France’s “little sparrow”, Edith Piaf penned the lyrics to “La Vie en rose” in a pavement café on the Champs Elysées in 1945. Her friend Marianne Michel, had complained that no one was writing new songs for her, so, while the two were having a drink, Edith dashed off the song and handed it to her. Michel recorded the song, then Edith Piaf followed with her version 2 years later. Piaf was a prolific writer, creating over 100 songs.

The tragic life of Edith Gassion began in 1915. She was raised for a time in her Grandmother’s brothel. The 1m47cm (4’10”) chanteuse was discovered singing on the streets of Paris’ red light district in 1935. She became a mother at 17, her daughter Marcelle died of meningitis at the age of 2. The love of her life, the boxer Marcel Cerdan, was killed in a plane crash in 1949. Edith passed away on October 10, 1963 of liver cancer at the age 47.

“La Vie en Rose” is a hymn to a love affair so beautiful that it allows the singer to forget all “les ennuis, les chagrins” (weariness and grief). It saw the tragedienne, like her nation, transcend pain and view ‘life in pink’.

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