"She"/Tous les visages de l'amour by Charles Aznavour (1974)

"She" is a legendary 1974 chanson written and performed by French-Armenian icon Charles Aznavour. While famous in the Francophone world for its poetic lyrics exploring the multifaceted, unpredictable nature of a lover, the song achieved massive global fame through its English-language adaptation: the chart-topping smash hit "She".

The song

Title: "She"

Lyrics: Charles Aznavour, Herbert Kretzmer
Music: Charles Aznavour
Release time: 1974 single
Performers: Charles Aznavour, Elvis Costello

Herbert Kretzmer, English songwriter of musical Les Miserables and lyricist for Charles Aznavour

"She" is a song written by Herbert Kretzmer for Charles Aznavour and released by Aznavour as a single in 1974 and spent four weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1974. The song was written in English as a theme tune for the British TV series Seven Faces of Woman.

The lyrics describe a muse who changes constantly, acting as both an angel and a demon, an infant and a woman, representing every possible face of love.

The story

Charles Aznavour co wrote "She" with Herbert Kretzmer, and besides recording the song in English, he also recorded it in other languages including French: "Tous les visages de l'amour" (All the Faces of Love), German: "Sie", Italian: "Lei" and Spanish"Ella" respectively. He also recorded the song in a more uptempo French version with different lyrics, which was titled "Elle".

The English counterpart gained a major resurgence in 1999 in 1999 when Elvis Costello recorded a popular cover for the romantic comedy film Notting Hill.

This version, produced by Trevor Jones, was featured over the final sequence of the film Notting Hill, and charted throughout Europe.

Elvis Costello young, English singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and television host — English singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and television host

Elvis Costello (born 25 August 1954) is an English singer-songwriter. He began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British Punk/New Wave movement of the mid-to-late 1970s.

Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader than that of most popular songs. His music has drawn on many diverse genres; one critic described him as a "pop encyclopaedia", able to "reinvent the past in his own image". Costello has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award, and has twice been nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Male.

The lyrics

French lyrics/Parole: tous les visages de l'amour

Toi, parée de mille et un attraits
Je ne sais jamais qui tu es
Tu changes si souvent de visage et d'aspect
Toi, quel que soit ton âge et ton nom
Tu es un ange ou le démon
Quand pour moi tu prends tour à tour
Tous les visages de l'amour

Toi, si Dieu ne t'avait modeler
Il m'aurait fallut te créer
Pour donner à ma vie sa raison d'exister
Toi qui est ma joie et mon tourment
Tantôt femme et tantôt enfant
Tu offres à mon coeur chaque jour
Tous les visages de l'amour

Moi je suis le feu qui grandit ou qui meurt
Je suis le vent qui rugis ou qui pleure
Je suis la force ou la faiblesse
Moi je pourrais défier le ciel et l'enfer
Je pourrais dompter la terre et la mer
Et réinventer la jeunesse

Toi, viens fais de moi ce que tu veux
Un homme heureux ou malheureux
Un mot de toi, je suis poussière ou je suis Dieu
Toi sois mon espoir sois mon destin
J'ai si peur de mes lendemains
Montre à mon âme sans secours
Tous les visages de l'amour
Toi, tous les visages de l'amour

English lyrics

She may be the face I can't forget
The trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price I have to pay
She may be the song that summer sings
Maybe the chill that autumn brings
Maybe a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She may be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a Heaven or a Hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She, who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No one's allowed to see them when they cry
She may be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows in the past
That I remember 'till the day I die

She maybe the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the rough in many years

Me, I'll take her laughter her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
And where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is
She, she
Oh, she

Spanish lyrics/Letras

Ella,
puede ser el rostro que no puedo olvidar,
un rastro de placer del que me arrepiento,
puede ser mi tesoro o el precio a pagar,
puede ser la canción que canta Salomón,
puede ser el frescor que trae el otoño,
puede ser un centenar de cosas tristes
a lo largo de un día.

Ella,
puede ser la bella o la bestia,
puede ser la hambruna o el banquete,
puede convertir cada día en cielo o infierno.
Ella puede ser el espejo de mis sueños,
la sonrisa reflejada en una corriente de agua,
ella puede no ser lo que quizás parece,
dentro de su caparazón.

Ella, que siempre parece tan felíz y orgullosa,
cuyo ojos pueden ser tan discretos y orgullosos,
a nadie se le permite verlos cuando llora.
Ella puede ser el amor que puede y espera durar,
puede venir a mi desde las sombras del pasado
que recordaré hasta el día de mi muerte.

Ella,
puede ser la razón por la que sobrevivo
el dónde y por qué estoy vivo.
Por la que me preocuparé en los años duros y lluviosos,
yo, yo haré frente a su risa y a sus lágrimas,
y haré de ellas mi souvenir,
a donde vaya yo tengo que ir,
el sentido de mi vida es...

Ella, ella,
oh, ella.