Meaningful songs #10 - CHARLES AZNAVOUR

This is the tenth in an occasional series of songs from my collection, with the intent of introducing music to younger readers that they may gain appreciation of music from the classic years, 1957-1990. 

I have lived long enough to hear the "popular" music industry become ever-more formulaic, lazy, uninspiring and cynical; delivering "units" and "artistes" as interesting and memorable as polished mud.

Meaningful songs that eloquently convey a story, sentiment, or social comment and make it to national consciousness are rare these days. If you agree this song is meaningful, please introduce it to someone young; they might enjoy becoming "musical archaeologists".

Todays song, titled "She", released in 1974, is by a French singer called CHARLES AZNAVOUR.

Charles Aznavour

Hear the song here

I love this song because my mum loved it and I loved her. Though she died very early this song allows me to see her again in my memories, sometimes with tears.  As a lament to a woman not yet met, Charles Aznavour speculates about characteristics she may exhibit, but non-the-less he would accept those as "souvenirs",  should they ever meet. To read about his life start here.

SHE

She may be the face I can't forget

A trace of pleasure I regret

May be the treasure

or the price I have to pay

She may be the song that summer sings

May be the chill that autumn brings

May be a hundred different things

Within the measure of the day

She may be the beauty or the beast

May be the famine or the feast

May turn each day into a heaven

or a hell

She may be the mirror of my dream

A smile reflected in a stream

She may not be what she may seem

Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd

Who's eyes can be so private and so proud

No one's allowed to see them when they cry

She may be the love that cannot hope to last

May come to me from shadows of the past

That I'll remember 'till the day I die

She may be the reason I survive

The why and wherefore I'm alive

The one I'll care for the rough and rainy years

I'll take her laughter and her tears

And make them all my souvenirs

For where she goes I've got to be

The meaning of my life is she

She, she

  

There is another Charles Aznavour song in this series.

Return to the first article in this series or hear the first song in this series.

Read the next article in this series or hear the next song in this series.

For the index of all songs in this blog click here.