Sad French Songs

For the past couple of days I've been repeatedly listening to French songs. There's just something enchantingly romantic about that language... or maybe that's just me .So I guess it's just personal bias that I find so much sadness in the French songs I listen to... but, then again, they may just really be bitter and sad.

So here's my 5 Sad French Songs of the Moment, again, in no particular order.

• Vivre from Notre-Dame de Paris. It's really not so sad. It's a very hopeful song in fact. Vivre pour celui qu'on aime. Aimer plus que l'amour même, Esmeralda sings about the power of love in the face of death.

  Listening to it, though, the song can make you teary-eyed. Its melody delivers the emotions from the lyrics.

  Celine Dion has an English cover of the song, Live for the One I Love, but I like the French version from the musical better since Celine Dion's version has slightly altered lyrics.

• Un bel di from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Butterfly sings about her dream to one day be reunited with her love. If you know the story of Madama Butterfly, you'll realize just how sad that song is.

  If you're not very familiar with the story of Butterfly, then perhaps you are better acquainted with the musical Miss Saigon which is largely based on Puccini's famous 3-part Opera. Now, if Miss Saigon would have a counterpart for Un bel di then that would be I Still Believe.

• Rufus Wainwright's Complainte de la Butte from Moulin Rouge. I can't remember exactly what role this song plays in the movie, but I remember that flick was such a sad, sad love story.

  Now, Rufus Wainwright's voice is hardly what I'd consider romantic or enchanting, but the simple instrumentation and repetitive melody of the song is quite nostalgic.

• C'est Fini la Comedie by Dalida. I just find this song about moving on quite... well... moving. It's about two lovers who have gone on with their separate lives. The song sort of recalls their affair but acknowledges that what they had was finally over.

  The UP Madz gave a very beautiful choral rendition of the song which is even more eerily bitter.

• Claude François' Comme d'habitude. If you don't understand French and just listen to the melody, you'd probably think that it's a happy song, but no! That is just so wrong.

  Look up the English translation and you'll realize that the fortissimo parts are not because of the singer's joy but because of angst.

  The beautiful Eva Lopez has a bossa nova version and the UP Madz also has a choral rendition.