Today while playing with my iTunes, I mistakenly clicked on one of my favorite songs by Edith Piaf - Hymne a l'Amour" (Hymn to Love).
What is it about a troubled fabulous woman singing about love and loss that gets me? They used to be called torch singers because they sing torch songs -- a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, where one party is either oblivious to the existence of the other, or where one party has moved on. (Thank you Wikipedia).
That must be it actually... growing up gay in the 70s and 80s you quickly learn that telling people who you really like was probably the fastest way to get teased or beaten up. So these songs and singers gave a way of expressing it.
Add in another language and it also added that little bit of superiority and smugness that I always love.
At the same time, there are those anthems of female power like "I Will Survive" that promise a bright new day. I guess the word "diva" aptly describes all of these singers and songs -- despite the bad name it's been given by models (Naomi I'm looking at you) and other high maintenance women.
So here are some clips of some of my favorites, enjoy (most of these are not in English)
If you can't see the videos, go directly to my blog: postcardsfromthebushrecession.blogspot.com, or click on the titles and they'll take you to YouTube)
The song that started this post. Edith Piaf, known as the Little Sparrow of France was the first torch singer I heard. My French teacher brought in a song of hers to teach us the correct pronunciatiion and accents of some words. I've been hooked ever since. My favorite line is "Je me fou du monde entiere." Literally - I don't care about the world; but in this sense it means "Screw the world"
Includes possibly the best lyrics ever: Avec mes souvenirs, j'ai allume le feu, mes chagrins mes plaisirs, je nai plus besoin d'eux (I made a fire out of my memories; the sadness and the happiness I no longer need)
UN ANO DE AMOR (Year of Love)
First heard this in Almodovar's High Heels. Didn't know what the words meant until years later.
Best lyric - Si ahora tu te vas pronto descubriras que los dias son eternos and vacios sin mi (If you leave now, you'll soon discover that the days are long and empty with out me) Who hasn't want to say that at the end of a relationship!?!
The one and only Gloria Gaynor. This was the first song I remember hearing on the radio. (There was no way I was going to be straight after this.)
When I lived in France a friend turned me on to Barbara (not Streisand). This song is about an old woman who is selling her possessions at an auction. As the pieces of her past go by her, she remembers they all belonged to her when she first fell in love with another woman. She tries to stop the sale but its done. And she's left with a just few hundred bills not even her memories remain.
This clip is the one I found with the best sound. It's subtitled but not English subtitles.
Both Jennifer Hudson and Jennifer Holliday rocked this out. But Holliday sang it first.
Another of my French divas. Dalida sang in so many languages. This song is about all the things people do so they don't have to be alone. I love how she's so dramatic - almost drag queen-ish in this clip!
MOURIR SUR SCENE (To die on stage)
Dalida again, singing about how she doesn't want to die alone in bed, but rather onstage
surrounded by adoring fans. A little egomaniacal bit I love it.
surrounded by adoring fans. A little egomaniacal bit I love it.
If I'm not mistaken she committed suicide in the 80s.
Best lyric: "Moi je veux mourir fusillee de lasers devant une salle comble" -- I want to die shot through
with lasers in front of a sold out crowd
with lasers in front of a sold out crowd
