1965 when Aznavour's own song appeared, however, Montmartre’s storied lifestyle of "La Bohème" was a sepia-tinged memory attenuated by tourist hordes:"La bohème, la bohème, ça ne veut plus rien dire du tout."
The song "La bohème" includes 8 stanzas, 4 of which are elegiac refrains beginning with “La bohème, la bohème…” and containing descriptors like "joli," "jeune," "heureux," and "fous." The four verses, on the other hand, deliver the real story in a more somber tone with rhyming sequences and descriptions like: "miséreux," "ventre creux," and "les nuits blanches." Life was not all a bed of roses.
Place du Tertre
Montmartre
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Je vous parle d’un temps Que les moins de vingt ans Ne peuvent pas connaître Montmartre en ce temps-là Accrochait ses lilas Jusque sous nos fenêtres Et si l’humble garni Qui nous servait de nid Ne payait pas de mine C’est là qu’on s’est connu Moi qui criait famine Et toi qui posais nue La bohème, la bohème Ça voulait dire On est heureux La bohème, la bohème Nous ne mangions qu’un jour sur deux Dans les cafés voisins Nous étions quelques-uns Qui attendions la gloire Et bien que miséreux Avec le ventre creux Nous ne cessions d’y croire Et quand quelque bistro Contre un bon repas chaud Nous prenait une toile Nous récitions des vers Groupés autour du poêle En oubliant l’hiver La bohème, la bohème Ça voulait dire Tu es jolie La bohème, la bohème Et nous avions tous du génie Souvent il m’arrivait Devant mon chevalet De passer des nuits blanches Retouchant le dessin De la ligne d’un sein du galbe d’une hanche Et ce n’est qu’au matin Qu’on s’asseyait enfin Devant un café-crème Épuisés mais ravis Fallait-il que l’on s’aime Et qu’on aime la vie La bohème, la bohème Ça voulait dire On a vingt ans La bohème, la bohème Et nous vivions de l’air du temps Quand au hasard des jours Je m’en vais faire un tour À mon ancienne adresse Je ne reconnais plus Ni les murs, ni les rues Qui ont vu ma jeunesse En haut d’un escalier Je cherche l’atelier Dont plus rien ne subsiste Dans son nouveau décor Montmartre semble triste Et les lilas sont morts La bohème, la bohème On était jeunes On était fous La bohème, la bohème Ça ne veut plus rien dire du tout |
I tell you about a time That people less than 20 years old Cannot know-- Montmartre, in far-off days. Its lilacs were hanging Just under our windows. And if the modest furnished rooms That served us as nests Were little to look at It is there that we knew each other-- Me, who claimed famine And you, who posed nude. Bohemian days, bohemian days! That meant We are happy. Bohemian days, bohemian days! We ate only every other day In neighboring cafés. We were a few Who expected glory, And although poor With empty stomachs We did not stop believing. And when some bistro, In exchange for a hot meal, Accepted a painting We recited verses Gathered around the stove, Forgetting winter. Bohemian days, bohemian days! That meant You are pretty Bohemian days, bohemian days! We all had some genius. It often happened to me, In front of my easel. To spend sleepless nights Touching up a drawing Of the line of a breast Of the curve of a hip. And it’s only in morning That we finally sat down With a coffee-cream, Exhausted but delighted. We had to love each other And we had to love life. Bohemian days, bohemian days! That meant We are twenty years-old Bohemian days, bohemian days! And we lived the spirit of the times When on random days I go to visit My former address I no longer recognize Neither walls, nor streets That witnessed my youth. Atop a staircase I look for the studio Of which nothing remains. In its new decor Montmartre seems sad, And the lilacs are dead. Bohemian days, bohemian days! We were young, We were crazy. Bohemian days, bohemian days! That no longer means anything at all. |
NB:
- “Ne payait pas de mine:” something that doesn't look good but may have potential.
- “des nuits blanches:” sleepless (white) nights.
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