Chant des Partisans

The Chant des Partisans was the most popular song of the Free French during World War II.

The piece was written and put to melody in London in 1943 after Anna Marly heard a Russian song that provided her with inspiration. Joseph Kessel and Maurice Druon wrote the French lyrics. It was performed by Anna Marly, broadcast by the BBC and adopted by the maquis. The lyrics of the song revolve around the idea of a life-or-death struggle for national liberation, and they also carry elements of a communist political message (for example, calling upon the workers and peasants to rise up).

After the war the Chant des Partisans was so popular, it was proposed as a new national anthem for France. It became for a short while the unofficial national anthem, next to the official La Marseillaise.

Anna Marly also wrote and performed a more introspective song, La Complainte du Partisan, which was later adapted and translated into English as The Partisan. It was most famously covered by Leonard Cohen. The two songs are sometimes confused.

French Lyrics

Le Chant des Partisans:

Ami, entends-tu le vol noir des corbeaux sur nos plaines ?

Ami, entends-tu les cris sourds du pays qu'on enchaîne ?

Ohé partisans, ouvriers et paysans, c'est l'alarme !

Ce soir l'ennemi connaîtra le prix du sang et des larmes.

Montez de la mine, descendez des collines, camarades,

Sortez de la paille les fusils, la mitraille, les grenades ;

Ohé les tueurs, à la balle et au couteau tuez vite !

Ohé saboteur, attention à ton fardeau, dynamite ...

C'est nous qui brisons les barreaux des prisons, pour nos frères,

La haine à nos trousses, et la faim qui nous pousse, la misère.

Il y a des pays où les gens au creux des lits font des rêves

Ici, nous, vois-tu, nous on marche et nous on tue, nous on crève.

Ici chacun sait ce qu'il veut, ce qu'il fait, quand il passe ;

Ami, si tu tombes, un ami sort de l'ombre à ta place.

Demain du sang noir séchera au grand soleil sur les routes,

Chantez, compagnons, dans la nuit la liberté nous écoute.

Sifflez sometimes used instead of Chantez,

and then the final lyrics are replaced with whistling

Ami, entends-tu les cris sourds du pays qu'on enchaîne ?

Ami, entends-tu le vol noir des corbeaux sur nos plaines ?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh...

Unofficial English translation

Friend, do you hear the crows' dark flight over our plains?

Friend, do you hear the muffled cries of the country being shackled?

Ahoy! Resistants, workers and farmers, the alarm has sounded!

Tonight the enemy shall know the price of blood and tears.

Climb out of the mine, come down from the hills, comrades,

Take the guns, the munitions and the grenades from under the straw;

Ahoy killers, with bullets and knives kill swiftly!

Ahoy "saboteur", be careful with your burden of dynamite!

We're the ones who smash the bars of jails, for our brothers,

Hate pursuing us, it's hunger that drives us, dire poverty.

There are countries where people sleep in their beds and dream.

Here, you see, we walk and we kill and we die

Here, each one of us knows what he wants, what he does when he passes by;

Friend, if you fall, a friend comes from the shadows in your place.

Tomorrow, black blood will dry in the sun on the roads

Sing, companions, in the night, freedom listens to us.

Rhyming English Translation

Here is an English translation, which can be sung to the same tune:

My friend, do you hear the dark flight of the crows over our plains?
My friend, do you hear the dulled cries of our countries in chains?

Oh, friends, do you hear, workers, farmers, in your ears alarm bells ringing?
Tonight all our tears will be turned to tongues of flame in our blood singing!

Climb up from the mine, out from hiding in the pines, all you comrades,
Take out from the hay all your guns, your munitions and your grenades;

Hey you, assassins, with your bullets and your knives, kill tonight!
Hey you, saboteurs, be careful with your burden, dynamite!

We are the ones who break the jail bars in two for our brothers,
hunger drives, hate pursues, misery binds us to one another.

There are countries where people sleep without a care and lie dreaming.
But here, do you see, we march on, we kill on, we die screaming.

But here, each one knows what he wants, what he does with his choice;
My friend, if you fall, from the shadows on the wall, another steps into your place.

Tomorrow, black blood shall dry out in the sunlight on the streets.
But sing, companions, freedom hears us in the night still so sweet.

My friend, do you hear the dark flight of the crows over our plains?
My friend, do you hear the dulled cries of our countries in chains?

Russian Lyrics by Anna Marly

От леса до леса

Дорога идет

Вдоль обрыва

А там высоко

Где-то месяц плывёт

Торопливо

Пойдём мы туда,

Куда ворон не влетит,

Зверь не входит

Никто, никакая сила

Нас не покорит,

Не отгонит

Народные мстители,

Мы отобьем

Злую силу

Пусть ветер свободы

Засыплет

И нашу могилу...

Пойдем мы туда

И разрушим до конца

Вражьи сети

Пусть знают как много

За правду нас легло

Наши дети!...

External links

The Chant des Partisans at:

• Le chant des partisans
• National Federation of Deported and Imprisoned Resistance Fighters and Patriots
• Anna Marly - Le chant des partisans on You tube (by author)
• Mireille Mathieu chante Le chant des partisans on You tube
• French Prime minister

Literature

Richard Raskin, "Le Chant des Partisans: Functions of a Wartime Song." Folklore [U.K.], 102, 1 (Summer, 1991), pp. 62–76.