The French Connection: 7/19/26 Yves Montand
The French Connection July 19, 2026: Yves Montand
By Mike Stevenson
Yves Montand (1921–1991) was an Italian-born French actor and singer who became a global star of both stage and screen. Discovered in 1944 by Édith Piaf in Paris, Montand transitioned from cabaret singing to international cinema.
Montand’s recording of “Les Feuilles Mortes” is one of the most celebrated chansons in French culture. American songwriter Johnny Mercer changed the title to “Autumn Leaves,” adding memorable lyrics, “I miss you most of all, my darling / When autumn leaves start to fall.”
Yves Montand continued to sing “Le Feuilles Mortes” right up until the time of his death in 1991.
Audio is available for 2 weeks after original air date. The French Connection airs live Sundays at 5 pm
“The guy blows my mind with his songs that don’t rhyme.”- Frank Sinatra
Open: Clopin, Clopant
– “C’est Si Bon”(H Betti, Hornez) 1948
– “Les Feuilles Mortes” (m. Kosma, l. Jacques Prévert) / The Autumn Leaves” (l. Johnny Mercer)
– “Le Temps des Cerises” / The Time of Cherries: (J Clément) Chansons populaires de France, 1955
– “Mais qu’est-ce que j’ai?” 1947 (written by H Betti, Édith Piaf)
– “Clopin Clopant” (P Dudan, B Coquatrix) 1948
– “Barbara” (m. Kosma, l. Jacques Prévert) Chante Prévert, 1952
– “La butte rouge” (G. Montéhus, G. Krier) Chansons populaires de France, 1955
– “Rue Saint Vincent” (Aristide Bruant) single, 1950
Le Générique, Set 1:
– Joe Pass “Les Feuilles Mortes” intrumental Conucopia, 1990
A Little Beer
– “Sous de Ciel de Paris” (l. J Dréjac, m. H Giraud) Le Paris de… Montand 1964
– “A Bicyclette”(Francis Lai) 1968 A Bicyclette 1968
– “Parce Que Ça Me Donne Du Courage” (Mireille Hartuch, J Nohain) 1948
– “Vel’ d’Hiv” (Gasté / Guigo) single,1948
– “Un p’tit bock” / A Little Beer” Yves Montand and the Party Continues, 1948,
– “La Complainte de Mandrin” Chansons populaires de France 1955
– “Le Temps des Cerises” (J Clément) -live reprise- (Yves Montand By Request (1977)
FIN
– Francis Cabrel “Quand j’aime une fois, j’aime pour toujours” Double Tour, 2000
– PROGRAM NOTES –
- Tonight’s show begins with the first-ever broadcast and recording of “C’est Si Bon” performed on French radio, with the Jacques Hélian Orchestra recorded on January 18, 1948
- In 1947, Édith Piaf and Yves Montand had ended their romance, Piaf wrote the lyrics to “Mais Qu’est-ce que Jai?” in remembrance of their affair (lyrics include: “Loving him so much makes me want to scream!”) Piaf requested Henri Betti to set the music to her lyrics.
- Jacques Prévert’s poem “Barbara” contrasts the beautiful, fleeting memory of an encounter between two lovers in the rain-soaked city of Brest, France, with the devastating reality of World War II. When he was still a young child, Montand’s family fled Italy for France to escape the rise of Mussolini’s fascist regime.
Crolla once said that he loved Django deeply—not only as a musician, but even more as a man because of Django’s “child-like purity.”
“Un P’tit Bock” / A Little Beer” is indeed a lighthearted, cheerful ode to the simple pleasure of drinking beer. The song features jazz manouche-style guitar by Italian jazz musician and film composer Henri Crolla. One of Crolla’s neighbours was a young Django Reinhardt, with whose family he became close.
- In Wes Anderson’s 1998 American coming-of-age comedy-drama Rushmore, when the main character Max Fischer fakes an accident to seduce his teacher Ms. Cross, he plays Montand’s sweet-sounding “Rue Saint-Vincent.” However, the french lyric tells the story of a younng woman from Monmartre who is first courted, but then murdered. This may mean that, despite being head of the French club, Max doesn’t understand French
Max Fischer fakes an accident to seduce his teacher Ms. Cross
The French original “Les Feuilles Mortes” was written in 1945 by poet Jacques Prévert and composer Joseph Kosma. In 1947, legendary American lyricist Johnny Mercer added his usual brilliance to his english rewrite, now titled “The Autumn Leaves.” Nat “King” Cole took the english version to No. 1 on the hit parade in 1955. Tony Bennett, Eartha Kitt, Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Bill Evans also had memorable covers of the song.
- Montand starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in the 1960 film, “Let’s Make Love,” directed by George Cukor. Once on set with their respective spouses far away, the two began a torrid affair, which ultimately went public.
- For much of his life, Montand was a Communist. He famously acted in three political thrillers with director Costa-Gavras: “Z” (1969 winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film), “The Confession” (1970) and “State of Siege” (1972). In most cases, the targets of Costa-Gavras’s work have been right wing or far right movements and regimes.
- Montand acted in twenty movies in as many years, including brilliant turns as a duplicitous farmer in two back-to-back films made by Claude Berri in 1986: “Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring.”
- Montand was shooting a film called IP5: The Island of Pachyderms in 1991. Days after shooting a scene where his character suffers a fatal heart attack, life imitated art. En route to the hospital, he supposedly said, “I know I’m a goner, but it’s not serious. I’ve had a terrific life.”
Special thanks to production assistant Agneau de Présalé
“À bientôt”