Thursday 11 August 2011

I am but a singer of chawwnsawwwn

Now, here's an oddity for you. The French singer Alain Barriére, during a fairly brief spell in the limelight, wrote and recorded a song in the late 1960s entitled 'Princesse Lointaine'. It was the b-side of his single, 'Tout Peut Recommencer' (1968) and also appeared on an album that year. It's pretty clearly an hommage to Rostand and Rudel, with references to taking the cross and dying of love. Here are a few of the lyrics:

Princesse lointaine
Qu'ils sont longs les jours
Si tu files ta laine
Moi je me meurs d'amour

Chevaliers mes braves
Je m'en vais en voyage
Je m'en vais par les âges
Retrouver mes amours

Continuer la guerre
Point sera la dernière
Creusez vos cimetières
Je me rends à l'amour

There are a few songs by Barriére on youtube, but 'Princesse Lointaine' isn't one of them, sadly.

Thursday 4 August 2011

Lointaine in Translation

La Princesse Lointaine in English, anyone? An 1899 translation by Charles Renaud of Edmond Rostand's 1896 play about the Rudel legend is available at the Internet Archive.

It's in blank verse, which, if you ask me, is cheating.