The song of the day for Wednesday, November 8, 2017 is ” La Vie en Rose.”

About This Song

“La Vie en Rose” was written in 1945 by Marguerite Monnot and Louis Guglielmi (aka Louiguy). Edith Piaf wrote the original French lyrics and Mack David wrote the English lyrics.

While now considered one of Edith Piaf’s most identifiable songs (taking second place only to “Non, je ne regrette rein”), this song had a slow and somewhat troubled beginning. The lyric came to Miss Piaf in 1944. She worked with Louiguy for the melody. At the time the song was written, only Louiguy received songwriter credits, as neither Piaf or Monnot were qualified to copyright their work under the auspices of Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique, the official French association. Initially, the song was though to be weak as compared to the rest of repertoire and she was encouraged to not sing it at her concerts. She did not sing it publicly until 1946 and it quickly became a favorite of audiences. She finally recorded the song in 1947. “La Vie en Rose” has been widely recorded ever since and used in many films, from Bull Durham to WALL-E. The 2007 film biography of Edith Piaf, which starred Marion Cotillard, was titled La Vie en Rose.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and k.d. lang recorded “La Vie en Rose” in 2002 for their album A Wonderful World.

” La Vie en Rose,” as well as A Wonderful World, is available from iTunes.