Hymne à l'amour

Well, given the day I thought something suitably romantic might be in order.

Hymne à l'amour was a number originally performed by Edith Piaf, who wrote the lyrics. It was first performed in 1949 in New York, and was written about her lover, the boxer Marcel Cedran.

Cedran was to die in a plane crash before the song was recorded the following year by Piaf.

For many Piaf is the embodiement of French music, although personally I've always thought of her as a bit before my time for her work to really register with me.

There have been many cover versions of this song over the years, and the English adaptation of the song was a hit for many artists too, with covers from the 1950s to the present day by artists as diverse as Cyndi Lauper, Barry Manilow, Vera Lynn and Nana Mouskouri.

It's very much the kind of song performed by easy listening artists or stars of musical theatre. Not really the kind of thing that I'd normally have on my playlist, but given the romantic theme to the day, it's certainly an appropriate song.

I've included a version of the English language version of the song performed by Jeff Buckley, along with another more recent take of the French language vesion of the song by Josh Grobin.






Hymne A L'amour - Josh Groban by amitie-58