Non, je ne regrette rien

"Non, je ne regrette rien" (French pronunciation: [nɔ̃ ʒə nə ʁəɡʁɛtə ʁjɛ̃]), meaning "No, I'm not sorry for anything", is a French song composed by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. It was written in 1956, and is best known through its 1960 recording by Édith Piaf.

Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion.^[1] At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War (1954–1962), and the 1st REP (1st Foreign Parachute Regiment) — which backed a temporary putsch of 1961 by the French military against the civilian leadership of Algeria — adopted the song when their resistance was broken. The leadership of the Regiment was arrested and tried but the non-commissioned officers, corporals and Legionnaires were assigned to other Foreign Legion formations. They left the barracks singing the song, which has now become part of the French Foreign Legion heritage and is sung when they are on parade.

Lyrics

The rhymes of the words echo the rhythm of the melody following typical French meter, where words almost always stress the final syllable, in iambic (da-DA-da-DA) and anapestic (da-da-DA-da-da-DA) compositions. A literal translation is unable to maintain the internal harmony of lyric and tune, since English words usually stress an earlier syllable and are most often suited to trochaic (DA-da-DA-da) and dactylic (DA-da-da-DA-da-da) meter. A variety of English language versions have been recorded. Discussion of their merits is ongoing.^[2] The superlative, all-encompassing object arousing the transcendent emotions of the lover singing the song, and the use of passive reflexive verb | ni le bien qu'on m'a fait | ni le mal | to describe good and bad perceived by a person can be rendered | not the good that one did to me | nor the bad | using the absolute impersonal pronoun.^[3]

Popular culture

• In the United Kingdom, the song was at one time associated with the former Conservative Party Chancellor of the Exchequer, Norman Lamont, who quoted the song's title to sum up his political career.^[4]
• The song was adopted as "a personal anthem" by the former Dutch colonial soldier Johan Cornelis Princen (better known as Poncke Princen) who in 1948 deserted, joined the pro-independence Indonesian rebels fighting against the Dutch.^[5]
• The song was played over the public address at the Stade de France, Saint-Denis, following the French Rugby Union team's elimination from the 2007 Rugby World Cup semi-finals.^[6] It accompanied Anna Bessonova and Ukrainian team of rhythmic gymnastics at Gymnastics Gala of Beijing Olympics games 2008.
• The song is featured in many movies, including Bull Durham (1988) in which a character refers to Piaf as a "crazy Mexican singer"; Doris Dörrie's German film Keiner liebt mich (1994), titled Nobody Loves Me in English; Babe: Pig in the City (1998); Bernardo Bertolucci's film The Dreamers (2003); the Coen Brothers' film Intolerable Cruelty; the 2005 film Monamour; the 2006 film Piaf Her story Her songs starring Raquel Bitton; the French criminal biopic Mesrine; the British animated WWII film Valiant in which members of the French Resistance "play" it, 12 years before the song was written; mashed up as part of the song "Nique la police," in the French film La Haine (1995).
• It is featured extensively in Christopher Nolan's 2010 film Inception, which stars Marion Cotillard who portrayed Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.^[7] The film's composer Hans Zimmer worked sections of the track into the score.^[8]
• In the Soviet TV-series Seventeen Moments of Spring, it is heard in a 1945 radio broadcast, whereas the song was released two decades later.

• The song is featured in many television commercials, including an eBay commercial in which a woman drops her ring down the sink; an Australian Nescafé TV commercial in the early 1990s; a UK Hitachi commercial in 1989; a UK Heineken advert with Stephen Fry in the early 1990s; a television/radio advertisement for the UK high-street opticians Specsavers in 2008, in which a mock translation markets spectacles.

Other recordings

The song has been recorded by many other performers, including :

• La Toya Jackson in her 1992 Moulin Rouge revue Formidable.
• Elaine Paige on 1994 album Piaf, released to coincide with her portrayal of the lead character in the play of the same name.
• The rock band Half Man Half Biscuit recorded an English version titled No Regrets.
• Shirley Bassey in 1965, (reaching #39 on the UK charts) and on the album Love Songs.
• Bad Boys Blue in 1989, on album "The Fifth" recorded an English version titled No Regrets.
• Vicky Leandros on her album "Zeitlos" (Timeless) sung in German with the title "Nein Ich bereue nichts" .
• Brazilian singer Cássia Eller in 2001 Acústico MTV album.

References

1. ^ Cooke, James J. (1990). "Alexander Harrison, Challenging de Gaulle: The O.A.S. and the Counterrevolution in Algeria, 1954–1962". The International Journal of African Historical Studies. Boston: Boston University African Studies Center.
2. ^ apis, tag (08-11-2009). "Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien discussion thread". Song Meanings Lyrics website. http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858515145/. Retrieved July 31, 2010. 
3. ^ amw1978, tag (02-26-2010). "Edith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien discussion thread". Song Meanings Lyrics website. http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858515145/. Retrieved July 31, 2010. 
4. ^ Johnston, Philip (2004-03-16). "It ain't over till the Home Secretary sings". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/16/nres416.xml. 
5. ^ McWilliams, Ed (2002-02-28). "Princen sided with people" (Letter from Ed McWilliams, former US foreign Service Officer). The Jakarta Post. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/berita-bhinneka/message/49819. 
6. ^ Fordyce, Tom (2007-10-14). "England in dreamland". BBC Sport web site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rugbyworldcup/2007/10/england_in_dreamland_1.html. 
7. ^ Chang, Justin (2010-07-05). "Variety: Inception Review". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943114.html?categoryId=31&cs=1. Retrieved 2010-07-05. 
8. ^ Martens, Todd (July 20, 2010). "Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr talk about the sad romance of 'Inception'". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/07/inception-christopher-nolan-the-smiths-johnny-marr-hans-zimmer-and-johnny-marr-on-the-sound-of-inception-its-about-sadness.html. Retrieved July 31, 2011.