Complainte de la butte patrick bruel biography

1955 song by Cora Vaucaire

"La Complainte de la Butte" (English: "The Lament of the Mound") is a French love song, written by Jean Renoir, set to music by Georges van Parys,^[1][2] and originally performed by Cora Vaucaire as a single and as part of the soundtrack for the 1955 film French Cancan written and directed by Jean Renoir.

History

The steps of the 'butte' (a small hill), seen from the top of the street of Saint-Vincent, and the 'wings of the mill' that are said to protect lovers in the song, are both references to the 'hill' of Montmartre in Paris.

As the song's lyrics read, 'From the top of street of Saint-Vincent, a poet and a stranger loved each other in the space of an instant, but he [the poet] never saw her again... Princess of the street, be welcome to my broken heart, my little beggar, I feel your cuffs seeking my hands, I feel your chest and your slender waist, I forget my sorrow, I feel on your lips the s