The incredible story of “Non, je ne regrette rien”, Piaf’s hit

« Nwe, nothing at all, no, I regret nothing…” We all know this great success of Edith Piaf, which resonates like a hymn in the face of adversity. In fact, the star will perform it for her big comeback in the early 1960s, when we thought she was finished, washed out, broken by illness and addictions, exhausted by the multiple operations she underwent to treat an ulcer and digestive bleeding…

It is the time when a young composer tries his last chance. For several years he has been trying to place titles with La Môme, without success. Introverted, unhappy, broke, he nevertheless has a nugget in his hands, a song that he wrote one day in anger, like a military march: “No, I regret nothing”. And with his lyricist friend Michel Vaucaire, he is convinced that this music was made for Piaf. You still have to be able to approach it…

ALSO READ Death of Charles Dumont, close to Edith Piaf and composer of “Non, je ne regrette rien”

By insisting, both obtained an appointment on October 5, 1960. The audition was scheduled in the singer's apartment, boulevard Lannes, in 16^e district of Paris. But twist: Piaf decides to cancel, she is too tired, she sends a telegram… Too late, Dumont and Vaucaire are already in front of the door. “Bring them in since they are here,” says Piaf to his secretary.

How “No, I regret nothing” made France cry

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