“Et un jour une femme” (And One Day a Woman), 2000
(Album: “Châtelet–Les Halles”)
Azucena and Florent Pagny
This song mirrors the early relationship between Florent Pagny and his future wife Azucena Caamaño. They met in 1992 at a time when he was depressed financially and emotionally. Although they did not marry until 2006, he credits her with providing an impetus that restored his confidence and eventually carried him to a happy family life and the top ranks of French “chanson.” This included the birth of two children, expatriation to Patagonia, Argentina, and a personal complementarity between them that led to a measure of calm, serenity and maturity and a significant uptick in his professional success. At a more general level, the song represents a paean to the potentially transformative power of love and a woman who awakens it and nurtures it constructively.
The song first appeared in 2000 on the album “Châtelet–Les Halles.” Lionel Florence and Pascal Obispo wrote the lyrics and music as they had for Pagny’s earlier songs “Savoir aimer” and “Chanter.” As close collaborators on many songs during the 1990s, they were well-positioned to capture the essence of the relationship between Florent and Azucena. They clearly shared a stylistic affinity. One of their signature motifs is the generous repetition of specific turns of phrase, which serves as a “binder” for an entire song. This occurred in various ways in the other songs presented here and is explained in those sections. In “Un jour une femme,” 4 of the first 11 lines in the song begin with either “d’avoir” or “d’être” followed by a past participle. This linguistic uniformity conveys a definitive sense of “over and done” in the early verses, thereby setting the scene for the song’s transition to the transformative power of love in the first Chorus. This song also includes a phrase that recurs 10 times (“Jusqu'au bout de…”) which conveys an unavoidable appreciation for the effort and devotion by the “femme” in question.
There are 4 Verses and 2 Choruses (the Choruses are virtually the same) in a VVCVCV sequence. All stanzas are rhymed. The first two Verses of the song describe a lost soul who suffers sleepless nights, lost childhood innocence, failed expectations, and perceived invisibility, having fallen lower than the dirt on earth with no remaining dignity and nothing more than a desire to end it all. One thinks back to Florent during the early 1990s. Following Verse 2, the upbeat Chorus introduces a serendipitous encounter one day with a woman (“et un jour une femme”) whose very glance touches, revives, and heals longstanding sorrows. The look in her eyes, the offer of her hand, her salving of the deepest wounds—it all leads, in Verses 3 and 4, to a personal transformation manifested in renewed confidence, hopes and expectations, and intimations of a new life.
Pagny presented a new version of the song as a duet with Christophe Maé in 2023 on his album “2bis.” The version shown below was a live performance in 2003 at the Olympia music hall in Paris.
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[Verse 1] D'avoir passé des nuits blanches à rêver Ce que les contes de fées vous laissent imaginer D'avoir perdu son enfance dans la rue Des illusions déçues Passer inaperçu [Verse 2] D'être tombé plus bas que la poussière Et à la terre entière, En vouloir puis se taire D'avoir laissé jusqu'à sa dignité Sans plus rien demander Qu'on vienne vous achever [Chorus] Et un jour, une femme Dont le regard vous frôle Vous porte sur ses épaules Comme elle porte le monde Et jusqu'à bout de force Recouvre de son écorce Vos plaies les plus profondes Puis un jour une femme Met sa main dans la votre Pour vous parler d'un autre Parce qu'elle porte le monde Et jusqu'au bout d'elle même Vous prouve qu'elle vous aime Par l'amour qu'elle inonde [Verse 3] Jour après jour vous redonne confiance De toute sa patience, Vous remet debout Trouver en soi un avenir peut-être Et surtout l'envie d'être Ce qu'elle attend de vous [Chorus] Et un jour une femme Dont le regard vous frôle Vous porte sur ses épaules Comme elle porte le monde Et jusqu'à bout de force Recouvre de son écorce Vos plaies les plus profondes Vos plaies les plus profondes Et un jour cette femme Met sa main dans la votre Pour vous parler d'un autre Parce qu'elle porte le monde Et jusqu'au bout d'elle même Vous prouve qu'elle vous aime Par l'amour qu'elle inonde Par l'amour qu'elle inonde [Verse 4] Et un jour cette femme Dont le regard vous touche Porte jusqu'à sa bouche Le front d'un petit monde Et jusqu'au bout de soi Lui donne tout ce qu'elle a Chaque pas, chaque seconde Et jusqu'au bout du monde Jusqu'au bout du monde [Parlé] Jusqu'au bout du monde Parce qu'elle porte le monde |
[Verse 1] Having spent sleepless nights dreaming What fairy tales let you imagine Having lost one’s childhood in the street Disappointed illusions Going unnoticed [Verse 2] Having fallen lower than dust And the entire world Blaming, then staying silent Having lost all dignity Without asking anything more Than someone come to end it all [Chorus] And one day, a woman Whose gaze grazes you Carries you on her shoulders Like she bears the world And with all her strength Covers with her balm Your deepest wounds Then one day a woman Puts her hand in yours To talk to you about another Because she bears the world And to the bottom of her self Proves that she loves you With the love she overflows [Verse 3] Day after day she restores your confidence With all her patience Puts you back on your feet Finding within yourself a possible future And above all the desire to be What she expects from you [Chorus] And one day a woman Whose gaze grazes you Carries you on her shoulders Like she bears the world And with all her strength Covers with her balm Your deepest wounds Your deepest wounds And one day this woman Puts her hand in yours To talk to you about another Because she carries the world And to the very end of herself She proves that she loves you With the love she overflows With the love she overflows [Verse 4] And one day this woman Whose gaze touches you Brings to to her mouth The glimpse of a new world And to her utmost Gives everything she has Every step, every second And to the world’s very end To the world’s very end [Spoken] To the world’s very end Because she bears the world |
NB:
- “des nuits blanches” is an expression for “sleepless nights.”
- “d’avoir”: means “to have.” When the infinitive of auxiliary verbs “avoir” and “être” precedes a past participle, it is translated as “having” completed the action described by the past participle. This formula appears 4 times in the first two verses of the song: “D'avoir passé,” “D'avoir perdu,” “D'être tombé,” “D'avoir laissé.” In such numbers, they give a definitive past quality to the actions described—it’s “done and over” and draws a curtain over that chapter.
- “En vouloir”: “En vouloir” is an expression that means “to blame.” When used reflexively (“s’en vouloir”) it means to feel guilty, blame oneself.
- “Qu'on vienne vous achever”: the verb “achever” means “to end,” “to finish,” or “to complete.”
- “Jusqu’à bout” and “Jusqu'au bout de” (“to the last,” “to the end,” “to the utmost”) are recurrent phrases in this song that appear no fewer than 10 times. This repetition imbues the entire song with a sense of extreme effort, pushing the limits. In most cases, the phrase depicts efforts made by the woman.
- “Le front d'un petit monde”: “le front” is “forehead” that I interpret metaphorically as “a glimpse” or leading edge. The phrase “le petit monde” (“the small world”) refers to a small group of people with whom one chooses to spend time. The phrase intimates the articulation of a special relationship.
- “Jusqu'au bout du monde”: the phrase “jusqu’au bout du monde” can refer to either the world’s physical or temporal limits. In the latter case, “la fin du monde” might be clearer, but perhaps ambiguity serves a purpose. In any case, “jusqu’au bout du…” carries forward an oft-repeated phrase in the song that expresses: “to the limit.”
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