Sometimes a word or phrase in a particular language resonates so deeply, touching emotions that can only be expressed and fully understood in that language and by its own native people for they are part of what makes that people uniquely who they are. 'Gettysburg' is such a word for Americans, 'Waterloo' and 'the Somme' for the British, 'Monte Cassino' for Poles. For the Australians and New Zealanders it might be Gallipoli, and for the French it most probably is the word 'Verdun', a small part of the northern French landscape where the flower of its youth died in WWl.
'Tout homme a deux pays, le sien et puis la France. ['Every man has two countries: his own and France' attributed to Charlemagne by Henri de Bornier]
Here, in a brilliant evocation, the French maestro of chanson, Michel Sardou expresses emotions that run deep in every French heart.
Pour celui qui en revient
Verdun c'était bien
Pour celui qui en est mort
Verdun c'est un port
Mais pour ceux qui n'étaient pas nés
Qu'étaient pas là pour apprécier
C'est du passé
Dépassé
Un champ perdu dans le nord-est
Entre Epinal et Bucarest
C'est une statue sur la Grande Place
Finalement Verdun
Ce n'est qu'un vieux qui passe
Même si l'histoire nous joue souvent
Le mouvement tournant par Sedan
C'est du passé
C'est la chanson des partisans
C'est 1515 c'est Marignan
Dépassé
Une guerre qui s'est perdue sans doute
Entre Biarritz et Knokke-le-Zoute
C'est un statue sur la Grande Place
Finalement la terreur
Ce n'est qu'un vieux qui passe
Pour ceux qu'on n'a pas revus
Verdun n'est plus rien
Pour ceux qui sont revenus
Verdun n'est pas loin
C'est un champ brûlé tout petit
Entre Monfaucon et Charny
C'est à côté
C'est une sortie dans le nord-est
Sur l'autoroute de Reims à Metz
On y va par la Voie sacrée
Finalement Verdun
C'est un vieillard rusé
J'ai une tendresse particulière
Pour cette première des dernières guerres
Dépassée
Bien sûr que je n'étais pas né
J'n'étais pas là pour apprécier
Mais j'avais un vieux à Verdun
Et comme je n'oublie jamais rien
Je reviens
Je reviens
Je reviens
Here is a translation based on one by John Ryan:
For he who returns from there
Verdun is good
For he who died there
Verdun is a gateway
But for those who were not yet born
That were not there to appreciate it
It's in the past
Passed away...
A lost field in the northeast
Between Epinal and Bucharest
It's a statue on the main square
In the end .... Verdun
Even so, for us history repeats itself
The turning movement by Sedan
It's the song of the partisans
It's 1515, it's Marignan
Passed away...
A war undoubtedly forgotten
From Biarritz to Knokke le Zoute
It's a statue on the main square
In the end, the terror
Is just a fading old-timer
For those we see no more
Verdun is no more
For those who have come back
Verdun is not far
It's a tiny burnt field
Between Montfaucon and Charny
It's close by
It's an exit in the northeast
On the highway from Rheims to Metz
You can get there via 'The Sacred Way'
In the end Verdun is a shrewd old-timer
I have a special affection
For the first of the 'last' wars
Passed away...
Of course I was not yet born
And was not there to appreciate
But I had an old friend at Verdun
And because I never forget
I come back...
I come back...
I come back.
Here is the maestro performing his anthem. Remember to breathe... this performance lasts over 4 minutes!
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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Last Modified: 21 May 2017, 13:00 •