I’d like to learn it correctly and I didn’t hear what was so wrong with this version. (Knowing only that sing French is usually different than spoken. )
Can you tell me a couple things done wrong here and, more importantly, recommend one with proper pronunciation?
She’s pronouncing the lyrics as if they’re English words. Seriously, I known most of them by heart and I can’t even understand what she’s singing. There’s nothing wrong with singing with an accent, it can even add some charm, but you have to be at least intelligible. Especially in an intimate love song like this one.
The most famous version of the song, by far, is Edith Piaf’s. Her enunciation is very clear (in a slightly old-fashioned way), and will give you a very good model for the pronunciation.
For examples of non-native singers who sing this song with an accent and yet manage to be perfectly intelligible (and charming in their own very different ways) listen to Grace Jones and Julio Iglesias.
+1 to everything jovan’s said (although I’m not a big fan of Piaf’s voice, I admit that her pronunciation is clear).
Mireille Mathieu…she was apparently huge in Canada in the 60’s…and Nana Mouskouri…I got hooked on these two women who sing in multiple languages.
For the feeling of Piaf I’d go for Billy Holiday in English…For a more modern feel, Marcella Bella sings in Italian…check out on you tube “Io, domani”…
As much as I complain about technology, the ability to you tube or google almost every song every song ever sung astounds me…
Oh, also in italian, Lucio Dalla and Toto Cutugno…
Martha Sierra Lima in Spanish.
Amalia Rodrigues was the pinnacle of Portuguese fado singing, so that’s someone to give a listen to. Here’s Coimbra.
Virginia Rodrigues (no relation), a Brazilian singer who has some interesting stuff: