While researching for songs from Michel Polnareff, a French avant-garde songwriter and singer from the 60s and 70s, I ran across his theme music for a movie entitled
Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres, 1971 (
That only happens to others), starring Catherine Deneuve.
Loving the melody, I wanted to watch it, researched the movie and found that it has not been released on DVD in the US. The movie was about a couple mourning the loss of their infant child. The director who actually lost her child was the wife of the well-known actor Trintignant (
A Man and a Woman, and
Red).
YouTube - Michel Polnareff-Ca n'arrive qu'aux autres
The lyrics of this theme song follow.
La petite bête jouait au jardin
Et j'avais sa tête au creux de ma main
Un oiseau de plus un oiseau de moins
Tu sais, la différence c'est le chagrin
Il n'y a pas eu école ce matin
Il n'y aura plus d'enfance au jardin
Un oiseau de plus un oiseau de moins
Tu sais, la différence c'est le chagrin
La petite bête jouait au jardin
C'était une fête comme tous les matins
Un oiseau de toi un oiseau de moi
Venait ici manger dans notre main
Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres
Mais c'était le nôtre
Tu sais, la différence c'est le chagrin
Please pardon my clumsy translation.
The little animal played in the garden
And I had its head in the palm of my hand
One more bird one less bird
You know, the difference is the sorrow
There was no school this morning
There will not be children in the garden
One more bird one less bird
You know, the difference is the sorrow
The little animal played in the garden
It was a celebration like all mornings
A bird of yours a bird of mine
Came to eat out of our hand
It only happens to others
But this one was ours
You know, the difference is the sorrow
I then found another clip of the movie. It was very well done, but using a very sad song,
Comme Toi (
Like You) that was not on this movie soundtrack at all. This 1983 song I knew. It is a ballad written and sung by Jean Jacques Goldman, a French of Jewish ancestry, to his daughter telling her of a little girl who was sent to an extermination camp.
YouTube - Catherine Deneuve, Marcello Mastroianni "Ca n'arrive qu'aux autres"
As this ballad was touching, I felt the need to share it although it is not a movie theme song.
Elle avait les yeux clairs et la robe en velours
À côté de sa mère et la famille autour
Elle pose un peu distraite au doux soleil de la fin du jour
La photo n'est pas bonne mais l'on peut y voir
Le bonheur en personne et la douceur d'un soir
Elle aimait la musique surtout Schuman et puis Mozart
...
She had bright eyes and a velvet dress
Next to her mother and the surrounding family
She posed, a bit distractly, in the soft light at day's end
The photo is not good, but one can still see
The happiness itself and the evening's softness
She loved music, especially Schuman and Mozart
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
As you, whom I gaze down on
Who sleeps while dreaming of what?
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
She went to the school in the village below
She learned the books and the rules
She sang of frogs and princesses who slept in the wood
She loved her doll and her friends
Mostly Ruth and Anna and especially Jeremy
And they might get married someday in Warsaw
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
As you, whom I gaze down on
Who sleeps while dreaming of what?
As you do, as you do, as you do, as you do
Her name was Sarah, she was not even eight year old
Her life was softness, dreams, and white clouds
But other people had decided differently
She had your bright eyes and your age
She was a very smart little girl without history
But she is not living, as you are, here and now
As you are, as you are, as you are, as you are
As you are, as you are, as you are, as you are
As you, whom I gaze down on
Who sleeps while dreaming of what?
As you are, as you are, as you are, as you are