Les Feuilles Mortes ("The Dead Leaves")
"Je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes"
"Les Feuilles Mortes" ("The Dead Leaves") is a popular song and jazz standard with original lyrics by French poet Jacques Prévert (1900-1977) and music written by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma (1905-1969). Released in 1949, it is one of many Prévert/Kosma poems sung by Yves Montand. It became one of his biggest hits with millions of copies sold. The success of the collaboration by Prévert/Kosma/Montand led Philips Records in 1962 to release a full album of 15 studio songs, "Yves Montand chante Prévert."
The tune evolved over several years from its first appearance in a ballet, then as a theme song in a film, then a recorded song release, and finally adaptations in English and other languages with interpretations by numerous artists. Over the past 80 years, the song has led successful parallel lives in its original French version, the English language adaptation, other national languages, and numerous instrumental versions. Jacques Prévert’s original poem/song, however, has lyrics that far exceed in their structure, depth, and imagery those of Johnny Mercer’s English version. The vast differences between the French and English versions merit side-by-side reading and listening since, as cultural artifacts, they reveal underlying cultural values. The original Prévert French text, its English translation, and Mercer's adaptation are available here.
The French and English versions reflect different cultural values, historical contexts and the personalities of their authors. Much of French culture exudes centuries of philosophy, literature and art. Reflection on death, time and memory is almost second nature. In 1946, France was recently liberated from military defeat and occupation in a vivid depiction of the ups and downs of history. Jacques Prévert, a surrealist poet, was personally familiar with the vagaries not only of life but of the subconscious and the absurd, which he experienced and recounted in his 1946 poem “Barbara.” America, by contrast, emerged victorious from WWII, a monumental triumph in a short history of seemingly continuous progress. Johnny Mercer, a composer and lyricist, wrote and sang some of the most popular songs of his time. His background was rooted in jazz and blues, but by 1950 when he wrote English lyrics for "Autumn Leaves," he was well-established in a Hollywood that was rife with optimism, showmanship and glamour.
The tune evolved over several years from its first appearance in a ballet, then as a theme song in a film, then a recorded song release, and finally adaptations in English and other languages with interpretations by numerous artists. Over the past 80 years, the song has led successful parallel lives in its original French version, the English language adaptation, other national languages, and numerous instrumental versions. Jacques Prévert’s original poem/song, however, has lyrics that far exceed in their structure, depth, and imagery those of Johnny Mercer’s English version. The vast differences between the French and English versions merit side-by-side reading and listening since, as cultural artifacts, they reveal underlying cultural values. The original Prévert French text, its English translation, and Mercer's adaptation are available here.
The French and English versions reflect different cultural values, historical contexts and the personalities of their authors. Much of French culture exudes centuries of philosophy, literature and art. Reflection on death, time and memory is almost second nature. In 1946, France was recently liberated from military defeat and occupation in a vivid depiction of the ups and downs of history. Jacques Prévert, a surrealist poet, was personally familiar with the vagaries not only of life but of the subconscious and the absurd, which he experienced and recounted in his 1946 poem “Barbara.” America, by contrast, emerged victorious from WWII, a monumental triumph in a short history of seemingly continuous progress. Johnny Mercer, a composer and lyricist, wrote and sang some of the most popular songs of his time. His background was rooted in jazz and blues, but by 1950 when he wrote English lyrics for "Autumn Leaves," he was well-established in a Hollywood that was rife with optimism, showmanship and glamour.
Jacques Prévert, Aix-en-Provence
Photo Robert Doisneau
Jacques Prévert was a poet and screenwriter and a longtime active member of the Surrealist movement led by André Breton. His extensive collaboration with film director Marcel Carné led to a style of cinema, “poetic realism,” that influenced American film noir. It depicted marginal characters living marginal lives with an aesthetic of poetic lyricism. During WWII, Prévert settled in unoccupied Saint Paul-de-Vence, northwest of Nice, where he worked with Victorine Film Studios and associated with many artists. Working with director Marcel Carné, in 1945 he wrote the screenplay for the film "Les Enfants du Paradis" and the same year he produced the libretto for choreographer Roland Petit's ballet Le Rendez-vous. In 1946, he wrote the script for Marcel Carné's film "Les portes de la nuit" and his first book of Poetry, "Paroles." In following years, he published collections of poems that became standard material in French textbooks. Many of those poems have been set to music and sung by prominent vocalists, including Yves Montand, Edith Piaf, Joan Baez, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.
Joseph Kosma,
Photo Edward Quinn
Joseph Kosma was a Jewish-Hungarian composer born in Budapest who emigrated to Paris in 1933 ahead of the Nazis. He became a close collaborator with Prévert and they set some 80 of Prévert’s songs to music, including “Les Feuilles Mortes” and "Barbara." He also composed scores for several of director Jean Renoir's films such as "La Grande Illusion," "La Bête Humaine" and "The Rules of the Game." During the Occupation, Prévert helped Kosma maintain professional activity under the cover of French pseudonyms ("prête-noms").
Kosma found inspiration for the melody for "Les Feuilles Mortes" in Tchaikovsky’s earlier work in 1888, the “Hamlet Overture-Fantasia, Op. 67.” Overall, this work depicts the brooding atmosphere of Elsinore (Kronborg) Castle in Denmark. Tchaikovsky provides neither plot nor assignment of roles, but some knowledge of Shakespeare's characters and the qualities of instruments and melodies encourages appropriate matches. About six-and-a-half minutes into the piece, the oboe solo and key change (F minor to B minor) announce their association with Ophelia, the doomed daughter of Polonius and would-be partner of Hamlet. The Ophelian segment establishes a link between the melody, tragedy and death. Michael-Thomas Foumai observes that it is: “a sublime andante. So enters sweet youth upon the reeds of the solo oboe…this brief glimpse of youth and feminine innocence, soon to be plunged and drowned into the abyss of Hamlet’s plot.” Drowned not only in the plot but in madness and dark waters--Ophelia is a clueless victim of forces and personalities beyond her control. The extract of "Ophelia's Song" below is from the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1945, Kosma planted Tchaikovsky's musical seed in the Roland Petit ballet "Le Rendezvous" for which he wrote the score at the Paris Opera Ballet. Petit's modus operandi was to assemble contemporary talents from diverse disciplines to produce spectacles that diverged from classical ballet. This particular production, "Le rendez-vous," included music by Kosma, libretto by Prévert, a stage curtain by Pablo Picasso, scenery by the photographer Brassaï (Gyula Halász) and costumes by the designer Mayo (Antoine Malliarakis). Kosma’s music for the ballet included the melody that eventually became "Les Feuilles Mortes."
Roland Petit's ballet "Le rendez-vous" tells a grim story of destiny, love and death. A young man reads a horoscope predicting his imminent death. Coincidentally, a hunchback threatens him with an open razor. The youth escapes by explaining he has a rendez-vous with the most beautiful girl in the world. In fleeing one danger, however, he comes under the spell of another, and the curtain of destiny falls when the girl slits his throat. Both before and after this gruesome act the melody arises that grew into the song “les feuilles mortes,” linking it further with Ophelia's tragic legacy. A segment of the ballet can be viewed below with the melody running in time from 0:00-1:45 and again from 2:55-3:30.
After attending a showing of Petit’s ballet in 1945, film-maker Marcel Carné decided to make a cinematic adaptation and to engage famous actor and singer Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich as headliners. This did not work out, however, and he cast Yves Montand and Natalie Nattier instead. The film, "Les portes de la nuit" (The Gates of Night), was a depressing portrayal of collaborators during the German occupation. Its gloomy narrative leitmotif, which mirrored that of Petit's ballet “Le rendez-vous,” clashed with the postwar French affinity for more uplifting cultural experiences like Piaf's song "La vie en rose" ("Life with rose-colored glasses"). It proved a disaster at the French box office and was the last of Carné's successful collaborations with Prévert. Nevertheless, it served in 1950 as the delivery vehicle for its theme song, "Les feuilles mortes," to the US market where it not only impacted American cinema but caught the attention of Capitol Records. Once separated from the historical context of its appearance in 1946, the film enjoyed some critical rehabilitation and the song took off on its own. A clip from the movie with Kosma's melody appears below.
French singer Cora Vaucaire first recorded the song in 1946 even before its appearance in "Les portes de la nuit." Yves Montand followed soon after, becoming indelibly associated with the original French version of the song. Both Edith Piaf and Juliette Greco recorded it in 1950, the same year that the English language version appeared in the US.
"Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle"
Prévert’s French poem/song presents vivid images of dead leaves in a shovel and footprints in the sand that are washed away by the sea. These are somber metaphors for life’s decay and decline and the transiency of human relationships. The resplendent word “autumn” and its evocations that adorn the English version never appear in his piece. Prévert’s leaves are dead and drained of color. They die and are scooped in shovels and thrown away. Similarly, in human lives both experiences and time softly and quietly sow differences between "separated lovers" and erode long-time relationships. The north wind blows both memories and regrets into the "cold night of oblivion."
"Les pas des amants désunis"
Prévert wrote his poem in 40 lines that include 2 verses (each containing 2 stanzas) and 2 refrains in a classic VRVR sequence. Like his other famous poem, “Barbara,” also composed by Kosma and sung by Montand, the narrator addresses an unknown former partner and summons memories of happier days that time and events have eclipsed. The famous refrain (“c’est une chanson qui nous ressemble”) recalls the partner’s unforgettable but unidentified song. Memory, forgetting, time and death loom throughout the song.
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{Spoken} Oh, je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes Des jours heureux où nous étions amis. En ce temps-là la vie était plus belle Et le soleil plus brûlant qu’aujourd’hui. Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle Tu vois, je n’ai pas oublié Les feuilles mortes se ramassent à la pelle Les souvenirs et les regrets aussi Et le vent du Nord les emporte Dans la nuit froide de l’oubli Tu vois, je n’ai pas oublié La chanson que tu me chantais {Singing} C’est une chanson qui nous ressemble Toi tu m’aimais, et je t’aimais Nous vivions tous les deux ensemble Toi qui m’aimais, moi qui t’aimais Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s’aiment Tout doucement, sans faire de bruit Et la mer efface sur le sable Les pas des amants désunis Instrumental Interlude Mais la vie sépare ceux qui s’aiment Tout doucement, sans faire de bruit Et la mer efface sur le sable Les pas des amants désunis |
{Spoken} Oh, I would like so much for you to remember The happy days when we were friends. During those times life was more beautiful And the sun more brilliant than today. The dead leaves gather in the shovel You see, I did not forget The dead leaves gather in the shovel Memories and regrets as well. And the north wind carries them away In the cold night of oblivion You see, I didn’t forget The song that you sang to me {Singing} It is a song that resembles us You you loved me, and I loved you We lived the two of us together You who loved me, me who loved you But life separates those who love each other Very softly, without making noise And the sea erases on the sand The steps of separated lovers Instrumental Interlude But life separates those who love each other Very softly, without making noise And the sea erases on the sand The steps of separated lovers |
NB:
Je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes: the subjunctive form of “souvenir” is necessary following a primary verb of “vouloir” or a volitional phrase such as “pour que.”
Je voudrais tant que tu te souviennes: the subjunctive form of “souvenir” is necessary following a primary verb of “vouloir” or a volitional phrase such as “pour que.”
Autumn Leaves
When Marcel Carné's movie "Les portes de la nuit" opened in the US in 1950, 4 years after it opened in Paris, Capitol Records quickly spent $600 for rights to "Les feuilles mortes" and acquired a 4-month runway to produce an English language version of the song. They turned to Johnny Mercer, a co-founder of the company who had more than 1000 songs under his belt as both composer and lyricist and eventually accumulated 4 Academy Awards and 19 nominations. Mercer agreed to write a text but dashed it off only 10-minutes before driving to the train station shortly before the rights expired. Mercer's English language adaptation (“Autumn Leaves”) was not a translation but a much shorter full re-write with a different title. It is uncertain how Mercer jumped from the original title "Dead Leaves" to "Autumn Leaves," but one can appreciate that a song with the name "Dead Leaves" would never sell records in the US. Mercer later quipped that although he wrote the lyrics in only 10 minutes he made more money from it than from any other song.
Mercer's first stanza shares the melody of the French refrain/chorus, but that is about all they have in common. In his adaptation, Mercer’s colorful “autumn leaves of red and gold” drift by the window and invite memories of "summer kisses" and "sunburnt hands." His leaves are not a metaphor eliciting profound thoughts about time, death and memory but a mere prompt for the recollection of a recent summer romantic fling. Mercer's full song is 3 stanzas with only 12 lines that include 1 verse and 2 identical refrains, amounting to only 8 original lines of text. The verse has an ABCB rhyme, and the refrains are AABC.
In the US, Johnny Mercer selected recording artist Jo Stafford in 1950 for the first English recording. The song was recorded steadily throughout the 1950s by the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. In 1955, an instrumental recording by pianist Roger Williams became a best-seller and was the first piano instrumental ever to reach number one on the Billboard charts. Curiously, Williams initially believed the name of the song was "Falling Leaves" (probably because they are among the first words of the English version). Therefore, he included arpeggio runs on the keyboard to mimic the sound of falling leaves.
In 1956, film director Robert Aldrich released a psychological drama named “Autumn Leaves” starring Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson and Vera Miles. In the movie, a lonely woman in the autumn of her years falls for a much younger man who turns out to be mentally ill. The original title of the film “The Way We Are” was changed to “Autumn Leaves” to leverage the popularity of Roger Williams’ 1955 piano version of the song that is a favorite of Joan Crawford’s character Millicent. Nat King Cole sings the song over the main title sequence and the cast credits at the end. The movie therefore, while a mild box office performer, leveraged the halo of Williams’ instrumental version of "Autumn Leaves" and launched a soundtrack vocal hit for Nat King Cole.
Mercer's first stanza shares the melody of the French refrain/chorus, but that is about all they have in common. In his adaptation, Mercer’s colorful “autumn leaves of red and gold” drift by the window and invite memories of "summer kisses" and "sunburnt hands." His leaves are not a metaphor eliciting profound thoughts about time, death and memory but a mere prompt for the recollection of a recent summer romantic fling. Mercer's full song is 3 stanzas with only 12 lines that include 1 verse and 2 identical refrains, amounting to only 8 original lines of text. The verse has an ABCB rhyme, and the refrains are AABC.
In the US, Johnny Mercer selected recording artist Jo Stafford in 1950 for the first English recording. The song was recorded steadily throughout the 1950s by the likes of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Doris Day and Frank Sinatra. In 1955, an instrumental recording by pianist Roger Williams became a best-seller and was the first piano instrumental ever to reach number one on the Billboard charts. Curiously, Williams initially believed the name of the song was "Falling Leaves" (probably because they are among the first words of the English version). Therefore, he included arpeggio runs on the keyboard to mimic the sound of falling leaves.
In 1956, film director Robert Aldrich released a psychological drama named “Autumn Leaves” starring Joan Crawford, Cliff Robertson and Vera Miles. In the movie, a lonely woman in the autumn of her years falls for a much younger man who turns out to be mentally ill. The original title of the film “The Way We Are” was changed to “Autumn Leaves” to leverage the popularity of Roger Williams’ 1955 piano version of the song that is a favorite of Joan Crawford’s character Millicent. Nat King Cole sings the song over the main title sequence and the cast credits at the end. The movie therefore, while a mild box office performer, leveraged the halo of Williams’ instrumental version of "Autumn Leaves" and launched a soundtrack vocal hit for Nat King Cole.
Blues Alley Jazz Club
The trail of our “Dead Leaves” exploration leads to the Blues Alley Jazz Club in Georgetown, Washington D.C. That is where singer Eva Cassidy (1963-96) gave a last concert in January 1996 before her premature death in November from melanoma at the age of 33. Cassidy was born in Maryland and sang with her acoustic guitar at various venues and capacities around the region. Despite an expressive soprano voice that the New York Times described as a “silken soprano voice with a wide and seemingly effortless range, unerring pitch and a gift for phrasing,” her eclectic repertoire across the genres of folk, blues, jazz, gospel and pop made a difficult fit for specialized record producers. She released only one live album during her lifetime (“Live at Blues Alley”), but there was significant posthumous success, especially in Britain. The BBC gave her extensive coverage and a grass roots, cult-like wellspring arose, powered by the internet, leading to publication of 9 albums after her death.
In this performance, Eva and her guitar are joined by Lenny Williams on piano. She had not often included “Autumn Leaves” in her sets, as she suffered from seasonal melancholy, so Williams joined her in an impromptu fashion. This version of the song appears on several albums, and there is also an acoustic solo version.
In this performance, Eva and her guitar are joined by Lenny Williams on piano. She had not often included “Autumn Leaves” in her sets, as she suffered from seasonal melancholy, so Williams joined her in an impromptu fashion. This version of the song appears on several albums, and there is also an acoustic solo version.
The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall
Eva’s performance of “Autumn Leaves” at Blues Alley in 1996 concludes our account of the evolution of this song. It began in 1888 as a symphonic segment and then a ballet, a film score and global hit, and finally a bluesy/jazz rendition performed by an unknown artist in a small jazz venue that stretched the boundaries of the song’s versatility. Improbably, a tune that took flight in Russia under Tchaikovsky's baton in 1888 as a theme of Destiny and Death marked an early passage to life’s closure for a promising young artist.
The long history of the song and its many incarnations have resulted in multiple permutations. As originally written by Kosma, the music included introductory verse followed by the catchy refrain. Many song versions drop the introductory verses altogether, while others retain them but render them spoken rather than sung as in the Montand version. English language versions generally retain only the chorus/refrain, as Eva Cassidy does above. Instrumental and jazz performances without vocals combine and extend the segments in many ways. Over time, the song was absorbed into repertoires of varied musical genres and became a global jazz standard played by Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane and many others. The song became so influential that by1961 Serge Gainsbourg composed a tribute song-about-a-song that he called “La Chanson de Prévert.”
The long history of the song and its many incarnations have resulted in multiple permutations. As originally written by Kosma, the music included introductory verse followed by the catchy refrain. Many song versions drop the introductory verses altogether, while others retain them but render them spoken rather than sung as in the Montand version. English language versions generally retain only the chorus/refrain, as Eva Cassidy does above. Instrumental and jazz performances without vocals combine and extend the segments in many ways. Over time, the song was absorbed into repertoires of varied musical genres and became a global jazz standard played by Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane and many others. The song became so influential that by1961 Serge Gainsbourg composed a tribute song-about-a-song that he called “La Chanson de Prévert.”
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