Il Y Avait... A Glorious Moment of Understanding

I wish that I could download music to my blog. Until then, I will leave you to listen to "Il Y Avait" at this link.

I really love Edith Piaf's music. I love the songs themselves, the fact that they're in beautiful French, and the way Piaf rolls her "er's"and makes everything lo-ong and roma-antic. My favorite Piaf song is called "Il Y Avait" (see the lyrics at the end of this post). It's a song about two people who fall in love one spring and whose love passes with the season.

The rhyme is wonderful, particularly when it involves a lot of rolled r's: "Il y avait le printemps, le printemps des romans qui passait en chantant; et cherchait deux coeurs troublants, leur preter ses serments et en faire des amants." (Translation: There was a springtime, one of novels, that passed singingly, searching for two troubled hearts, to lend them its vows (of love) and make lovers of them.) It would be a beautiful phrase in English, but in French, when everything rhymes and ends in r, it's so much better!

Another beautiful aspect of this song is the personification of happiness, or le bonheur. When the couple falls in love, Piaf sings that: "Il y a eu la chaleur, la chaleur du bonheur qui leur montait aux coeurs." (There was the heat of happiness mounting in their hearts.) Later, after their romance falls apart, Piaf says, "Il y a eu le bonheur, qui s'est enfui en pleurs d'avoir brisé deux coeurs." There was happiness, which ran away in tears, having broken two hearts. Talk about breaking someone's heart! It breaks mine to hear those lines! I love the way happiness seems like a child who hurt someone unknowingly, innocently, and then regrets it. I love the way happiness can be described as breaking hearts. It is true that happiness and regret are two sides of the same coin. "Et la fille aux yeux reveurs.. tandis que dans leurs coeurs s'installait le bonheur." (And the girl with dreamy eyes, while happiness settled itself in their hearts.)

Another interesting point about this song is the way it shifts from imperfect to past tense.

The first phrases all begin, "Il y avait," or "there was." That's the tense used to describe a scene, the way things were, but not to describe concrete events with beginnings, middles, and ends.

The second phrase, which describes the lovers' first encounters, uses "il y a eu," not "il y avait." I think it's because this phrase describes specific moments and events, rather than a general situation.

The third phrase, describing the lovers in bed, uses "il y avait," again. It starts by by describing their room, a case where "il y avait," makes sense. Then it describes the couple "qui s'aimait et leurs phrases parlées de toujours." (The couple that made love and their timeless phrases.) "Timeless," situations definitely warrant the imperfect tense.

The fourth phrase, describing both the lovers at the height of their romance and the moment when springtime love moves on, uses the past tense. I think it's again because this phrase describes a particular moment, "il y a eu le moment, où soudain le printemps a repris ses serments," (there was the moment when suddenly Spring took back its vows) that it uses the past tense. I think that because this phrase used "il y a eu, " in some phrases, it used it for all of them, even though some, like "Il y a eu ces deux corps éperdus de bonheur et de joie sans pareil," (there were two bodies, wild with happiness and joy without equal) really are setting a scene and describing a general situation and could have taken the past tense.

The fifth and last phrase goes back to the imperfect tense. At the very end, the song uses the future tense, "Tant qu'il y aura des amants, il y aura des serments qui ne dureront qu'un printemps" (as long as there are lovers, there will be vows that only last a Spring.)

Or maybe the author just wanted to alternate between "il y avait" and "il y a eu."

It's a beautiful song in every way. The song gives me goosebumps even now. And the moment when I first understood the lyrics, one phrase at a time, was certainly "un moment merveilleux" of "joie sans pareil." It's thrilling to understand something for the first time, in an instant. It is like a thunderbolt, like a "coup de foudre." "Le coup de foudre," also means love at first sight. It's an appropriate double entendre. Happiness settled itself in my heart and stayed.

Il Y Avait - taken from lyrics.time (and edited by me)
Lyrics: Charles Aznavour; Music: Charles Aznavour and Pierre Roche

Il y avait un garçon qui vivait simplement
Travaillant dans le faubourg
Il y avait une fille qui rêvait sagement
En attendant l’amour
Il y avait le printemps
Le printemps des romans
Qui passait en chantant
Et cherchait deux coeurs troublants
Pour prêter ses serments
Et en faire des amants

Il y a eu un moment merveilleux
Lorsque leurs regards se sont unis
Il y a eu ces instants délicieux
Où sans rien dire ils se sont compris
Il y a eu le destin
Qui a poussé le gamin
A lui prendre la main
Il y a eu la chaleur
La chaleur du bonheur
Qui leur montait au coeur

Il y avait cette chambre meublée
Aux fenêtres donnantes sur la cour
Il y avait ce couple qui s’aimait
Et leurs phrases parlées de toujours
Il y avait le gamin
Qui promenait sa main
Dans les cheveux de lin
De la fille aux yeux rêveurs
Tandis que dans leur coeurs
S’installait le bonheur

Il y a eu ces deux corps éperdus
De bonheur et de joies sans pareils
Il y a eu tous les rêves perdus
Qui remplaçaient leurs nuits sans sommeil
Il y a eu le moment
Où soudain le printemps
A repris ses serments
Il y a eu le bonheur
Qui s’est enfui en pleurs
D’avoir brisé deux coeurs

Il y avait un garçon qui vivait simplement
Travaillant dans le faubourg
Il y avait une fille qui pleurait en songeant
A son premier amour
Il y avait le destin
Qui marchait son chemin
Sans s’occuper de rien
Tant qu’il y aura des amants
Il y aura des serments qui ne dureront qu’un printemps…