What remains of our loves … and Charles Trenet ? Twenty years after his death, his legacy seems intact. To the extent that France 3 pays tribute to him with a documentary entitled The enchanter, aired Friday February 19, 2021 at 9 p.m. Disappeared at the age of eighty-eight, the great friend of Charles Aznavour left behind an invaluable batch of cult songs like The sea, Sweet France, There's joy, The extraordinary garden or the unbeatable What remains of our loves ?
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of his death, no best-of album on the program but two books, Trenet off-vocals and The Trenet Revolution. Fans of the 1950s singer will then be able to rediscover the singer's genius but also its mysterious side, which no one has managed to penetrate, not even the love of his life Marie-Louise. However, Charles Trenet left this world with a reputation which today causes damage to his work …
A heritage tarnished by a reputation for "rot"
Asked about the rumors that have been circulating about Charles Trenet for more than forty years, Jacques Pessis, his friend and biographer, made an unfortunate observation: "They are even stronger than when he was alive. We celebrate Brassens, Brel, Gainsbourg, but not Trenet, who was nevertheless their master. It's incredible that there is still no complete, while there are plenty of unreleased … Because Trenet always has a bad reputation", he confided to Parisian. He resumed : "How many times have I heard: 'His songs are great, but the man is rotten! ' It was my duty to restore the truth, so that young people could listen to it in complete freedom ", said Jacques Pessis, author of Trenet off-vocals.
During his lifetime, Charles Trenet was accused of having sung three times at Radio Paris, Nazi propaganda radio, in front of German soldiers at the Folies Bergère: "The three concerts had been recorded before the war by another radio station and he broke his contract with the Folies Bergère after discovering that the Nazis were in the front row.", specified Jacques Pessis. The second rumor that will stick to his skin, although he has nothing to do with it, dates back to 1963. While the majority is twenty-one, the singer is accused of "hijacking minors" on three eighteen year old boys. He will be imprisoned for twenty-nine days before being released on appeal. When his biographer friend asks him why he did not fight more to proclaim his innocence, he replies that he does not care about his posterity: "He preferred to live intensely. Despite the rumors, he managed to move forward, to digest his nightmares as he said. But he paid for it after his death. "
Read also : Death of Philippe Chatel, author of the musical "Emilie Jolie": the cause of death revealed