Je l’aime à mourir (I Love Her to Death) (1979)
This 1979 song, for which Cabrel composed both the music and the lyrics, propelled him to the top ranks of French “chanson.” The title in French translates literally as “I love her to die,” which is a bit awkward in English. Other translations of the title have been “Oh, how I love her,” “I love her so much I could die,” and “I love her to death.” The latter is the preferred translation on the Cabrel website. It’s a key phrase that ends most stanzas in the song.
The song appeared on Cabrel’s second album Les Chemins de traverse (“Crossroads”) that sold 600,000 copies and again as a single that also sold 600,000 copies and held the top spot on the French singles chart for 5 consecutive weeks and was covered in many languages. In 2011, Shakira released a version in both French and Spanish (“La Quiero a Morir”) that also topped charts.
The song is a paean to the woman he loves (to death) and it features vivid images and metaphors. It is written as a poem with 12 stanzas. Each stanza has 5 or 7 lines and the rhyming scheme varies with the number of lines in the stanza. Stanzas with 5 lines are ABABC and stanzas with 7 lines are ABABCCC.
This 1979 song, for which Cabrel composed both the music and the lyrics, propelled him to the top ranks of French “chanson.” The title in French translates literally as “I love her to die,” which is a bit awkward in English. Other translations of the title have been “Oh, how I love her,” “I love her so much I could die,” and “I love her to death.” The latter is the preferred translation on the Cabrel website. It’s a key phrase that ends most stanzas in the song.
The song appeared on Cabrel’s second album Les Chemins de traverse (“Crossroads”) that sold 600,000 copies and again as a single that also sold 600,000 copies and held the top spot on the French singles chart for 5 consecutive weeks and was covered in many languages. In 2011, Shakira released a version in both French and Spanish (“La Quiero a Morir”) that also topped charts.
The song is a paean to the woman he loves (to death) and it features vivid images and metaphors. It is written as a poem with 12 stanzas. Each stanza has 5 or 7 lines and the rhyming scheme varies with the number of lines in the stanza. Stanzas with 5 lines are ABABC and stanzas with 7 lines are ABABCCC.
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Moi je n'étais rien Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui Je suis le gardien Du sommeil de ses nuits Je l'aime à mourir Vous pouvez détruire Tout ce qu'il vous plaira Elle n'a qu'à ouvrir L'espace de ses bras Pour tout reconstruire Pour tout reconstruire Je l'aime à mourir Elle a gommé les chiffres Des horloges du quartier Elle a fait de ma vie Des cocottes en papier Des éclats de rire Elle a bâti des ponts Entre nous et le ciel Et nous les traversons A chaque fois qu'elle Ne veut pas dormir Ne veut pas dormir Je l'aime à mourir Elle a dû faire Toutes les guerres Pour être si forte Aujourd'hui Elle a dû faire Toutes les guerres De la vie, et l'amour aussi Elle vit de son mieux Son rêve d'opaline Elle danse au milieu Des forêts qu'elle dessine Je l'aime à mourir Elle porte des rubans Qu'elle laisse s'envoler Elle me chante souvent Que j'ai tort d'essayer De les retenir De les retenir Je l'aime à mourir Pour monter dans sa grotte Cachée sous les toits Je dois clouer des notes À mes sabots de bois Je l'aime à mourir Je dois juste m'asseoir Je ne dois pas parler Je ne dois rien vouloir Je dois juste essayer De lui appartenir De lui appartenir Je l'aime à mourir Elle a dû faire Toutes les guerres Pour être si forte Aujourd'hui Elle a dû faire Toutes les guerres De la vie, et l'amour aussi Moi je n'étais rien Et voilà qu'aujourd'hui Je suis le gardien Du sommeil de ses nuits Je l'aime à mourir Vous pouvez détruire Tout ce qu'il vous plaira Elle n'aura qu'à ouvrir L'espace de ses bras Pour tout reconstruire Pour tout reconstruire Je l'aime à mourir |
Me, I was nothing But here today I am the guardian Of the sleep of her nights I love her to death You can destroy All that pleases you But she needs only To open her arms To rebuild everything To rebuild everything I love her to death She erased the numbers On the clocks of my world She made of my life Paper games Bursts of laughter She built bridges Between us and the sky And we cross them Each time that she Doesn’t want to sleep Doesn’t want to sleep I love her to death She had to fight All of the wars To be so strong Today She had to fight All of the wars Of life, and love too She gives her best to live Her iridescent dream She dances amid The forests she designs I love her to death She carries ribbons That she lets fly away She sings to me often That I’m wrong to try To hold them back To hold them back I love her to death To enter her lair Hidden under the roofs I must nail some notes To my old wooden shoes I love her to death I must sit myself down I must not speak I must not want anything I must only try To belong to her To belong to her I love her to death She had to fight All the wars To be so strong Today She had to fight All the wars Of life, and love too Me, I was nothing But here today I am the guardian Of the sleep of her nights I love her to death You can destroy All that you please She will have only To open her arms To rebuild everything To rebuild everything I love her to death |
NB:
- Elle n'a qu'à ouvrir l'espace de ses bras:”l’espace de ses bras” is a poetic invention by Cabrel with no conventional usage so “l’espace” does not translate here as “space.” This phrase repeats in the last stanza but in the future tense.
- Elle a gommé les chiffres des horloges du quartier: In this line and the next, Cabrel says that she “erased the numbers of the clocks,” meaning that she turned his life upside down; she was so beautiful she could stop both a clock and time itself.
- Elle a fait de ma vie des cocottes en papier: a “cocotte” in cooking is a casserole container; “cocottes en papier” is the name of a game in France that involves folding paper shapes as in origami. She made his life a game of “cocottes en papier” that led to “éclats de rires” (bursts of laughter).
Return to Cabrel Profile