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Text
Pierre Bernac
(2008)
English source:
Gene Scheer
Christmas 1936. Fa la la la la la la!
Playing a new setting of Cocteau for my friend Bernac.
Je n’aime pas dormir quand ta figure habite,
La nuit, contre mon cou;
Car je pense à la mort laquelle vient si vite
Nous endormir beaucoup.
Not a word from Pierre.
Just that worried look that begs: ‘Please, don’t ask me!’
So I take the song and toss it on the fire.
As it bursts into flames, he gasps: ‘Ah! Ah!’
Don’t worry, I say, it’s as it’s meant to be.
And I start again to compose: Tel jour. Telle nuit.
Fa la la la la la la.
Playing a new setting of Cocteau for my friend Bernac.
Je n’aime pas dormir quand ta figure habite,
La nuit, contre mon cou;
Car je pense à la mort laquelle vient si vite
Nous endormir beaucoup.
Not a word from Pierre.
Just that worried look that begs: ‘Please, don’t ask me!’
So I take the song and toss it on the fire.
As it bursts into flames, he gasps: ‘Ah! Ah!’
Don’t worry, I say, it’s as it’s meant to be.
And I start again to compose: Tel jour. Telle nuit.
Fa la la la la la la.
Composer
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is an American composer. Read more here.