Joseph Ira “Joe” Dassin (1938-1980) was an American-born French singer-songwriter. By the early 1970s, Dassin’s songs topped the charts in France and he became well known. Probably as a recognition of his parents’ left leanings, Dassin’s records were officially released in the USSR and he became very popular in the Eastern block. However, the political views of his parents were not well known to the general public in the USSR, and Dassin’s popularity should be connected to his talent only. He was also a talented polyglot, recording songs in German, Spanish, Italian and Greek, as well as French and English. Amongst his most popular songs in French are “Les Champs-Élysées” (Originally “Waterloo Road”) (1969), “Salut les amoureux” (originally “City of New Orleans”) (1973), “L’Été indien” & “Et si tu n’existais pas”(1975), and “À toi” (1976).

Et si tu n’existais pas
Dis-moi pourquoi j’existerais
Pour traîner dans un monde sans toi
Sans espoir et sans regret
Et si tu n’existais pas
J’essayerai d’inventer l’amour
Comme un peintre qui voit sous ses doigts
Naître les couleurs du jour
Et qui n’en revient pas

And if you didn’t exist
Tell me why I would exist
To drag along in a world without you
Without hope and without regret
And if you didn’t exist
I would try to invent love
As a painter who sees from beneath his fingers
The colours of the day being born
And who can’t believe it

Et si tu n’existais pas
Dis-moi pour qui j’existerais
Des passantes endormies dans mes bras
Que je n’aimerais jamais
Et si tu n’existais pas
Je ne serais qu’un point de plus
Dans ce monde qui vient et qui va
Je me sentirais perdu
J’aurais besoin de toi

And if you didn’t exist
Tell me for whom I would exist
Passing girls, asleep in my arms
That I would never love
And if you didn’t exist
I would be just another dot
In this world, which comes and goes
I would feel lost
I would need you

Et si tu n’existais pas
Dis-moi comment j’existerais
Je pourrais faire semblant d’être moi
Mais je ne serais pas vrai
Et si tu n’existais pas
Je crois que je l’aurais trouvé
Le secret de la vie, le pourquoi
Simplement pour te créer
Et pour te regarder

And if you didn’t exist
Tell me how I would exist
I could pretend to be me
But I wouldn’t be true
And if you didn’t exist
I think that I would have found it
The secret of Life, the why
Only to create you
And to gaze at you