Heureux qui, comme Ulysse - The song Brassens sang for the last film of Fernandel

This is the song that was written for the last film of the great French comic Fernadel. The title of the song was also the title of the film. In writing the melody, Brassens collaborated with the famous composer, Georges Delerue(4). The film script and the words of this song were written by Brassens’ old friend, the film producer, Henri Colpi(3) , whom Brassens knew from his time in Sète. Both men loved this area of southern France and although their eventful lives had led them away, when they returned, they relished the places where they had spent their happy earlier years. The very famous poem by Joachim du Bellay (1525 -1560), from which this song takes its title, was learnt at secondary school by all pupils of the generation of Colpi and Brassens. Colpi uses du Bellay’s sonnet not only for the sources of his titles and for the first two lines of this song but for the theme of the quest for a lost idyll after years of trials and tribulations.



Heureux qui comme Ulysse

Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A fait un beau voyage,(1)
Journeyed far and wide
Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A vu cent paysages
Has seen hundreds of lands
Et puis a retrouvé, après
And has regained again, after
Maintes traversées,
Many years of wand’ring
Le pays des vertes années.
The country of his youthful years

Par un petit matin d'été,
On an early Summer morning
Quand le soleil vous chante au cœur,
When the sun sings within your heart
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!(5)
Fine to be free !

Quand on est mieux ici qu'ailleurs,
When you’re better here than elsewhere
Quand un ami(5) fait le bonheur,
When one friend can make you happy
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!(5)
Fine to be free !

Avec le soleil et le vent,
With the days of sun and of wind
Avec la pluie et le beau temps,
With the weather rainy and fine
On vivait bien contents,
We lived very content
Mon cheval,(5) ma Provence et moi,
My horse my Provence and myself
Mon cheval, ma Provence et moi.
My horse my Provence and myself

Heureux qui comme Ulysse
Lucky he who like Ulysses
A fait un beau voyage
Jorneyed far and wide
A vu cent paysages
Has seen hundreds of lands
Et puis a retrouvé, après
And has regained again, after
Maintes traversées,
Many years of wand’ring
Le pays des vertes années.
The country of his youthful years

Par un joli matin d'été,
On an lovely Summer morning
Quand le soleil vous chante au cœur,
When the sun sings within your heart
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!
Fine to be free !

Quand c'en est fini des malheurs,
When your woes are over and gone
Quand un ami sèche vos pleurs,
When there’s a friend to dry your tears
Qu'elle est belle la liberté,
Then how fine it is to be free
La liberté!
Fine to be free !

Battus de soleil et de vent,
Beaten by hot sun and by wind
Perdus au milieu des étangs,
Lost in its complex of salt lakes(2)
On vivra bien contents,
We will live quite content
Mon cheval, ma Camargue et moi,
My horse, my Camargue and myself.
Mon cheval, ma Camargue et moi,
My horse, my Camargue and myself

Henri Colpi(3) / Georges Delerue(4)
(Hors album) 1970

TRANSLATION NOTES

1) The first two lines are taken word for word from Du Bellay’s sonnet - see my notes below on this important poet
2) Perdus au milieu des étangs – The Camargue on the Mediterranean coast of France is the area of river delta at the mouth of the Rhône. Much of the region of the Camargue is under water and the salt water lakes which are formed are called étangs
3) Henri Colpi (1921 -2006) was a French film director, who made his name with the film Une aussi longue absence (1961), which included music by Georges Delerue(4). He was also a successful film editor and worked on about twenty films including Hiroshima mon amour (1961) and L'Année dernière à Marienbad (1963).

4) Georges Delerue (1925- 1992) was a very talented and a very prolific composer for cinema and television. During his 42 years career he wrote music for 325 long and short movies, 70 TV films and 35 TV serials. Directors he worked for were François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Louis Malle, and Colpi – as mentioned above. In Hollywood, he wrote scores for two Oliver Stone films.
5) La liberté! - Un ami - Mon cheval There are references in this poem that do not seem to fit well with Brassens. The declaration of liberty seems unnecessary -and perhaps over-dramatic- for some-one who had lived independent of the strictures of state, church and conventional social code all his life. The possession of one friend does not fit in with Brassens to whom a wide circle of friends was important. We do not think of Brassens as a keen horseman. The animals that were important in his life were his cats.
The explanation is that this was the theme song of a film and these references relate directly to the plot. The old man, who is the central character of the film, discovers that his beloved old horse has been sold to the picadors of the bullring, where it will face a cruel death. His answer is steal the horse and lead it to the Camargue, where he releases to roam safe and free among the wild white horses.

NOTES ON DU BELLAY’S POEM
The link between Du Bellay’s poem and his biography interests me.

The actor Gérard Philipe reads du Bellay’s poem



Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage
Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
Lucky he who like Ulysses journeyed far and wide
Ou comme cestuy-là qui conquit la toison,
Or like the sturdy man who won the golden fleece
Et puis est retourné, plein d'usage et raison,
And then came back, full of civil charm and reason
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !
To live with his family the rest of his years

Quand reverrai-je, hélas, de mon petit village
When shall I, alas, see again in my small town,
Fumer la cheminée, et en quelle saison
The chimney smoking, and at what time of the year,
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison,
Will I see again the patch around my poor house
Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage ?
Which to me is a province and is much more else

Plus me plaît le séjour qu'ont bâti mes aïeux,
The home built by my forefathers pleases me more
Que des palais Romains le front audacieux,
Than the splendid frontals of Roman palaces
Plus que le marbre dur me plaît l'ardoise fine :
Much more than their harsh marble, our fine slate pleases:

Plus mon Loir gaulois, que le Tibre latin,
Rather my Gallic Loire than the Latin Tiber
Plus mon petit Liré, que le mont Palatin,
Rather my little Liré than Mount Palatine,
Et plus que l'air marin la doulceur angevine
And rather than sea air,the balm of Angiers


Joachim du Bellay, Les Regrets, sonnet XXXI, 1558


—THE LIFE OF DU BELLAY
Joachim du Bellay was born in 1525 in the little market town of Liré near to Angers. From an early age he had a great interest in literature. At the age of twenty-three years he struck up a friendship with the poet, Ronsard and became determined to make this his own vocation.
In the following year (1548), he followed Ronsard to Paris and went on to publish a collection of sonnets in the manner of Petrarch: “The Olive”. However soon afterwards, he had to leave Paris to go to Rome, where he was to work as secretary to his cousin, who was a cardinal.

At first, du Bellay was filled with enthusiasm for the antiquities of the eternal city and wrote in praise of them (les Antiquités de Rome). However later he became very disillusioned by the less commendable features of life in Rome and in the Vatican. He began to long for “la doulceur angevine”.

In 1558, after four years away, Du Bellay returned to France and published two books based on his experiences. “Les Regrets” is a collection of sonnets detailing his feelings of bitterness and melancholy. He describes political events in Rome and particularly at the Vatican. He expresses his disgust at the sexual immorality and the financial corruption that he observed, but the book also conveys his admiration for this city which was, at that time the centre of European culture and of modern ideas. In spite of this, Du Bellay was constantly homesick for his own little corner of France around the town of his birth and this is a major theme

Sadly, his life after his return to France was not the idyll to which he had looked forward during his exile in Rome. As a result of his criticism of the Church, he found himself deprived of the protectors who had financed him and he lived in relative poverty. He was in failing health and died in 1560, when he had only just turned thirty-five.

As the years went by, his poetry had become more subjective and spontaneous. This poem “Heureux qui comme Ulysse”, shows his fluency and ease of expression and, from our acquaintance with his life story, we know that it is written from the heart.
Click here to go back to the Index of my Brassens selection



.