“La Vie en Rose” (Meaning: Life in pink; Pronunciation: la vi ɑ̃ ʀoz) is the most famous and signature song of Edith Piaf (1915-1963), France’s greatest singer of all time. La Vie en Rose is a love song and has many translations including “Life in rosy hues”, “Life in happy hues” or “Life seen through rose-tinted glasses”. Show
Continue improving your French with the lyrics to many other famous French songs on French Learner including: Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien (Edith Piaf), Dernière Danse (Indilia), Port of Amsterdam (Jacques Brel), La Bohème (Charles Aznavour), Les Feuilles Mortes (Yves Montand), La Mer (Charles Trenet), Les Champs Élysées (Joe Dassin), C’est Si Bon (Yves Montand) and Ne Me Quitte Pas (Jacques Brel). Toward the bottom of the post, we’ve included the original French lyrics with English translation. We also have a section providing grammatical analysis of the French lyrics. At the end of the page you can listen to La Vie en Rose on YouTube or Spotify. La Vie en Rose song backgroundEdith Piaf was born in 1915 and she started her singing career in the 1930s in Paris. She is known for her incredibly unique singing voice despite her height of only 4 feet 8 inches and stage freight. Piaf died at the age of 47 in 1963. This offers a great introduction and background information about Edith Piaf’s top songs. In lyrics of La Vie en Rose, Piaf evokes innocent and youthful feelings of love she has for a man, singing “When he takes me into his arms, he speaks to me in a soft voice, I see la vie en rose“. La Vie en Rose came out in 1946 at the end of World War II and became one of the biggest French music hits of that era and of all time. In 2007, a biographical feature film entitled La Vie en Rose about the singer and song won actress Marion Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress award. Other notable recordings of La Vie en Rose has been made by artists including Yves Montand, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Bette Midler, Donna Summer and Lady Gaga. La Vie en Rose – Lyrics analysisIn the following section we break down the French lyrics to La Vie en Rose line-by-line and highly vocabulary and grammar points of interest. Des yeux qui font baiser les miens We translated this line to “Eyes that kiss mine”. Les yeux means eyes and is the plural of “un œil” (an eye). The verb baiser translates to “to kiss”. “Les miens” is a possessive pronoun meaning “mine”. Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche We translated this line to “A smile that hides under his mouth”. The preposition sur translate to “on”. So, technically the line is “on his mouth”. The word “sa” is a possessive adjective and can translate to both his and her. Voilà le portrait sans retouche We translated this line to “A portrait that needs no touching up”. The word voilà has many translations including “there is”. In the context of this line, Piaf is painting a metaphorical picture of her lover and suggesting that he’s perfect just the way he is. De l’homme auquel j’appartiens In this line, “de l’homme auquel j’appartiens” (from the man I belong to), the word auquel is a relative pronoun. The literal translation of auquel is “to which” or “to whom”. In colloquial French, auquel could also be written “à qui”. Quand il me prend dans ses bras This line translates “When he takes me in his arms”. The verb “prend” comes from the French verb prendre, which means to take. The expression, “pendre quelqu’un dans les bas” also translates to “to hug”. Hence, the line could also translates to “when he hugs me”. Il me parle tout bas This line translates to “He speaks to me in a soft voice”. The “me” in this line is not a reflexive pronoun, but an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”. Translation for the expression “parler tout bas” include to speak softly or quietly and to whisper. Je vois la vie en rose This line, which also includes the title of the song has many translations including “I see life through rose-tinted glasses”. It is suggesting that when Piaf is with her lover, she is able to see and experience life through a filter of joy and happiness. Il me dit des mots d’amour This line translates to “He says words of love to me”. Again, the “me” is an indirect object pronoun meaning “to me”. Ditcomes from the verb dire, which means to say. Amour is the French word for love. This page covers the various way to say I love you in French. Des mots de tous les jours This line translates to “everyday words”. Tous les jours means everyday. We believe that in this line Piaf is suggesting the lover can say any sort of basic banalities and she feels happy. Et ça me fait quelque chose This line can translate to both “And that does something to me” or “And that does something for me”. The word “fait” comes from faire, which means to make or to do. Il est entré dans mon coeur Speed up your learning with the right audio courseMy friend, Camille, at Frenchtoday.com has helped thousands of students to build a solid base in their French speaking since 1999. She is now offering all of her audio courses at 20% off until September 4th. Click here to learn more! This line translates to “He entered my heart”. Entrer (to come into or to enter) is a verb that requires the use of être as an auxiliary (helping) verb in the passé composé (a French past tense used for describing past actions which occurred at a specific time). Une part de bonheur This line was difficult to translate. Our translation was “A part of happiness”. Steve at Linq translates this line to “a slice of happiness”. Dont je connais la cause The line “dont je connais la cause” translates to “French which I know the cause”. Dontis also a relative pronoun, with translations including whose, of which and that. C’est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui This line translates to “It’s me for him and him for me”. Both lui and moi are stressed pronouns, translating to “him” and “me”. This page covers stressed pronoun lui and this page covers various ways to say “me” in French. Dans la vie, Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie. This line translates to “In life, He said it to me, and swore it for life.”. In this line, the “l'” in “l’a dit” and “l’a duré” translates to it. This a direct object pronoun and means “it” to replace a previously mentioned noun. Et dès que je l’aperçois This line translates literally to “And once I realize it”. Translations of “dès que“ include once, as soon as and the moment that. “Aperçois” comes from the verb “apercevoir”, which means to perceive, notice and realize. Alors je sens en moi This line translates to both “So I sense within myself” or “Then I feel within myself”. Alors has multiple translations including so and then. The reflexive verb verb se sentir means “to feel”. Mon coeur qui bat This line translates to “My heart that beats”. Qui is a relative pronoun that means “that” or “which”. Bat comes from the verb battre, which means to beat. Des nuits d’amour a ne plus en finir This line translates to “Nights of love that never end”. The grammar for this line is very difficult. “Ne plus” comes from the special negation rule “ne + verb + plus”, which means anymore. The word “en” is an indirect object pronoun. Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place This line translates to “A great happiness that takes its place”. Translation of “bonheur” including happiness, joy, pleasure and delight. Des ennuis des chagrins, des phases We translated this line to “Troubles, griefs, bad times”. Ennuis translates to troubles, problems and worries. Chagrin is somewhat synonymous to ennuis and translates to unhappiness, grief, sorrow and sadness. We translated “phases” loosely to phases as “phases of bad times”. Heureux, heureux a en mourir This line translates loosely to “To die from happiness”. The word “en” in this context can translate to “from”. En is an object pronoun here, filling in for “mourir de + object”, or “to die from + object (happiness)”. La Vie en Rose French lyrics and English translationDes yeux qui font baiser les
miens, Eyes that kiss mine, Quand il me prend dans ses bras (chorus) When he takes me into his arms Il me dit des mots d’amour, He says words of love to me, Il est entre dans mon coeur He has entered into my heart C’est lui pour moi. Moi pour lui It’s me for him and him for me Et dès que je
l’aperçois And once I realize Des nuits d’amour à ne plus en finir Nights of love that don’t end Quand il me prend dans ses bras When he takes me into his arms Il me dit des mots d’amour, He says words of love to me, Il est entré dans mon coeur He enters into my heart C’est toi pour moi. Moi pour toi It’s me for him and him for me Et dès que je l’aperçois And once I realize Listen to La Vie en Rose on YouTube & SpotifyBelow you can listen to La Vie en Rose and following along with the French and English lyrics above. If you have an account, you can listen to La Vie en Rose on Spotify. Discover more French songs:
David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho. What is the meaning of the song La Vie en Rose?Directly translated to "life in pink", "La vie en rose" essentially means seeing life through rose-coloured glasses. Living with an attitude or outlook of positivity, trying to see beauty in the everyday; like you do when you first fall in Love.
Is La Vie en Rose in a Disney movie?Watch La Vie En Rose | Full movie | Disney+ An astonishing biopic following the life of Edith Piaf. From the slums of Paris to the limelight of New York, Piaf's life was a battle to sing and survive, live and love.
Where is Edith Piaf from?Paris, France
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