Edith Piaf and her Music

There is something unique in the way that Edith Piaf makes her music work for her, letting it show who she is instead of enslaving herself to the words. She was in love with her work, almost as if it was a powerful extension of her own petite body, and let it explain to the world who Edith Piaf really was. Having listened to her song while reading the articles on her life, I can’t help but feel like her songs were not even music, but rather stories strung together with instrumental tunes that tried to keep up with what she sang and that told of the sentiments that she had- abandoned, always searching, unconfident even.

            Piaf grew up in an absent home, and this overwhelming desire to feel love and acceptance after a childhood lacking this is prevalent in her songs. By lacking an understanding of what her words meant, I was able to listen to the sound and intonation of her music, and it always sounded so sad and mournful that it was only her voice that could have lent it the personal meaning that it had. When other singers, like Zaz, try their hands at Piaf’s songs, they come out more cheerful and alive, not losing any power but rather gaining a new significance. Zaz did not have the heartache and troubles that Piaf had in her short life, so she could not emit the same emotions but rather added a different authority that only Zaz could have. Edith put a special part of herself into her music that no other singer could repeat.