Non, je ne regrette rien
Encyclopedia
"Non, je ne regrette rien" (nɔ̃ ʒə nə ʁəɡʁɛtə ʁjɛ̃), meaning "No, I'm not sorry for anything", is a French
song composed by Charles Dumont
, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire
. It was written in 1956, and is best known through its 1960 recording by Édith Piaf
.
Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion
. At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War (1954–1962), and the 1st REP (1st Foreign Parachute Regiment
) — which backed a temporary putsch of 1961 by the French military against the civilian leadership of Algeria — adopted the song when their resistance was broken. The leadership of the Regiment was arrested and tried but the non-commissioned officers, corporals and Legionnaires were assigned to other Foreign Legion formations. They left the barracks singing the song, which has now become part of the French Foreign Legion heritage and is sung when they are on parade.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
song composed by Charles Dumont
Charles Dumont
Charles Dumont, born in 1929 in Cahors , is a French singer and composer.He wrote songs until the 1960s, sometimes under an alias, for Dalida, Gloria Lasso, Luis Mariano and Tino Rossi. He worked with lyricist Michel Vaucaire. In 1956 they wrote Non, je ne regrette rien, recorded in 1960 by Édith...
, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire
Michel Vaucaire
Michel Vaucaire was a French lyricist.He often collaborated with the composer Charles Dumont in whom he always had confidence to put his lyrics to music...
. It was written in 1956, and is best known through its 1960 recording by Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
.
Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion
French Foreign Legion
The French Foreign Legion is a unique military service wing of the French Army established in 1831. The foreign legion was exclusively created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces...
. At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War (1954–1962), and the 1st REP (1st Foreign Parachute Regiment
1st Foreign Parachute Regiment
The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment was an airborne unit of the Foreign Legion. It fought in the First Indochina War, Suez Crisis and Algerian War, but was disbanded after taking part in a putsch against the French government in 1961....
) — which backed a temporary putsch of 1961 by the French military against the civilian leadership of Algeria — adopted the song when their resistance was broken. The leadership of the Regiment was arrested and tried but the non-commissioned officers, corporals and Legionnaires were assigned to other Foreign Legion formations. They left the barracks singing the song, which has now become part of the French Foreign Legion heritage and is sung when they are on parade.
Lyrics
The rhymes of the words echo the rhythm of the melody following typical French meter, where words almost always stress the final syllable, in iambic (da-DA-da-DA) and anapestic (da-da-DA-da-da-DA) compositions. A literal translation is unable to maintain the internal harmony of lyric and tune, since English words usually stress an earlier syllable and are most often suited to trochaic (DA-da-DA-da) and dactylic (DA-da-da-DA-da-da) meter. A variety of English language versions have been recorded. Discussion of their merits is ongoing. The superlative, all-encompassing object arousing the transcendent emotions of the lover singing the song, and the use of passive reflexive verb | ni le bien qu'on m'a fait | ni le mal | to describe good and bad perceived by a person can be rendered | not the good that one did to me | nor the bad | using the absolute impersonal pronoun.Popular culture
- In the United Kingdom, the song was at one time associated with the former Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Chancellor of the ExchequerChancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
, Norman Lamont, who quoted the song's title to sum up his political career. - The song was adopted as "a personal anthem" by the former Dutch colonialDutch EmpireThe Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
soldier Johan Cornelis Princen (better known as Poncke PrincenPoncke PrincenJohan Cornelis Princen , better known as Poncke Princen, was a Dutch anti-Nazi fighter and colonial soldier...
) who in 1948 deserted, joined the pro-independence IndonesiaIndonesiaIndonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n rebels fighting against the Dutch. - The song was played over the public addressPublic addressA public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
at the Stade de FranceStade de FranceThe Stade de France is the national stadium of France, situated just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. It has an all-seater capacity of 80,000, making it the fifth largest stadium in Europe, and is used by both the France national football team and French rugby union team for...
, Saint-DenisSaint-DenisSaint-Denis is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Saint-Denis is a sous-préfecture of the Seine-Saint-Denis département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Saint-Denis....
, following the French Rugby Union team'sFrance national rugby union teamThe France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...
elimination from the 2007 Rugby World Cup2007 Rugby World CupThe 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...
semi-finals. It accompanied Anna BessonovaAnna BessonovaAnna Bessonova is an Individual Rhythmic Gymnast who was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Her father is the Dynamo Kiev football player Vladimir Bessonov and her mother, Viktoria, was a two time world champion group rhythmic gymnast....
and Ukrainian team of rhythmic gymnastics at Gymnastics Gala of Beijing Olympics games 2008. - The song is featured in many movies, including Bull DurhamBull DurhamBull Durham is a 1988 American romantic comedy baseball film. It is based upon the minor league experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor league baseball team in Durham, North Carolina....
(1988) in which a character refers to Piaf as a "crazy Mexican singer"; Doris DörrieDoris DörrieDoris Dörrie is a German film director, producer and author.-Life and work:Dörrie completed her secondary education at a humanist Gymnasium. In 1973 she began a two-year attendance in film studies, in the drama department of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She then studied...
's German film Keiner liebt mich (1994), titled Nobody Loves Me in English; Babe: Pig in the CityBabe: Pig in the CityBabe: Pig in the City is a 1998 sequel to the 1995 film Babe. It occurs in the fictional city of Metropolis. Due to the unexpected darker and more mature subject matter , the film was not received as well as the first Babe film was, as it flopped at the box office and reviews were generally...
(1998); Bernardo BertolucciBernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
's film The Dreamers (2003); the Coen Brothers' film Intolerable CrueltyIntolerable CrueltyIntolerable Cruelty is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Academy Award winners George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush and Billy Bob Thornton with Cedric the Entertainer...
; the 20052005 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
film Monamour; the 2006 film Piaf Her story Her songs starring Raquel Bitton; the French criminal biopic Mesrine; the British animated WWII film Valiant in which members of the French Resistance "play" it, 12 years before the song was written; mashed up as part of the song "Nique la police," in the French film La HaineLa HaineLa Haine is a 1995 French black-and-white film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. It is commonly released under its French title in the English-speaking world, although its American VHS release was entitled Hate. It is about three teenage friends and their struggle to live in...
(1995). - It is featured extensively in Christopher NolanChristopher NolanChristopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
's 2010 film InceptionInceptionInception: The Subconscious Jams 1994-1995 is a compilation of unreleased tracks by the band Download.-Track listing:# "Primitive Tekno Jam" – 3:23# "Bee Sting Sickness" – 8:04# "Weed Acid Techno" – 8:19...
, which stars Marion CotillardMarion CotillardMarion Cotillard is a French actress and singer. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as La Vie en Rose, My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia and Jeux d'enfants...
who portrayed Édith Piaf in La Vie En RoseLa Vie en rose (film)La Vie En Rose is a 2007 French biographical film about the life of French chanteuse Édith Piaf co-written, and directed by Olivier Dahan. Marion Cotillard stars as Piaf. The title La Vie en Rose comes from Piaf's signature song...
. The film's composer Hans ZimmerHans ZimmerHans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
worked sections of the track into the score. - In the Soviet TV-series Seventeen Moments of SpringSeventeen Moments of SpringSeventeen Moments of Spring is a 1973 Soviet TV miniseries. It was filmed at Gorky Film Studio, directed by Tatyana Lioznova and based on the book of the same title by the novelist Yulian Semyonov. The series comprises 12 episodes of 70 minutes each...
, it is heard in a 1945 radio broadcast, whereas the song was released two decades later.
- The song is featured in many television commercials, including an eBayEBayeBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
commercial in which a woman drops her ring down the sink; an Australian Nescafé TV commercial in the early 1990s; a UK HitachiHitachiHitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
commercial in 1989; a UK HeinekenHeinekenHeineken is a Dutch beer which has been brewed by Heineken International since 1873. It is available in a 4.6% alcohol variety in countries such as Ireland. It is the flagship product of the Heineken company and is made of purified water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. In 1886 H...
advert with Stephen FryStephen FryStephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
in the early 1990s; a television/radio advertisement for the UK high-street opticians SpecsaversSpecsaversSpecsavers Optical Group Ltd is the biggest optical retailer in the UK and Ireland. It is also the biggest of the four major opticians that control 70% of the British market for spectacles and contact lenses, with Specsavers having a 39% share of the market...
in 2008, in which a mock translation markets spectacles.
Other recordings
The song has been recorded by many other performers, including :- La Toya JacksonLa Toya JacksonLa Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, activist and former model. She is the fifth child of the Jackson family...
in her 1992 Moulin RougeMoulin RougeMoulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
revue FormidableFormidableFormidable is the soundtrack to the show performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France by American singer La Toya Jackson. Only 3,000 copies were created and it has become one of the most sought-after albums by La Toya's fans....
. - Elaine PaigeElaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
on 1994 album Piaf, released to coincide with her portrayal of the lead character in the play of the same name. - The rock band Half Man Half BiscuitHalf Man Half BiscuitHalf Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
recorded an English version titled No Regrets. - Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
in 1965, (reaching #39 on the UK charts) and on the album Love Songs. - Bad Boys BlueBad Boys BlueBad Boys Blue are a multinational pop group that was formed in Cologne, Germany. The group performed many international hits including You're a Woman, Pretty Young Girl, I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat and Come Back and Stay.- History :...
in 1989, on album "The Fifth" recorded an English version titled No Regrets. - Vicky LeandrosVicky LeandrosVicky Leandros is a Greek singer with a long international career. She is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou...
on her album "Zeitlos" (Timeless) sung in German with the title "Nein Ich bereue nichts" . - BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian singer Cássia EllerCássia EllerCássia Rejane Eller was a Brazilian musician. She performed a fusion of rock and MPB.- Biography :After spending most of her adolescence in Brasília, Eller dropped out of high school and returned to her birthplace of Rio de Janeiro, where she began a career as a recording artist...
in 2001 Acústico MTV album. - CajunCajunCajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
band Steve Riley and the Mamou PlayboysSteve Riley and the Mamou PlayboysSteve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are a Grammy Award-nominated Cajun band from southern Louisiana. The band formed in 1988 and has since recorded 10 albums, nine of which are on Rounder Records....
on their 2011 album Grand Isle.