Bourvil

Le P'tit Bal Perdu/C'etait Bien

Included : Piano Solo Score/All Instrument Score with Chords

Will we ever know why and how one song more than another will nestle in people's hearts over time, from generation to generation?

Surely not, "le petit bal perdu" has entered the pantheon of songs that will never be forgotten, no matter how little it may have faded away, it will always inevitably be rediscovered. This song is a small miracle of balance, with melody and lyrics competing with poetry, and a perfect osmosis between the two. We must pay tribute to Gaby Verlor and Robert Nyel for having chiselled this little masterpiece for us and those who followed us, and to Bourvil for having distilled his interpretation of it for us.

In the mid-nineties, it was another dance that came to the rescue of "Petit bal perdu", as it were... Philippe Decoufflé turned it into a lovely choreographed duet with the luminous dancer Pascale Houbin. We've all seen him on TV, and he's managed to revive some people's memories and bring the song to the attention of others.

A song is like a film whose mental images you can shape to your own liking. This one speaks of broken ties, of time that has passed, of the other forever far away, of vanished landscapes of which all that remains is dust, regret and nostalgia. Without a doubt, "Le Petit bal perdu" belongs to neo-realist cinema, the film is still and for a long time to come on the black screen of our sleepless nights, on its dance floor the evening will never quite fall, the accordionists will never stop playing and the waltzers will never stop turning their eyes in each other's eyes.

From dead loves, the waves of life are reborn ad infinitum, and that's all very well...

Marc PERRONE