La Mer (song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"La Mer" is a song written by French composer, lyricist, singer and showman Charles Trenet (1913 – 2001).
Trenet wrote the lyrics of "La Mer" on a train in 1943 while travelling along the French Mediterranean coast, returning from Paris to Narbonne, supposedly in ten minutes, on toilet paper supplied by SNCF. He was assisted with the tune by Leo Chauliac. It was originally published by Raoul Breton.
It was not until 1946 that Trenet recorded the song, since neither he nor the people around him believed the song to be anything special or particularly original. When he released "La Mer" in 1946 it turned out, however, to be an unexpected hit and has remained a chanson classic ever since.
English lyrics, unrelated to the French lyrics, were later written by Jack Lawrence and entitled "Beyond the Sea". This became a hit for Bobby Darin in 1959, and the song has since been recorded by more than 400 other artists in many languages.
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Original French lyrics
La mer
Qu'on voit danser le long des golfes clairs
A des reflets d'argent
La mer
Des reflets changeants sous la pluie
La mer
Au ciel d'été confond
Ses blancs moutons
Avec les anges si purs
La mer bergère d'azur infinie
Voyez
Près des étangs
Ces grands roseaux mouillés
Voyez
Ces oiseaux blancs et ces maisons rouillées
La mer
Les a bercés
Le long des golfes clairs
Et d'une chanson d'amour
La mer
A bercé mon coeur pour la vie
Appearances in other media
IMDb lists twenty-five instances where either "La Mer" or "Beyond the Sea" have been used in various media, including:
Film
- Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
- Le sang des bêtes (1949)
- A Safe Place (1971)
- Édith et Marcel (1983)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- I Love You AB (1991)
- Father of the Bride (1991)
- L.A. Story (1991) (opening credits)
- Bitter Moon (1992)
- Funny Bones (1995)
- Apollo 13 (1995)
- French Kiss sung by Kevin Kline (1995)
- A Life Less Ordinary (1997)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Bains-douches (2001)
- Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
- The Dreamers (2003)
- Finding Nemo sung by Robbie Williams (2003)
- Beyond the Sea sung by Kevin Spacey (2004)
- Man Of The Year (2006)
- Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
- Saturday Night Live (2007)
- Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (2007)
- Ein starkes Team: Das grosse Fressen (2009)
TV
- Lost: Season 1: Episode 12 "Whatever the Case May Be (Lost)" (2004)
- The Simpsons: Season 21: Episode 19 "The Squirt and the Whale" (2010)
Other media
- The song was featured in a film that was shot by Fabien Baron during the photo sessions for Madonna's Sex book.
- In the video game Suikoden IV, the opening animated sequence uses an arrangement of the song performed by Yasuhiro Kobayashi ("Coba").
- In the videogame BioShock and its sequel BioShock 2 , the song is used throughout the game on jukeboxes and loud hailers. The song can only be heard in the special edition of BioShock 2
- The song is used as the theme music for the South Australian Tourism Commission's Cellar Door television ad.