Jean Gabin sings

A respite from everything: Jean Gabin sings “Quand on s’promène au bord de l'eau,” words by Julien Duvivier, music by Maurice Yvain. That’s Raymond Cordy following him around.

[From They Were Five (dir. Julien Duvivier, 1936).]

Here are the lyrics in French. An English version, as given in the subtitles of the Criterion Channel’s print:

The days of the week, you slave to earn your keep. You don’t give a damn, you do the job you can. The landlord, the baker, the taxes to pay, a goddam dog’s life every day. Sunday comes along, to Nogent with a song. You can’t wake up too soon, all the blossom is in bloom.

When you stroll by the riverside, the air smells sweet, it’s such a treat. Paris, a faraway prison cell. Your hearts are full of singing, the scent of flowers sends you reeling, happiness for free is thrilling. The troubles of the week that’s past are drowned in blue and green at last. On Sunday by the riverside, the twitter of birds trilling make[s] today a new beginning, when we stroll by the riverside.

I know a gloomy bunch of people who worry their lives away and dream of taking off to a better world far away. They spend a pile of money in their search for milk and honey. But it makes my heart bleed, ‘cause there ain’t no need to find the spot of land where you feel grand, to hunt far and wide.

And chorus once again.