Ce N'est Rien

There are few songs that get me over a temporary fit of the blues like the song made famous by the French singer Julien Clerc, named "Ce N'est Rien". The title translates best in English as "it's alright". The song is from 1974, when I was 17, a serious, passionate but isolated teenager and this song from the very first time I heard it has always been able to shake me out of the blues. The sensual vibrato voice of the singer, his energy, his insistence on hope in the darkest of emotions. He recently sang the song again during a 40 year celebration concert of his music, and at 64, his voice is intact, and still gave me shivers of pleasure and recognition, after all those years! The song 's moral is that no matter what you deal with, try to get past it, as things always change. Time passes, it's alright, there will be other chances, other choices made possible. Another song of his I always liked for its whimsical sensuality is "Elle voulait que je l'appelle Venise", an amusing song about a girl that insists on being called Venise by the boys. His music is sensual, he was a big heartthrob in the seventies, when he was just in his twenties, but it has also a very up beat energy, a sense of hope, no matter how distressing at times the heart break of the songs. It is strange how you can listen to music you heard more than 30 years ago, and it gives you the same emotions you had at that time. Memory can be a wonderful thing, if we can recall the sad, we can also relive the hope, the joy, both as a general emotion, or involving a very specific moment. In that sense, the gods were merciful, if there is such a thing as trauma memory, there is also the joy of recalling and reliving good memories, that all those years later can bring a smile and energy to our heart. After remembering my little sister singing the sad song "Mademoiselle de Paris", and the heart break that song predicted for her, it is good to be able to listen to "Ce N'est Rien", and get some healing for my aching memories, a morale boost for the memories that time won't heal. Hope is a many splendor-ed thing, we can't live without it, and the way Julien Clerc sings his songs, he is a testimony to that need to get beyond whatever aches, and survive, with your heart still beating, still believing in life.