Charles Aznavour, legend of song whose centenary of birth we are currently celebrating, distinguished himself during his long artistic career as an author, composer and performer, but also an actor for cinema and television… Music side , we know the successes of Aznavour sung by Aznavour. But do we know about Aznavour’s successes immortalized by other stars? In his early days as a singer, the artist whose muffled timbre aroused incessant criticism wrote for others, before finally making a name for himself. He subsequently continued to offer his services. Among the approximately 1,400 songs in his repertoire, he wrote many for Édith Piaf, Gilbert Bécaud, but also Johnny Hallyday, Marcel Amont, Eddie Constantine… Some were enormously successful and have become part of the collective memory . Here is a selection.
For Johnny Hallyday: “Retain the night” (1961)
Charles Aznavour and Johnny Hallyday, 19 years his junior, formed a strong friendship in the early 1960s. The former, who regularly welcomed the “idol of young people” into his house, wrote five songs for him. The most famous is Hold back the night, a text by Aznavour of which Georges Garvarentz, his brother-in-law and closest collaborator, made a tender and voluptuous ballad. Released in December 1961, the song was used the following year (in a shorter version) in the sketch film The Parisians directed by four directors. Marc Allégret signs the production of the sketch Sophie, with Catherine Deneuve and Johnny Hallyday. Also in 1962, the young singer recorded an English version, Hold Back The Sun, remained unpublished until 1993.
For Sylvie Vartan: “The most beautiful to go dancing” (1964)
Another hit from the tandem Charles Aznavour (for the lyrics) and Georges Garvarentz (for the music). The most beautiful to go dancing was originally part of the soundtrack of a film released in 1964. The film in question, Look for the idol, directed by Michel Boisrond, allows several music hall personalities to appear in their own roles. Aznavour and Garvarentz co-signed songs – among others – for Eddy Mitchell and his group at the time, Les Chaussettes Noirs, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-Jacques Debout, Frank Alamo, Nancy Holloway… But the song entrusted to Sylvie Vartan will experience a success beyond French borders and will triumph in particular in Japan. In 2018, Sylvie Vartan confided to Tele-Leisure with amusement that Johnny Hallyday, who shared his life at the time, hardly appreciated the song, judging the lyrics “very daring”. This is the sentence “If you want to harvest the spring of my days this evening” Who “shocked him enormously”, she said with a laugh before commenting: “Times have changed, haven’t they!” (see bonus video of the article Tele-Leisure )
For Juliette Gréco: “I hate Sundays” (1951)
Written by Charles Aznavour, composed by Florence Véran, the song I hate Sundays was initially refused by Édith Piaf. So, Juliette Gréco took it and recorded it in 1951, which contributed to her fame. On August 23 of the same year, Gréco won the Édith Piaf Prize for interpretation in Deauville. In the meantime, Piaf ended up recording it. Subsequently, Aznavour recorded his song himself, three times: in 1958, in 1964, then in 1970 in English under the title Sunday’s Not My Day.
For Gilbert Bécaud: “Mé qué mé qué” (1953)
When Charles Aznavour discovered the theme composed by Gilbert Bécaud in 1953, he did not write a sophisticated text, just words to define it. “the canvas”, reported the Franco-Armenian singer in November 2014 in The New Obs. This first sketch is called a monster. He remembered : “Once this monster was finished, Gilbert and I looked at each other: what were we going to do with it? [Bécaud] then proposed the song as is to a singer from the islands, Gilles Sala. Thinking that someone wanted to make fun of him, he refused it. It was ultimately Dario Moreno who created it [en 1954]. Gilbert recorded it too, then it was up to me to get on with it. There are three versions of this song which, to our great surprise, was a success. Joe Dassin will also take it again much later. Thinking that it belonged to folklore, the Americans stole it from us: they lost the case, they paid.” Among the other fruits of the partnership between Aznavour and Bécaud, we will also mention I am waiting for you.
For Édith Piaf: “Bluer than your eyes” (1951)
It was in 1946, through Francis Blanche, that Charles Aznavour, who then formed a duo with the pianist and composer Pierre Roche, met Édith Piaf. She takes him under her wing, takes him on tour then hires him as a handyman (secretary, manager, driver, opening singer when he goes solo…). Above all, from 1948, “la Môme” sang several of her texts, to music by Pierre Roche, Robert Chauvigny, Wayne Shanklin… Recorded in 1951, more blue than your eyes is a song for which Aznavour pens both the lyrics and the music. The young artist recorded his own version in 1952. In 1997, Aznavour re-recorded the song by combining his voice with that of Piaf, whom he accompanied with a second voice. A beautiful tribute.
For Édith Piaf: “Jezebel” (1951)
Jezebel, another famous song by Piaf for which Aznavour wrote the lyrics, is originally an American success in the repertoire of singer Frankie Laine, dating from April 1951. The song is by Wayne Shanklin, American author, composer and performer. The name “Jezebel” evokes a biblical character, Jezebel, an evil and perverse Phoenician princess. In Wayne Shanklin’s song, the narrator addresses a woman who inflicted all the torments on him. He experiences the feeling of love like a “obsession” almost “demonic” : “If ever the devil was born without a pair of horns/It was you, Jezebel, it was you.” A few months later, Aznavour offered Édith Piaf a French adaptation which was partly inspired by the original English text: “This demon who burned my heart/ This angel who dried my tears/ It was you, Jezebel, it was you/ These tears pierced with joy/ Jezebel, it was you.” In the French version, love for Jezebel also comes from a “obsession”, but this time it is due to the nagging pain of the departure – or disappearance – of the loved one.
For Marcel Amont: “The Mexican” (1962)
Disappeared on March 8, 2023, the very endearing Marcel Amont owes Charles Aznavour the greatest hit of his career, the inescapable Mexican, released in 1962. Aznavour composed this song with lyricist Jacques Plante, one of his great writing partners. Charles Aznavour will offer other titles to Marcel Amont, including Me the clown (co-signed with Jacques Mareuil).
Bonus: Aznavour behind two well-known samples
Who has never heard the punchy music that launches Laurent Delahousse’s magazines at the weekend on France 2? It was the Lille artist Roger Molls, alias Julien Amez by his real name, who signed it. In January 2022, the musician explained in The voice of the North that he had produced this piece, entitled Hipology, from the instrumental introduction of a song by Charles Aznavour, Like water, fire, wind (1969).
He had discovered this title on a vinyl borrowed from the Roubaix media library. “I took the four seconds of the intro that I looped and cut. A month and a half of work. Don’t believe it, once you have the sample, you have to keep it up”, he pointed out in the northern media.
Finally, who has never heard the famous instrumental part of the rap title What’s the Difference (1999) by Dr. Dre in which Eminem and Xzibit participate? It takes up the copper section of Because you believe by Aznavour, a song released in 1966.
The world of hip-hop, on both sides of the Atlantic, does not shy away from its pleasure of sampling the singer, as summarized The world in a video from October 2018. This is an opportunity to salute very great arrangers and orchestrators of Charles Aznavour’s records from this era: Paul Mauriat and Christian Gaubert.