Chanson des villes

Annotation

Chanson artist, born on 10 December 1928, in Paris, France, and died 21 February 2021, in Cordemais, France. This album featured the song "L'enfant mort" ("The Dead Child") (Disques du Cavalier # CVR LM 84). She also released this in 1973 on the charity single L'enfant mort / Bonnes vacances, discussed below. It took an anti-war position, looking at the perspective of a civilian suffering in a war zone, "they fired again, I have a dead child in my arms". Presumably a reference to Vietnam, the narrator says "we took the air in the bamboo, bowl of rice, it was a feast", while the "the children well fed from my carefree Paris".Also on this album is the song "Chanson des villes" ("Song of the Cities"), which was also a general anti-war song of the era, referencing several conflicts, including the well-known battle Dien Bien Phu, in the First Indo-China War, between France and Vietnamese forces: "My cities in blood, my cities shot... It's Dien Bien Phu... My bombarded cities".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — European Songs

Also on this album is the song "Chanson des villes" ("Song of the Cities"), which was also a general anti-war song of the era, referencing several conflicts, including the well-known battle Dien Bien Phu, in the First Indo-China War, between France and Vietnamese forces: "My cities in blood, my cities shot... It's Dien Bien Phu... My bombarded cities".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: My cities in ranks / My cities in blood / My cities shot / My cities gagged / It hurts so much / It's Guernica, it's Warsaw / Hiroshima or it's Paris / This Alesia of blood everywhere / It's Stalingrad / It's Điện Biên Phủ / It's Điện Biên Phủ / My open cities / My inert cities / My bombarded cities / My partitioned cities / It hurts so much... / Thousands of hostages in silence... / My cities in arms / My cities in tears / My machine-gunned cities / My mutilated cities... __________ French: Mes villes en rang / Mes villes en sang / Mes villes fusillées / Mes villes bâillonnées / Ça fait si mal / C'est Guernica, c'est Varsovie / Hiroshima ou c'est Paris / Cette Alésia du sang partout / C'est Stalingrad / c'est Điện Biên Phủ / C'est Điện Biên Phủ / Mes villes ouvertes / Mes villes inertes / Mes villes bombardées / Mes villes cloisonnées / Ça fait si mal... / Milliers d’otages dans le silence... / Mes villes en armes / Mes villes en larmes / Mes villes mitraillées / Mes villes mutilées...

About the artist

Born on 10 December 1928, in Paris, France, and died 21 February 2021, in Cordemais, France

Themes

Anti-War · Benefit Record

In collections

European Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]