Je Reviens Te Chercher (I am returning to find you)
Gilbert and Kitty Bécaud
This song was reportedly written following a spat in 1967 between Bécaud and Kitty (Cathryn Lee) St-John. It is a rare Bécaud song with autobiographical content. Bécaud's love life was complicated during this time. He had been married since 1952 to Monique Nicolas and had 3 children. Kitty was an American fashion model from Connecticut whom he met in 1965 and eventually married in 1973 after his divorce from Monique. During those years, Bécaud also had an affair with French-British dancer Janet Woollacott whom Claude François had married in 1960. Woollacott left François in 1962 and finally divorced him in 1967. During the years 1964-66, Claude François conducted his dalliance with France Gall. In the meantime, the Bécaud/Woollacott liaison resulted in the birth of a child, Jennifer, in London in 1965.
Bécaud and lyricist Pierre Delanoë completed the lyrics for the song during a concert tour in Brittany in 1967. Journal notes indicate that Delanoë created the song in August and it was performed at a recital in St. Malo on August 13. There was never a studio version but Bécaud recorded it live at Olympia in October 1967. Bécaud’s most productive years of song hits were the late 1950s and the 1960s and “Je reviens te chercher” was Bécaud’s last hit of the 1960s. The following decade he turned more to touring than recording.
The setting for the song is apparently on the stairway landing (“ce palier”) in front of Kitty’s apartment with a taxi waiting below. Gilbert has come after their fight to make peace, nervous as a young groom but richer in tenderness, tears and time. The song is written in a traditional Verse/Refrain/Verse/Refrain format with both internal and end-line rhymes with pride-of-place awarded to words ending with the “ay” sound: “er,” “ais,” “ait,” “é,” “és.”
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Verse Je reviens te chercher, je savais que tu m'attendais Je savais que l'on ne pourrait se passer l'un de l'autre longtemps Je reviens te chercher, ben, tu vois, j'ai pas trop changé Et je vois que de ton côté, tu as bien traversé le temps Refrain Tous les deux, on s'est fait la guerre Tous les deux, on s'est pillés, volés, ruinés Qui a gagné, qui a perdu, on n'en sait rien, on ne sait plus On se retrouve les mains nues mais après la guerre Il nous reste à faire la paix Verse Je reviens te chercher, tremblant comme un jeune marié Mais plus riche qu'aux jours passés De tendresse et de larmes et de temps Je reviens te chercher, j'ai l'air bête sur ce palier Aide-moi et viens m'embrasser, un taxi est en bas qui attend Refrain Tous les deux, on s'est fait la guerre Tous les deux, on s'est pillés, volés, ruinés Qui a gagné, qui a perdu, on n'en sait rien, on ne sait plus On se retrouve les mains nues mais après la guerre Il nous reste à faire la paix |
Verse I am coming back to get you, I knew you were waiting for me And I knew we couldn’t do without each other for long I am coming back to get you, well, you see, I haven’t changed much And I see that on your end, you have weathered the test of time. Refrain Both of us, we were fighting a war Both of us, we both pillaged, robbed and destroyed Who won, who lost, we know nothing, we don’t know anymore. We find each other empty-handed but after war It falls to us to make peace. Verse I am coming back to get you, rembling like a young groom. But richer than in days past In tenderness and in tears and in time. I am coming back to get you I look stupid on this landing. Help me and come kiss me, a taxi is below waiting. Refrain Both of us, we were fighting a war Both of us, we both pillaged, robbed and destroyed Who won, who lost, we know nothing, we don’t know anymore. We find each other empty-handed but after war It falls to us to make peace. |