French Culture: Edith Piaf's 'Mon Manège à Moi' Song Analysis

This assignment is a blog post analyzing Edith Piaf's famous French song 'Mon Manège à Moi'. The blog identifies key nouns in the song, provides their English translations, and discusses the song's background, including Edith Piaf's life and musical career. It highlights the song's message of unconditional love and the personal impressions of the author, who feels that the song, while joyous, still carries the essence of Piaf's life-long pain and longing for love. The blog post also includes references and a link to the song's music video.

Running head: FRENCH SONG
FRENCH SONG
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1FRENCH SONG
Tu me fais tourner la tête
Mon manège à moi c'est toi
Je suis toujours à la fête
Quand tu me tient dans tes bras
Je ferais le tour, du monde
Ca ne tournerais pas plus qu'ça
La terre n'est pas assez ronde
Pour m'étourdir autant qu'toi
Ah c'qu'on est bien tous les deux
Quand on est ensemble nous deux
Quelle vie on a tous les deux
Quand on s'aime comme nous deux
On pourrait changer de planète
Tant que j'ai mon coeur près du tient
J'entends les flon-flons d'la fête
Et la terre n'y est pour rien
Oh oui parlons-en d'la terre
Pour qui elle se prend la terre
Ma parole y'a qu'elle sur terre
Y'a qu'elle qui fait tant de mystère
Mais pour nous y'a pas des problèmes
Car c'est pour la vie qu'on s'aime

2FRENCH SONG
Et si y'avait pas d'vie même
Nous on s'aimerait quand même
Car
Tu me fais tourner la tête
Mon manège à moi c'est toi
Je suis toujours à la fête
Quand tu me tient dans tes bras
Je ferais le tour du monde
Ca ne tournerais pas plus qu'ça
La terre n'est pas assez ronde
Pour m'étourdir autant qu'toi
Lalalalala
Je ferais le tour du monde
Ca ne tournerais pas plus qu'ça
La terre n'est pas assez ronde
Mon manège a moi c'est toi ("Edith Piaf Mon Manège à Moi French & English Subtitles", 1958)

3FRENCH SONG
Chosen nouns from the song
la tête- feminine, the head
la fête- feminine, the fair
tes bras- masculine, the arms
le tour- masculine, the tour
du monde- masculine, of the world
La terre- feminine, the earth
de planète- feminine, the planet
mon coeur- masculine, my heart
Ma parole- feminine, my lyrics
des problèmes- masculine, of the problems

4FRENCH SONG
Blog post
Composed jointly by Norbert Glanzberg and Jean Constantin, and melody filled by La
Chanteuse National de la France Edith Piaf, the song ‘Mon manège à moi’ had amazed the
people of the country yet once again in the year 1958. It was a soloist, and was from the film La
Vie en Rose. Edith Piaf’s most famous album was the Chansons Des Cafés De Paris. The song
‘Mon manège à moi’ being of a film was not part of any album as such. Of the other most
famous songs of Edith Piaf, "Milord," "Padam Padam," "Mon Dieu,", "Mon Manège à Moi" had
gathered quite a lot of populace, besides "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien.", which is synonymous to
Piaf.
Born in the year 1915, Piaf had to endure a lot of hardships, both economically as well as
emotionally. She had risen to fame and had achieved a high standard of living by virtue of the
beautiful voice which she was endowed with. Her first introduction to the world of music was at
a very young age when she had performed at a marketplace, presenting the national anthem of
France, La Marseillaise in front of a crowd. She had earned her male guardian a lot of money.
That was how she had developed interest for the world of music and the foundation for gaining
fame in her later life was laid that way. Most of her songs are reflective of the pain and the
deprivation from love and affection which she had faced throughout her life. The men whom she
loved got estranged from her due to various unfortunate reasons, while some had only used her
for personal gains. Naturally, she was always on a lookout for that one man on whom she could
rely and could be convinced that of the fact that he would not leave her. Mon manage a moi on
the other hand was more euphoric, romantic and imaginative, bearing the resemblance of the
fantasies of a young girl in love and the things she wants to convey to her man in love. The

5FRENCH SONG
central message which the song conveys is that of the unconditional love of the girl for her man
and also that the whole world of the girl lied in her man.
I personally, feel that the iota of pain cannot be divorced from the songs of Piaf as pain
and sufferings were an integral part of her life. Though mon manege a moi exuded joy, yet I feel
that the beauty of the song could not have been expressed better had Piaf not infused her pain
and her desires of getting someone to love like the song expresses, all throughout her life. The
element of pain can be felt at the way she ends the song, by stretching the last lines with a
volume louder than usual. Therein lies the beauty of the song.

6FRENCH SONG
References
Edith Piaf Mon Manège à Moi French & English Subtitles. (1958). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJi4hG9Ttp4
Édith Piaf. (2011). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/edith-piaf-9439893