Léo Ferré - Verrà la morte (Cesare Pavese)

Title : Verrà la morte
Text : Cesare Pavese (1950)
Music : Léo Ferré (1969)
Album : La Vie d'artiste 1961-1971

Movie : A Bout de souffle (1960)
Director : Jean-Luc Godard


Lyrics :
VERRA' LA MORTE E AVRA' I TUOI OCCHI

Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi.
questa morte che ci accompagna
dal mattino alla sera, insonne,
sorda, come un vecchio rimorso
o un vizio assurdo. I tuoi occhi
saranno una vana parola,
un grido taciuto, un silenzio.
Così li vedi ogni mattina
quando su te sola ti pieghi
nello specchio. O cara speranza,
quel giorno sapremo anche noi
che sei la vita e sei il nulla.

Per tutti la morte ha uno sguardo.
Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi.
Sarà come smettere un vizio,
come vedere nello specchio
riemergere un viso morto,
come ascoltare un labbro chiuso.
Scenderemo nel gorgo muti.


Traduction française (Léo Ferré) :

La mort viendra et elle aura tes yeux -
cette mort qui est notre compagne
du matin jusqu'au soir, sans sommeil,
sourde, comme un vieux remords
ou un vice absurde. Tes yeux
seront une vaine parole,
un cri réprimé, un silence.
Ainsi les vois-tu le matin
quand sur toi seule tu te penches
au miroir. O chère espérance,
ce jour-là nous saurons nous aussi
que tu es la vie et que tu es le néant.

La mort a pour tous un regard.
La mort viendra et elle aura tes yeux.
Ce sera comme cesser un vice,
comme voir resurgir
au miroir un visage défunt,
comme écouter des lèvres closes.
Nous descendrons dans le gouffre muets.


English translation :
DEATH WILL STARE AT ME OUT OF YOUR EYES

Death will stare at me out of your eyes;
this death who accompanies us
from morning to night, sleepless,
dull, like an old remorse
or an absurd vice. Your eyes
will be a vain word
an unspoken scream, a silence.
So you see them each morning
when you gaze alone
on the mirror. O dear hope,
that day we'll know too,
that you are the life and the void.
To everyone death has a look
Death will stare at me out of your eyes.
It will be like giving up a vice,
like seeing in the mirror
a dead face re-emerge,
like listening to a silent lip.
We'll go down into the whirlpool without words.


Ferré, Pavese and the Poets.

Léo Ferré was a poet in his own right but, as a singer, he also contributed to popularize the work of numerous poets, including Arthur Rimbaud, Louis Aragon, François Villon, Guillaume Appolinaire, Charles Baudelaire, Jean-Roger Caussimon and Cesare Pavese.
Ferré's unique mastery of diction is always present in his songs and, as such, his interpretation of poems truly are interpretations, charged with personal meaning. When listening to « Verrà la morte », it is striking how this dark and desperate poem is transformed by Ferré's elegant and wishful diction. Not to mention the light and uplifting instrumentation.
« Verrà la morte e avrà i tuoi occhi » is a phrase full of mistery with regards to who « tuoi » is. Would it be yourself or an other person ? In Ferré's mouth, this is reminiscent of « Ne Chantez pas la mort » (Don't Sing death), a poem Caussimon offered him. Death, there, is romantically pictured as a 20 years old girl with red hair. In her bride costume, she will have what it takes.
What if « tuoi » was her ? Femme fatale, lover, bride and, eventually, spouse and nurse. A multidimensional image without any clear borders but certainly charged with Ferré's and Pavese's personnal and social beliefs.
In the movie « A Bout de souffle » (Breathless), Jean Seberg assumes some of those roles. Enthralling Jean-Paul Belmondo, she will eventually lead him to his own death. Not on purpose, no. Maybe because of her nature, maybe because he loves her and maybe because he doesnt like himself, in the end, he can only disregard his own life.
At the moment of his death, she will be there, staring at him in his own eyes and... sarà como smettere un vizio. Dead or alive, anyone can go down nel gorgo muti.