He had a very peculiar voice which nobody in show business liked at first. He was short, ugly, already bald by 30 and of Armenian origins. But he didn't quit. Wrote his own scores and lyrics, wasn't just a voice but a writer and a musician too. He also wrote songs for other artists and acted in a few movies...
Emmenez-moi au bout de la terre
Emmenez-moi au pays des merveilles
Il me semble que la misère
Serait moins pénible au soleil.
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Olivier5
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Wed 3 Oct, 2018 03:30 am
Aznavour wrote more than a thousand songs for himself and others, I learnt today. He was also keen to reach out to non-francophone audiences. He got his lyrics translated in many languages and would learn them and perform them in English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, you name it, when he was touring the world.
Here's a Spanish album of his:
Translating poetry is of course one of the most difficult things to do, and the result is rarely at the level of the original. E.g. La Bohème in English... Not sure it really works...
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jcboy
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Mon 8 Oct, 2018 07:15 pm
Beautiful. Fenesta Vascia
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eurocelticyankee
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Wed 10 Oct, 2018 09:04 am
Two from Rondò Veneziano, the Venice in Peril album.
Terrified folks
Flee the evil that's inside them
When you meet one of them in the desert
He still finds ways to look away from you
Because his brother scares him
He is ashamed of his brother
So he rushes, crying
In the arms of the first Dady Colonel he can find
Who will commit him to war
Who promises him torture and prison
For whoever has done to his offsprings
The affront of a loving gaze
(Les gens épouvantés
Fuient le mal qui est en eux
Quand vous en croisez un dans le désert
Il trouve encore moyen de détourner les yeux
Car son frère lui fait peur
Il a honte de son frère
Alors il se précipite en pleurant
Dans les bras du premier Colonel Papa venu
Qui lui jure la guerre
Qui lui promet torture et prison
Pour celui qui a fait à son rejeton
L'affront d'un regard d'amour)
