Plaisir d'amour

One of my favourite classical (wince!) songs at the moment is "Plaisir d'amour". It's a beautiful and very moving song of lost love written in 1780 by Jean Martini (aka Johann Scwartzendorf, of all things!) to words by Jean de Florian. The song inspired Elvis Presley's "Can't help falling in love with you". I've been practising it for a while now but still can't quite "open" my voice on the high F's and G's. But, as my teacher says, it will come with time, and I know it will. I think it's a must for the CD I'm planning to record.

The lyrics of the song go like this:

Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.
J'ai tout quitté pour l'ingrate Silvie,
Elle me quitte et prend un autre amans.
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment,
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.
"Tant que cette eau coulera doucement
Vers ce ruisseau qui borde la prairie,
Je t'aimerai", me répétait Silvie.
L'eau coule encore, elle a changé pourtant.
Plaisir d'amour ne dure qu'un moment
Chagrin d'amour dure toute la vie.

Pleasure of love lasts only a moment,
Chagrin of love is lifelong.
I left everything for the ingrate Silvie,
She leaves and takes another lover.
Pleasure of love lasts only a moment,
Chagrin of love is lifelong.
"As long as this water will run gently
Towards this brook which borders the meadow,
I will love you", repeated to me Silvie.
The water still runs, Sylvie changed, however.
Pleasure of love lasts only a moment,
Chagrin of love is lifelong.

Being the philistine I am, I only discovered it recently, a couple of months ago to be more or less exact, on my friend Davor's blog. Joan Baez did a version of it, as did Brigitte Bardot, Charlotte Church and Andrea Boccelli, among others. But my favourite version is by Nana Mouskouri (the one Davor posted). Now, I'd listened to Nana as a kid (growing up in Belmore, at that time a very heavily Greek populated suburb, it was more or less obligatory that my friends and I sat around on Saturday mornings watching "The Greek Show" where Nana made many guest appearances) but had never heard this song before.

And see, that's the beauty of blogging to me. Besides getting some personal satisfaction from writing my own blog, I get even more from reading my friends' blogs and learning something new with every post - about the world we live in, about a new song, about a new artist, and most importantly, about them. I feel privileged to be able to take a look at what's going on in their lives and get to know them better. Some of my friends are a suburb away, some are on the other side of the world. But this blogging, perverse as it sometimes may seem putting our hearts and souls "out there", is something that, even though continents apart, keeps us close together.

So without further adue, here is the lovely Nana Mouskouri singing "Plaisir d'amour". I might take her lead and sing it in D too instead of F so I don't sound like a cat in heat on those high F's and G's!

Thanks for the inspiration Davor! And thanks again Ross for inpiring me to sing anew!