Artist & Tune
Version by Nana Mouskouri
Version by Cora Vaucaire
Version by Yves Montand
Version by Marc Ogeret
Version by Hervé David
Version by Motivés
About the Song
This song is very widely known in French-speaking countries. The song became strongly associated with the Paris Commune, during which verses were added to the song, thus becoming a revolutinoary song. The "Time of Cherries" is a metaphor regarding what life will be like when a revolution will have changed social and economic conditions. It is believed to be dedicated by the writer to a nurse who fought in the Semaine Sanglante ("Bloody Week") when French government troops overthrew the commune.
The last two videos below display photographs and etchings of the Paris Commune.
(Note: the anti-monarchist insurrection featured in the novel and musical of Les Miserables takes place in June of 1832 and was crushed much more quickly than the Paris Commune. See "Do You Hear the People Sing?")
Translation(s)
THE TIME OF THE CHERRIES [or "Cherry Season"]
When we sing [or: are in] cherry season [the time of cherries]
The gay nightingale and the mockingbird rejoice together.
The pretty girls have folly [madness] in their heads
And the lovers sun in their hearts.
When we sing the time of the cherries
The mockingbird sing far better.
But the time of the cherries is very short,
When we go by two by two to pick hanging earrings [pendants]*,
Love cherries dressed in bright red like rubies,
Falling under the leaves like drops of blood,
But the time of the cherries is very short,
Coral earrings that we pick up while we dream!
When you are in cherry season,
If you're afraid of heartbreak, avoid the beauties!
I who don't fear cruel sorrow [pain],
I won't live without suffering one day.
When you're in the time of the cherries,
You'll also feel the pain of love.
I will always love cherry season,
My heart is an open wound from that time!
And though Dame Fortune offered to me,
She can never soothe my pain.
I will always love the time of the cherries
And the memory I keep in my heart!
Translator note:
* if you have a better word: we have two words in French for earrings: boucles d'oreilles and pendants d'oreilles (or just "pendants"), "pendant" means "hanging" so they are the hanging type of earrings.