Georges Brassens & Jeanne Planche
JEANNE
This song is a hymn of appreciation to Jeanne Planche (née LeBonniec) (1891-1968). She was 30 years older than Brassens and lived with her husband Marcel in a ramshackle cul de sac dwelling in Impasse Florimont, Montparnasse, Paris. It had no running water, electricity or gas and was overrun by her collection of castoff animals. Jeanne was a seamstress who had emigrated from Brittany and Marcel was from the Auvergne. In March 1944 she and Marcel offered refuge and support to Brassens who deserted his work assignment in Germany and had to lay low. Even after Liberation that August, he chose to remain living with them for the next 22 years until Marcel died in 1965 and Jeanne remarried in 1966. She died 2 years later and Brassens moved away shortly after. All accounts indicate that their relationship was intimate.
This is the only song in the Brassens repertoire with free verse. There are 6 stanzas with 6 lines each. Each stanza begins with “Chez Jeanne, our Jeanne.” As such, Brassens presents her as an objective and universal mother-figure. The video has no subtitles, so just scroll along with the lyrics and translation. Notes are below.
This song is a hymn of appreciation to Jeanne Planche (née LeBonniec) (1891-1968). She was 30 years older than Brassens and lived with her husband Marcel in a ramshackle cul de sac dwelling in Impasse Florimont, Montparnasse, Paris. It had no running water, electricity or gas and was overrun by her collection of castoff animals. Jeanne was a seamstress who had emigrated from Brittany and Marcel was from the Auvergne. In March 1944 she and Marcel offered refuge and support to Brassens who deserted his work assignment in Germany and had to lay low. Even after Liberation that August, he chose to remain living with them for the next 22 years until Marcel died in 1965 and Jeanne remarried in 1966. She died 2 years later and Brassens moved away shortly after. All accounts indicate that their relationship was intimate.
This is the only song in the Brassens repertoire with free verse. There are 6 stanzas with 6 lines each. Each stanza begins with “Chez Jeanne, our Jeanne.” As such, Brassens presents her as an objective and universal mother-figure. The video has no subtitles, so just scroll along with the lyrics and translation. Notes are below.
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Chez Jeanne, la Jeanne
Son auberge est ouverte aux gens sans feu ni lieu On pourrait l'appeler l'auberge de Bon Dieu S'il n'en existait déjà une La dernière où l'on peut entrer Sans frapper, sans montrer patte blanche Chez Jeanne, la Jeanne On est n'importe qui, on vient n'importe quand Et, comme par miracle, par enchantement On fait partie de la famille Dans son cœur, en s'poussant un peu Reste encore une petite place. La Jeanne, la Jeanne Elle est pauvre et sa table est souvent mal servie Mais le peu qu'on y trouve assouvit pour la vie Par la façon qu'elle le donne Son pain ressemble à du gâteau Et son eau à du vin comme deux gouttes d'eau. La Jeanne, la Jeanne On la paie quand on peut des prix mirobolants Un baiser sur son front ou sur ses cheveux blancs Un semblant d'accord de guitare L'adresse d'un chat échaudé Ou d'un chien tout crotté comm' pourboire La Jeanne, la Jeanne Dans ses ros's et ses choux n'a pas trouvé d'enfant Qu'on aime et qu'on défend contre les quatre vents Et qu'on accroche à son corsage Et qu'on arrose avec son lait D'autres qu'elle en seraient tout's chagrines Mais Jeanne, la Jeanne Ne s'en soucie pas plus que de colin-tampon Etre mère de trois poulpiquets, à quoi bon Quand elle est mère universelle Quand tous les enfants de la terre De la mer et du ciel sont à elle |
Chez Jeanne, our Jeanne
Her inn is open to people without a home We could call it the inn of Good God If there wasn’t already one The last that you can enter Without knocking, without showing a white paw Chez Jeanne, our Jeanne You can be anybody, you can come any time And, like a miracle, an enchantment You are part of the family In her heart, pushing a bit There remains a little space. The Jeanne, our Jeanne She is poor and her table is often badly set But the little you find there lasts a lifetime In the way that she gives it Her bread is like cake And her water with wine like two drops of water The Jeanne, our Jeanne You pay when you can at amazing prices A kiss on her forehead or on her white hair A semblance of a guitar chord The address of a scalded cat Or a shit-crusted dog for a tip The Jeanne, our Jeanne In her roses and cabbage she found no child To love and defend against life’s ills And clasp to one’s breast And sprinkle with one’s milk Many others than her would be upset But Jeanne, our Jeanne She doesn’t worry a whit To be mother of three dwarves, what’s the point? When she is the universal mother When all the children on earth In the sea and in the sky are hers. |
NB:
sans feu ni lieu: without fire or place; footloose, homeless
montrer patte blanche: show a white paw; show your credentials. This is an idiom from Jean de La Fontaine's fable “The Wolf, the Goat and the Kid” about a mother goat who warned her kid to open the door only to an animal with a white paw (wolves have grey paws)
Son pain ressemble à du gâteau: until WWII’s end, bread was scarce and when available was gray. Jeanne’s was special, like a cake.
des prix mirobolants: amazing, dramatic, fantastic prices; too good to be true. Jeanne required little or nothing in return.
un chat échaudé: a scalded cat; a French expression is that “un chat échaudé craint l’eau froid” ("a scalded cat fears water") or “once bitten, twice shy.”
Dans ses ros's et ses choux: in its roses and cabbages; in French nursery lore, girls are born in roses and boys are born in cabbages.
défend contre les quatre vents: the "four winds" symbolize evils that come from all directions.
Ne s'en soucie pas plus que de colin-tampon: not to care a whit or iota; no worry. Original reference to a Swiss army drummer unit ("colin-tampon") dumb enough to march in front of an armed infantry unit.
sans feu ni lieu: without fire or place; footloose, homeless
montrer patte blanche: show a white paw; show your credentials. This is an idiom from Jean de La Fontaine's fable “The Wolf, the Goat and the Kid” about a mother goat who warned her kid to open the door only to an animal with a white paw (wolves have grey paws)
Son pain ressemble à du gâteau: until WWII’s end, bread was scarce and when available was gray. Jeanne’s was special, like a cake.
des prix mirobolants: amazing, dramatic, fantastic prices; too good to be true. Jeanne required little or nothing in return.
un chat échaudé: a scalded cat; a French expression is that “un chat échaudé craint l’eau froid” ("a scalded cat fears water") or “once bitten, twice shy.”
Dans ses ros's et ses choux: in its roses and cabbages; in French nursery lore, girls are born in roses and boys are born in cabbages.
défend contre les quatre vents: the "four winds" symbolize evils that come from all directions.
Ne s'en soucie pas plus que de colin-tampon: not to care a whit or iota; no worry. Original reference to a Swiss army drummer unit ("colin-tampon") dumb enough to march in front of an armed infantry unit.
Korrigan
Etre mère de trois poulpiquets: “Poulpiquets” occupy the bottom rung of Brittany’s mythical Korrigan race of capricious, magical dwarves. Brassens visited Brittany regularly during his last decade. This was where Jeanne was from and Georges bought a vacation house in the town of Lézardrieux. Brittany offered him a counterpoint to the climate and social mores of his youth in the southern town of Sète.
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