An introduction to Florent Pagny ~ Learn French Step by Step

Among my favourite French artists, there is without a doubt the singer and songwriter Florent Pagny.

Florent Pagny was born on 6th November 1961 in Chalon-sur-Saône. Actually, he started his career as an actor, and wrote his first song in 1987.

His first album, called "Merci", was released in 1990, with the song "Merci" thanking his parents for giving him life.

Here are some of his most beautiful songs (not all lyrics or music have been written by him, but the songs were written for him).

Florent Pagny has one of the most beautiful voices in the world of French song. He is a monument of French Art.

(Please bear in mind that I am not the author of the translations proposed under each video, and that I do not have the time, unfortunately, to revise and correct them all.)

"Savoir aimer" (1997) (To know how to love)

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

"Si tu n'aimes pas Florent Pagny" (2010) (If you don't like Florent Pagny)

(A very humouristic song where he explains that he can't be anybody else than himself. The chorus repeats that "If you don't like Florent Pagny, I can understand, Because I confess to you that sometimes, I feel like punching my own face...")

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

"Et un jour une femme" (2000) (And one day a woman)

(A very beautiful love song)

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

"L'avenir" (2021) (The future)

We are made to build the future...

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

"Châtelet les Halles" (2000)

(It's the name of a metro (line 1) and RER station in Paris. If you want to know more about this station, click here!)

Some people are passionate about the Paris underground and its history, but for some others, it is just the synonym of their hard lives when they have to get up very early in the morning to commute. This has been the inspiration for this song called "Châtelet les Halles", which describes very beautifully (the video is also very beautiful) the lives of those people who commute every day but dream of an "elsewhere" they will never see.

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

("galère" in this song is, in this context, a French slang word which does not mean "galley" as translated literally in the link above, but means a very difficult situation of life.

We say in French: "c'est la galère !", or "quelle galère !" for example.)

"Ma liberté de penser" (2003) (My freedom to think)

(This song was written following problems he had in those days with the French tax office. The song makes the -long- list of all he allows the tax office to take away from him, but the singer makes it clear that they will not have his freedom to think. The sarcastic and rebellious tone adopted in this song made the whole country burst into laughter. The song was n°1 in the charts for six weeks in France, and three weeks in Belgium)

Lyrics

(Translation of the website lyricstranslate.com, revised by me as there were huge mistakes in it)

"Là où je t'emmenerai" (2006) (The place where I will take you)

(Another superb love song.)

Lyrics

(Approximate translation on this website)

Je viens du sud (I come from the south)

(This is not a song by or for Florent Pagny. It is a song written and sung by Michel Sardou, another monument of French Art, in 1981. In this video he sings it with Florent Pagny. I do not know the exact date of this video, I would say some time in the 90s. Original version of this great song by Michel Sardou here.)