Search - Charles Trenet :: Le Fou Chantant

Charles Trenet captivated the French public as a very young man and, like Edith Piaf, buoyed his listeners through some of the darkest days of modern French history. A prolific and highly literate wordsmith, he was also ahead of his time musically, employing advanced harmonies in his dozens of compositions. Proud of his reputation as a singing fool, Trenet attacked every performance with a lighthearted intensity that conveyed a sense of wild abandon. "Le Soleil a Rendez-Vous Avec le Lune" on this disc is a characteristic example of this "swinging troubadour" approach. "Que Reste-t-il de Nos Amours," in contrast, shows his ability to employ modern chord progressions to evoke a more sentimental mood. Even here, however, Trenet's natural exuberance breaks into the pensive mood of his nostalgia over a lost love. "La Mer," "Bon Soir, Jolie Madame," and the other tunes on this single disc expose other facets of his wide-ranging repertoire. --Ed Killham