La marche nuptiale -The pathos of the wedding procession for Brassens' parents

This is a very touching, very personal song, because Brassens is describing the wedding day of his parents.  Although the title of the song is “Wedding March” and Brassens speaks of the day as a memory that he will never forget, the sombre music of the song is more suitable for a “marche funèbre”-  a funeral march.  This is appropriate because their wedding appears to have had a prevailing mood of pathos, marked by embarrassment, disappointment and deep emotional distress on the part of the bride.  The families of bride and groom were so poor that their bridal carriage, to the amazement of the onlookers was an ox cart propelled by the wedding guests. 

It is an unconventional wedding, because the couple have already been together for a long time and their son is accompanying them with music on his harmonica.  We are told that they are on the way to the Town Hall and so they would seem to be on their way to a civil ceremony, not a church marriage. The crisis for the bride comes, when heaven manifests its disapproval by striking the procession with a mighty wind and soaking the participants with a heavy downpour of rain.

The account in the song does not tally with Brassens’ biography and this question will be discussed in the following translation notes.

Barbara sings this song with a lot of verve and feeling.

Mariage d'amour, mariage d'argent, J'ai vu se marier toutes sortes de gens Des gens de basse source et des grands de la terre, Des prétendus coiffeurs, des soi-disant notaires. Quand même je vivrais jusqu'à la fin des temps, Je garderai toujours le souvenir content Du jour de pauvre noce où mon père et ma mère S'allèrent épouser devant Monsieur le Maire.(1) C'est dans un char à boeufs, s'il faut parler bien franc, Tiré par les amis, poussé par les parents, Que les vieux amoureux firent leurs épousailles (2) Après long temps d'amour, long temps de fiançailles (3) Cortège nuptial hors de l'ordre courant, La foule nous couvait d'un oeil protubérant Nous étions contemplés par le monde futile Qui n'avait jamais vu de noces de ce style. Voici le vent qui souffle emportant, crève-coeur! Le chapeau de mon père et les enfants de choeur.. Voilà la plui' qui tombe en pesant bien ses gouttes, Comme pour empêcher la noc', coûte que coûte. Je n'oublierai jamais la mariée en pleurs (4) Berçant comme un' poupé' son gros bouquet de fleurs Moi, pour la consoler, moi, de toute ma morgue, Sur mon harmonica, jouant les grandes orgues. Tous les garçons d'honneur, montrant le poing aux nues, Criaient : "Par Jupiter, la noce continue !" (5) Par les homm's décriée, par les dieux contrariée, La noce continue et viv' la mariée ! In Barbara’s version she repeats the second stanza at the end of her song Quand même je vivrais jusqu'à la fin des temps, Je garderai toujours le souvenir content Du jour de pauvre noce où mon père et ma mère S'allèrent épouser devant Monsieur le Maire.(1) 1957 – In the album : Je me suis fait tout petit

Marriages for love, marriages  for money I have seen all sorts of people getting married : Folk of humble stock and great figures in the land, Some calling themselves coiffeurs, some self-styled lawyers. Even if I should live  until the end of time I will always treasure the memory Of the poor wedding day my father and mother Went to get themselves wed before Monsieur the Mayor It was, if  full truth need be told, in an ox cart With our friends pulling it, and relatives pushing, That the long-time lovers rode to their nuptials After a long term love,  a long time engagement. A marriage cortège most unconventional, The crowd thronged around us,  eyes wide with amazement We were being looked on by people not involved   Who hadn’t ever seen a wedding in this style Here comes the wind, which blows away, oh the heartbreak !  The hats of my father and children in the choir. Then there’s the rain which falls, dishing out big  rain-drops  As if to stop the wedding, at all cost. I shall never forget the bride, sitting weeping, As she cradled  like a doll her big bunch of flowers. I to console her, I, with all my proud contempt On my harmonica, played great organ pieces And all the groomsmen, shaking their fists at the clouds Were shouting « By Jupiter, the wedding goes on ! Though by humans decried, by the gods obstructed The wedding  continues and so long live the bride ! Even if I should live  until the end of time I will always treasure the memory Of the poor wedding day my father and mother Went to get themselves wed before Monsieur the Mayor

TRANSLATION NOTES

1)     devant Monsieur le Maire- I thought of putting « Before his Worship the Mayor » as that is the Mayor’s (odd) title in Britain, but that would have changed the cultural setting.

2)     firent leurs épousailles – Brassens says that his parents celebrated their wedding in an ox cart.  Surely the mayor did not marry them in it.  I have taken the liberty of changing it!

3)     Après long temps d'amour, long temps de fiançailles – According to the story in the song, the parents had been in love for a long time and had had a long engagement.  Obviously they must have been living in sin, to use the English terminology of those days, and she had given birth to the son who was playing the harmonica and telling the story.  In fact, Georges Brassens mother, Elvira Dagrossa, who came from an Italian family, had been married previously and had had a daughter, Simone, in 1912.  Her husband had been called up during the 1914- 1918 war and he had been killed in 1919.  As she married Jean-Louis Brassens in 1920 after having been a widow for only one year, it is difficult to see how they could have been lovers and engaged for a long time.  As Georges Brassens was born, their legitimate son in 1921, it was impossible for him to have been at his parents’ wedding –except in the womb perhaps !

4)     Je n'oublierai jamais la mariée en pleurs- It is understandable that this would have been a very emotional day for Elvira. Just a year ago, she had been married to a different man, the father of her nine year old daughter – until the ominous telegram was delivered at her house.  As a devout Catholic, she would be afraid of the wrath of God and the anger of the skies would seem to confirm this.  She was getting married in a civil ceremony to a man who had little respect for her religion and her Catholic education would have convinced her that she was jeopardising her immortal soul. 

5)     Criaient : "Par Jupiter, la noce continue !"In turning their eyes to the heavens, the sceptical Brassens menfolk, do not address the god of the bride, capable of oppressing a poor and vulnerable woman who has already suffered much, but call on the heroic god of the Ancients.

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Here is an impressive version sung by the Spaniard, Serge Lama, in the company of Georges Brassens

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