Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Edith Piaf sings "LA VIE EN ROSE"



Edith Piaf - La Vie En Rose by bigproblem11

One of the most ravishing voices of the last century takes on one of her most beautiful melodies. She wrote the French lyrics, the music was written by Louis Gugliemi Not exactly pretty, she's still seductive to watch in performance. I wish I knew what film this was from.

Here's the same classic song performed by Grace Jones in 1977:



And by Louis Armstrong, with English lyrics by Mac David:




More Edith Piaf Links:

Edith Piaf - The Little Sparrow

EdithPiaf.com

The Trailer to a recent film about Edit Piaf, also named "La Vie En Rose"


Here's a selection from Edith Piaf's excellent 1957 Carnegie Hall recording. I highly recommend this album for Americans seeking an easy entry into Edit Piaf's world. it's nicely recorded, she's in great voice, and she explains what every song is about in English. Many of her songs were narrative songs, deeply tragic stories about madness, lost love, and even murder, and she proves to be almost as gifted a story teller as a singer.


Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Trip Down Market Street Before the Fire, San Francisco, April 1906

From Archive.org, an amazing restoration of 105 year old footage of a moment before disaster stuck.




A report on this film from Sixty Minutes: