ABSTRACT
Charles Aznavour began his career in chanson like Charles Trenet, as one half of a double act: most of his early songs from 1946 onwards are co-written, with Pierre Roche credited for the music and Aznavour for the lyrics. The French versions of Aznavour's songs are considerably more explicit and extreme in their sentiments than their English-language counterparts, and even than the run-of-the-mill love-songs of his French contemporaries. The appeal of Aznavour's lyrics was not simply a matter of being more direct about sexual relationships: he also wrote about the negative side of love, the rows, the disastrous scenes, the jealousy and the hatred. Aznavour's songs do not always celebrate a traditional conception of masculinity, however. Aznavour broadened the range of sentiments and situations that chanson could express, going well beyond what was acceptable to Anglo-American audiences at that time, and leaving behind the modesty and discretion typical of the generation of Charles Trenet.
