No Regrets - Carolyn Burke [129]
While I was writing this book, people often spoke of Piaf’s fame in countries as distant from, or as unlike, the one with which she is so thoroughly identified—for instance, in Japan, where her songs are thought to convey the essence of that country’s aesthetic, the urge to enjoy what is fleeting as it passes, or in Russia, where they are available in Cyrillic and the young singer Pelageya is called “the Russian Piaf.” It was pleasing to learn that though Piaf never made the trip she envisioned in 1962 to perform in the Soviet Union, decades later the Russian astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina decided to name a small planet after her: 3772 Piaf. Since then, the diminutive star has been part of the solar system, her incandescence illuminating our lives below.
On a return trip to Père-Lachaise, where I again met many of her admirers, it was clear to me that Piaf lives on, although differently from the way she imagined. The famous cemetery, the chansonnier Allain Leprest sings in “Edith”—a moody ballad that perpetuates her heritage—is a full house whose audience is arranged in rows: “Her spirit haunts a strange music-hall / The leaves of the trees cry encore.” This allusive tribute asks the listener, “Do you know what artists do / To make death no sadder / Than saying au revoir …?” Its reply could serve as Edith’s epitaph: “Millions of anonymous lovers / Come to leave their bouquets / In the back of Père-Lachaise / Section ninety-six / Where she found her last nest / Madame Edith Lamboukas / Known as ‘Piaf’ …”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This life of Edith Piaf could not have been written without the gracious participation of many of her friends, lovers, and collaborators, the archivists and collectors who granted me access to important new material, and the fans still imbued with her spirit nearly fifty years after her death. Together they helped me grasp her immense impact in her own time and her unstinting generosity—the openheartedness that to this day reaches across cultural divides to give listeners goose bumps when they hear her voice.
I am more grateful than I can say to Mme Catherine Glavas and to Maître André Schmidt for permission to consult and quote from Piaf’s letters and unpublished writings, but also for the invaluable help I received from him and Mme Annie Rooke in negotiations with the publishers of songs quoted in the text, which was greatly enriched by the inclusion of these materials.
Others whose help was invaluable include members of the Association des Amis d’Edith Piaf, especially Bernard Marchois, who provided introductions to many of Piaf’s friends and included me in memorial services for her at Père Lachaise, where I first felt that I might write a life of the star in accord with her spirit.
Archival research for this book at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France could not have been conducted without the help of Laurence Le Bras of the Manuscripts Division, who allowed me to read Piaf’s correspondence with Jacques Bourgeat, and the supportive staff of the Département des Arts du Spectacle. I am also profoundly grateful to Geneviève Morlet and Claudine Boulouque of the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, as well as to the staff