For me, “La Mer” is a love song to the sea, shore and sky, which is why Tom and I decided to offer it during a service for Creationtide in September 2024. On the appointed day, I had to be elsewhere for family reasons, so our recording of this song is only available in the recorded version of the service that went out on Sunday 15 September: https://youtu.be/CkaMrUMlcjE
Trenet said that he had written an initial version of the song’s lyrics as a poem at the age of 16, many years before he came up with a tune for it, which didn’t happen until 1943. The song was not recorded until 1945, by Roland Gerbeau, and then by Trenet himself in 1946. Over the following 20 years, more than 100 different interpretations were recorded, and by the time Trenet died in 2001, there were over 4000 different recordings by singers as diverse as Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard, Julio Inglesias, Dalida and Demis Roussos. The song was brought to a whole new generation of fans when Trenet’s original recording was used in the closing minutes of “Mr Bean’s Holiday” in 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Iykn4mBT9U
The lyrics, and a poetic translation are:
| La mer, qu’on voit danser Le long des golfes clairs A des reflets d’argent, la mer Des reflets changeants sous la pluie |
The sea, see it dance
Playing along the long shore N’ when it showers, the sea shines bright Splaying the light even more |
| La mer au ciel d’été
confond ses blancs moutons |
The sea, reflects the summer sky
N’ confounds those ivory sheep Shepherd of blue, you watch the view Revealing the angels as they greet you |
| Voyez, près des étangs Ces grands roseaux mouillés Voyez ces oiseaux blancs Et ces maisons rouillées |
See! Circling the ponds
Tall reeds glistening green See! Homes a rusty red White gulls calling the sea . . . |
| La mer, les a bercés Le long des golfes clairs Et d’une chanson d’amour La mer a bercé mon cœur pour la vie |
The Sea swings along shore
To sing a song of l’amour Waves of a tune of love for me, For all of my life, for eternity! |
A more exact translation is:
The sea that we see dance along the clear bay has reflections of silver.
The sea, changing reflections under the rain.
The sea to the summer sky confounds those white sheep with the angels so pure.
The sea, shepherd of infinite azure.
Look! Near the ponds, those tall reeds!
Look! Those white birds and those rusty homes!
The sea, rocks (like in a cradle) them along the clear bay
And in a love song, the sea cradled my heart for life.
But of course that doesn’t scan well with the rhythms and meter of the melody, hence the need for a more poetic translation.
Carol P
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 