I wish you love

At a party last night talking about music, Irla, who is German, mentioned the song “I wish you love”. She started to sing it and it seemed familiar, though I couldn’t place it. Then I realised the melody was familiar to me as “Que reste-t-il de nos amours?”. Irla told me she loved the song in English, finding it so positive, full of the wish for nice things, whereas in French she found Charles Trenet’s version terribly depressing, nostalgic and sad. Today I looked for the lyrics and the words don’t seem to bear this out. They start out with “this is where our story ends”. You can’t get much sadder than that. Irla had obviously picked out certain words – bluebirds, lemonade, etc., and decided the song was a happy song.

For years I hummed “Knights in white satin” until I saw it in writing and realised there was no “K”.

Music in English is successful more or less everywhere. For the average Anglophone I believe there is a bond between lyric and melody that is broken when you listen without understanding the words. But does the sentiment depend on the words, or the music, or a combination of both? If Irla experiences “I wish you love” as a happy song then it is a happy song for her.

Then I then sang My Funny Valentine and Irla said oh no, I hate that song, it is so bloody sad, and I said no it isn’t, it’s a beautiful song, and I told her what the words meant – each day is Valentine’s day said I – yes but only if I beg you to stay said Irla, who had already decided she didn’t like it because the sound of the minor chords made her feel sad.

I love minor chords. I love major chords. I love the “strange (…) change from major to minor”.

Sad music makes me think of emotional scales. I have seen my mother breaking down into tears and not being able to complete a song her mother used to sing. I think it is important to sing on through the tears.