Édith Piaf (1915-1963) was a French singer-songwriter, cabaret performer and film actress noted as France’s national chanteuse and one of the country’s most widely known international stars. Piaf’s music was often autobiographical and she specialized in chanson and torch ballads about love, loss and sorrow. Her most widely known songs include “La Vie en rose” (1946), “Non, je ne regrette rien” (1960), “Hymne à l’amour” (1949), “Milord” (1959), “La Foule” (1957), “L’Accordéoniste” (1940), and “Padam, padam…” (1951).
“Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (“No, I don’t regret anything”) was composed by Charles Dumont, with lyrics by Michel Vaucaire. It was written in 1956, and is best known through its 1960 recording by Édith Piaf, which spent seven weeks atop the French Singles & Airplay Reviews chart.
Piaf dedicated her recording of the song to the French Foreign Legion. At the time of the recording, France was engaged in a military conflict, the Algerian War (1954–1962), and the 1st REP (1st Foreign Parachute Regiment) — which backed a temporary putsch of 1961 by the French military against president Charles de Gaulle and the civilian leadership of Algeria — adopted the song when their resistance was broken. The leadership of the Regiment was arrested and tried but the non-commissioned officers, corporals and Legionnaires were assigned to other Foreign Legion formations. They left the barracks singing the song, which has now become part of the French Foreign Legion heritage and is sung when they are on parade.
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Ni le mal; tout ça m’est bien égal !
No, nothing at all
No! I don’t regret anything
Not the good things people have done to me
Not the bad things, it’s all the same to me!
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
C’est payé, balayé, oublié
Je me fous du passé !
No, nothing at all
No! I don’t regret anything
It’s paid for, removed, forgotten
I don’t give a damn about the past!
Avec mes souvenirs
J’ai allumé le feu
Mes chagrins, mes plaisirs
Je n’ai plus besoin d’eux !
With my memories
I lit up the fire
My troubles/sorrows, my pleasures
I don’t need them anymore
Balayées les amours
Et tous leurs trémolos
Balayés pour toujours
Je repars à zéro
Swept away my love stories
And all their tremble
Swept away forever
I start again from zero
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Ni le bien qu’on m’a fait
Ni le mal; tout ça m’est bien égal !
No, nothing at all
No! I don’t regret anything
Not the good things people have done to me
Not the bad things, it’s all the same to me!
Non, rien de rien
Non, je ne regrette rien
Car ma vie, car mes joies
Aujourd’hui, ça commence avec toi
No, nothing of nothing
No! I don’t regret anything
Because my life, because my joys
Today, it starts with you