Que reste-t-il de nos amours ?
"Que reste-t-il de nos amours ?" (French pronunciation: [kə ʁɛstə t‿il də noz‿amuʁ], What Remains of Our Love?) is a French popular song, with music by Léo Chauliac & Charles Trenet and lyrics by Charles Trenet.[1][2]
The song was first recorded by Charles Trenet in 1943. It was used extensively in the François Truffaut film Stolen Kisses (1968), its French title, Baisers volés, having been taken from the song's lyrics. The song was also used in the films "Iris" (2001), "Something's Gotta Give" (2003) and "Ces amours-là" (2010).
The song is best known to English-speaking audiences as "I Wish You Love", with new lyrics by Albert A. Beach: introduced in 1957 by Keely Smith as the title cut of her solo debut album, "I Wish You Love" would become one of Smith's signature songs. Smith's debut album otherwise consisted of standards: she would recall: "[when] we sat down to select the songs [record producer] Voyle Gilmore...played a bunch of standards [then] said: 'I want to play you a really pretty French song...it won't mean nothing and you won't do it in the album but I just thought I'd play it for you' and he played 'I Wish You Love'. So, at the end of him playing all these songs...I said: 'Babe, I'll sing any 11 songs y'all want me to but I want to sing 'I Wish You Love'."[3]
It has since become a standard, with many other recordings. Gloria Lynne's 1963 recording for the Everest label reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964, also top #10 on the Easy Listening chart (edited from the Hot 100), and #3 on Cashbox Magazine's R&B chart (Billboard did not publish standard R&B listings during 1964).
Other versions of the song were recorded by Dalida in 1972 and by Rony Verbiest in 2001. An Italian version entitled "Che cosa resta" was recorded by Franco Battiato in 1999.
Lyrics (in French)[4]
Que reste-t-il de nos amours ?
Ce soir le vent qui frappe à ma porte
Me parle des amours mortes
Devant le feu qui s' éteint
Ce soir c'est une chanson d' automne
Dans la maison qui frissonne
Et je pense aux jours lointains
{Refrain:}
Que reste-t-il de nos amours
Que reste-t-il de ces beaux jours
Une photo, vieille photo
De ma jeunesse
Que reste-t-il des billets doux
Des mois d' avril, des rendez-vous
Un souvenir qui me poursuit
Sans cesse
Bonheur fané, cheveux au vent
Baisers volés, rêves mouvants
Que reste-t-il de tout cela
Dites-le-moi
Un petit village, un vieux clocher
Un paysage si bien caché
Et dans un nuage le cher visage
De mon passé
Les mots les mots tendres qu'on murmure
Les caresses les plus pures
Les serments au fond des bois
Les fleurs qu'on retrouve dans un livre
Dont le parfum vous enivre
Se sont envolés pourquoi?
{au Refrain}
English Translation
What Remains of Our Love?
Tonight the wind that slaps at my door
Speaks to me of past love affairs
Before the fire that wanes
Tonight it's a song of autumn
In the house that shivers
And I think of days long ago
{Refrain: }
What remains of our love?
What remains of these beautiful days?
A photo, an old photo
Of my youth
What remains of the love letters
Of months in April, of rendez-vous
A memory that follows me
Incessantly
Withered good times, wind in hair
Stolen kisses, moving dreams
What remains of all that?
Tell me
A village, an old hometown (<literally steeple)
A countryside so well hidden
And in a cloud the dear face
Of my past
The words the tender words that one murmurs
The caresses most pure
The vows deep in the woods
The flowers one finds again in a book
The perfume of which inebriates you
That disappeared why?
{Refrain}
I Wish You Love (English (American?) Remake)[5]
I Wish You Love I wish you bluebirds in the spring To give your heart a song to sing And then a kiss, but more than this I wish you love And in July a lemonade To cool you in some leafy glade I wish you health But more than wealth I wish you love My breaking heart and I agree That you and I could never be So with my best My very best I set you free I wish you shelter from the storm A cozy fire to keep you warm But most of all when snowflakes fall I wish you love But most of all when snowflakes fall I wish you love I wish you love I wish you love, love, love, love, love I wish you love
Notable Recordings
- Dalida
- Ronnie Aldrich
- The Artistics
- Isabelle Aubret
- Baguette Quartette
- Chet Baker
- The Bachelors
- Long John Baldry
- Michael Ball
- Shirley Bassey
- Gianni Basso
- Franco Battiato
- Alla Bayanova (in Romanian as "Ce-a Mai Rămas?")
- Vicki Benet
- Paloma Berganza
- Maria Bethânia
- Bruno Bertone
- Ray Brown
- Ray Bryant
- Ana Caram (in Portuguese as "Nossos Amores")
- Joyce Carr
- Liane Carroll
- Johnny Case
- Jeanne Castle
- Ray Charles
- Rosemary Clooney
- Nat King Cole
- Natalie Cole
- Harry Connick Jr.
- Chris Connor
- Russell Conway
- Sam Cooke
- Van Craven
- Bing Crosby
- Bette Davis
- Joey DeFrancesco
- Tony DeSare
- Blossom Dearie
- Marlene Dietrich
- Joe Diorio
- Bill Doggett
- Arielle Dombasle
- The Drifters
- Harry "Sweets" Edison
- Diego Figueiredo & Cyrille Aimée
- Ella Fitzgerald
- The Five Jades
- Buddy Fo
- Sergio Franchi
- Vincent Franco
- Alison Fraser
- Friends of Dean Martinez
- Laura Fygi
- Judy Garland
- John Gary
- João Gilberto
- Benny Goodman
- Eydie Gorme
- Robert Goulet
- Graciela
- Buddy Greco
- Benny Green
- Grant Green
- Francoise Hardy
- Niki Haris
- Billy Hawks
- Bill Henderson
- Ian Hendrickson-Smith
- Ron Hevener
- Earl Hines
- Engelbert Humperdinck
- Willie Hutch
- Chrissie Hynde
- Jermaine Jackson
- Joni James
- Joe Bataan
- Jack Jones
- Patricia Kaas
- Stacey Kent
- Rebecca Kilgore
- Kathy Kirby
- La Rondalla de Saltillo (in Spanish as "Te deseo amor", it reached number #1 in Mexico in 1969)
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- Julie London
- Gloria Lynne
- Dean Martin
- Nancy Martinez
- Johnny Mathis
- Chris Montez
- Mark Murphy
- Lisa Ono
- Trijntje Oosterhuis
- Rosa Passos and Henri Salvador
- Esther Phillips
- Princess
- Jonathan Richman
- Giant Sand
- George Shearing
- Frank Sinatra
- The Singers Unlimited
- The Skatalites
- Keely Smith
- Rod Stewart and Chris Botti
- Barbra Streisand
- David T. Walker
- Dionne Warwick
- Kristy White
- Barney Wilen
- Andy Williams
- Nancy Wilson
- Victor Wood
- Rachael Yamagata
- Pia Zadora
- Vero Perez
References
- ↑ https://mgonline.gema.de/werke/detail.do?title=QUE+RESTE-T-IL+DE+NOS+AMOURS&dbkey=1963480
- ↑ http://www.universalmusic.fr/servlet/FrontProductServlet?action=view&product_id=4400697302
- ↑ "The Mr Lucky Interview: Crazy For Keely Smith". MrLucky.com. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- ↑ "QUE RESTE-T-IL DE NOS AMOURS ? - Lyrics - International Lyrics Playground". Lyricsplayground.com. 2007-10-10. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ↑ "Rachael Yamagata - I Wish You Love Lyrics". Lyrics007.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.