The story of "La Bohème", The famous song by Charles Aznavour
“The Bohemian, it meant we are happy,” do its lyrics trigger a feeling of reminiscence in you? That is indeed the genius of this famous song by Charles Aznavour.
You have certainly heard this timeless song, the most famous among the beautiful songs of Charles Aznavour hummed by your grandmother or your mother? “The Bohemian” is an essential French music, it has been embraced by all generations since its release in 1965.
But why is this song so timeless? It is certainly because it evokes a particular story in each of us. The meaning we give it differs from one individual to another while the words on it are the same, those of “The Bohemian.”
Who is Charles Aznavour
His childhood as a child artist
Let us first recall that Charles Aznavour was born in Paris during the interwar period, on May 22, 1924. His parents are Armenian, his mother from Turkey and his father of Georgian origin. He is immersed from his childhood in the artistic world as his family leads a life where music and dramatic art are present. From a very young age, Aznavour attends a school for performing arts children and it is at the age of 9 that he takes the stage at the Petit-Monde theater, he takes his stage name Aznavour very early on. He is therefore an artist from his childhood and this is undoubtedly one of the secrets of his success, he was rocked in the world of music very early.
He meets many artists thanks to the small family restaurant on rue de la Huchette in Paris: Le Caucase. Within this restaurant, Charles Aznavour performs for the customers accompanied by his sister on piano.
When World War II breaks out, the Aznavour family participates in the daily Resistance by hiding Jews and Armenians in their apartment.
His life as an artist
Charles Aznavour struggles to take off as an artist. He is spotted by Edith Piaf in 1946 who makes him her protégé and offers him to participate in her tour by being the opening act for her performances. For 8 years Charles Aznavour accompanied Edith Piaf as a pianist during her concerts.
In 1956 he experiences his first major success with the song “I could see myself already” in 1956. A song that speaks of the dreams of fame and glory of a musical artist.
It is especially in the 1960s that Aznavour meets with great success thanks to his work as a songwriter for other artists. He notably writes songs for singer Sylvie Vartan, Johnny Hallyday, and Mireille Mathieu.
An artist committed to various causes
Due to his Armenian origins, Charles Aznavour feels concerned about the Armenian cause. He became in 1995 a traveling ambassador of Armenia to UNESCO. At his death in 2018, the Director-General of UNESCO announced mourning the loss of a defender of cultural diversity and Francophonie.
One could define Aznavour as a committed artist. Indeed, he states that all the subjects that deeply touch him have been addressed throughout his songs. Thus, he writes about homosexuality with the title “as they say,” the feminist cause with the title “Women’s Rights” or the Armenian cause with the song “They have fallen.”
The musical style "in the Aznavour way"
The titles of Charles Aznavour are above all songs that fall into the category of 'popular song'. It remains at the top and is still today an essential part of French song.
He becomes in the 1960s an essential name in French variety, which designates a set of musical compositions in the French language composing several musical styles such as jazz, pop, and rock. It is at this moment that he knows great successes.
Charles Aznavour states that he regrets the ultra-commercialized side of his songs preferring that people remember his work rather than the sales figures he achieved during his life.
Charles Aznavour is a complete artist and an exceptional lyricist, songwriter, performer. He was even covered by the greatest artists in the world like Ray Charles, the famous American jazz singer, who sang “La mamma” in 1976 or Bing Crosby who covered “Yesterday again” the following year.
The story of his famous song, "The Bohemian"
The song “The Bohemian” was originally written by Jacques Pante for Georges Guétary, an operetta singer, ultimately performed by Charles Aznavour in 1965. It is one of the most emblematic songs of Aznavour's career, it has sold over 200,000 copies in France in records in the form of 45 RPM. It also enjoys international success and is translated and performed in five other languages by Charles Aznavour: in English, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
It reached the first place in the Turkish music chart, the third place in France, and the second place in Brazil. It is therefore a French song with immense international reach. It has contributed to shining a light on French culture internationally.
But what is this song about?
The song opens with lyrics that evoke a past time, a bygone time, which seems to be regretted by the author. “I speak to you of a time that those under twenty cannot know,” evokes a period in the youth probably of the protagonist of the song.
“The Bohemian” evokes the nostalgia of an artist who lived in a idyllic Montmartre for the Bohemian life but a Montmartre that no longer exists. It is the nostalgia of a place that has been completely transformed over the years. Throughout the song, the loss of the bohemian spirit of the place and of everyone's bohemian spirit is apparent.
The bohemian, for Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour in an interview given in 2012 explains what “The Bohemian” means to him. It is above all unconsciousness and total freedom, a moment where one can invent oneself artistically, but also build oneself in relation to others. Thus, it is a song that deals with the bohemian lifestyle, of a carefree artist's life in poverty.
However, it seems that this way of life no longer exists. It is a mise en abyme, because if the Montmartre so regretted by the protagonist of the song no longer exists, the lifestyle mentioned in “The Bohemian” no longer exists either according to Aznavour.
He already notes that the Bohemian of the 20th century is no longer that of the 19th century and that it was lived differently. Thus, the Bohemian seems to be a period of life that can be embodied in each of us in different forms, expressed as a period of renewal, social construction, or personal development.
Beyond a period of life, the Bohemian also designates a literary and artistic movement of the 19th century, characterized by living in poverty day by day. It is a form of romanticism, but more aristocratic than what could be defined in the 21st century as the social current “bourgeois-bohemian.”
Through this song, Aznavour warns us against well-ordered lifestyles in which there is no room for carefreeness and where everything is calculated. In short, he declares that the Bohemian is happiness and that this happiness has been lost forever.
But let us not be so pessimistic, it is a way of life that is being reborn in the 21st century thanks to individuals who embrace this bohemian lifestyle. The Greenwich Village is an attempt to reform the Bohemian and is famous for its attendance by many artists and its alternative culture.