L'enfant mort
1968 · Disques du Cavalier CVR LM 85 · Cabrières-d'Avignon, France
- Artist
- Hélène Martin
- Title
- L'enfant mort
- Release
- René Char - Terres mutilées
- Year
- 1968
- Label
- Disques du Cavalier # CVR LM 85
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- French
- Country
- Cabrières-d'Avignon, France
- Genre
- Chanson · Chanson
- Primary theme
- Peace, Protest & Anti-War
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
Chanson artist, born on 10 December 1928, in Paris, France, and died 21 February 2021, in Cordemais, France. She released this charity record to raise money for children, with the song "L'enfant mort" ("The Dead Child"). This song also featured on her 1968 album René Char - Terres mutilées (Disques du Cavalier # CVR LM 84). Another version was released in 1968 by Francesca Solleville, on the album La fine fleur N°5 (La Fine Fleur # 504). 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 are well fed from my carefree Paris". The front cover features Vietnamese children running. The back of sleeve says: "Vietnam, Biafra ... Pour Un Enfant, each disc sold will contribute to the care or adoption of a third-world child - Disques Du Cavalier" ("chaque disque vendu contribuera aux soins ou à l'adoption d'un enfant du tiers-monde").
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
orn on 10 December 1928, in Paris, France, and died 21 February 2021, in Cordemais, France