Queer Places:
13 Avenue Charles Trenet, 11100 Narbonne, France
Narbonne East Cemetery, 51 Voie des Elysiques, 11100 Narbonne, France

Charles Trenet - IMDbLouis Charles Augustin Georges Trenet (French: [ʃaʁl tʁenɛ]; 18 May 1913 – 19 February 2001) was a French singer-songwriter, who composed both the music and the lyrics to nearly a thousand songs. These include "La Mer", "Boum!" and "Y'a d'la joie", and supported a career that lasted over sixty years. In 1963, Trenet spent 28 days in prison in Aix-en-Provence. He was charged with corrupting the morals of four young men under the age of 21 (they were 19). His chauffeur claimed that Trenet was using him as a pimp. The charges were eventually dropped, but the affair brought to public light the fact that Trenet was homosexual.[7] He was never particularly public about it and spoke of it rarely.

Trenet's best-known songs include "Boum!", "La Mer", "Y'a d'la joie", "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?", "Ménilmontant" and "Douce France". His catalogue of songs is enormous, numbering close to a thousand.[citation needed]. Some of his songs had unconventional subject matter, with whimsical imagery bordering on the surreal. "Y'a d'la joie" evokes joy through a series of disconnected images, including that of a subway car shooting out of its tunnel into the air, the Eiffel Tower crossing the street and a baker making excellent bread. The lovers engaged in a minuet in "Polka du Roi" reveal themselves at length to be "no longer human": they are made of wax and trapped in the Musée Grévin. Many of his hits from the 1930s and 1940s effectively combine the melodic and verbal nuances of French song with American swing rhythms. His song "La Mer", which according to legend he composed with Léo Chauliac on a train in 1943, was recorded in 1946. Trenet explained in an interview that he was told that "La Mer" was not swing enough to be a hit, and for this reason it sat in a drawer for three years before being recorded.[1] "La Mer" is Trenet's best-known work outside the French-speaking world, with more than 400 recorded versions. The tune, given unrelated English words and the title "Beyond the Sea" (or sometimes "Sailing"), was a hit for Bobby Darin in the early 1960s, and George Benson in the mid-1980s. "Beyond the Sea" was used in the ending credits of Finding Nemo. Besides "La Mer", the other Trenet song to receive numerous recordings in English is "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?", which lyricist Albert Beach adapted as "I Wish You Love". "I Wish You Love" was first recorded by Keely Smith in 1957, and since then by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Sam Cooke to Dusty Springfield.[2] Another of Trenet's songs, "Formidable", was written as impressions of a trip to the U.S.[3] Other Trenet songs were recorded by French singers such as Maurice Chevalier, Jean Sablon and Fréhel.

In November 2000, the Narbonne house in which Trenet was born – which had become 13 Avenue Charles Trenet – was turned into a small museum. Visitors were able to view souvenirs from Trenet's childhood and family life (especially those belonging to his mother, who had spent most of her life in the house), as well as original drafts of the songs which had made his career. Trenet died two months later on 19 February 2001 after suffering another stroke.[10]


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