"Chanson pour l’Auvergnat" (in English: "Song for the Auvergnat") is a song by French singer-songwriter Georges Brassens, released in 1954 on his third album, Les Sabots d'Hélène. It was recorded on October 28, 1954, and was later included in an anthology published by Éditions Seghers as part of the Poètes d'aujourd'hui collection. Written, composed, and performed by Brassens, the song is an apologue and more specifically a fable, and presents a renrewed spirit and form to the genre.
According to some sources, the song may have been inspired by the "insurrection of kindness" (in French: "L'insurrection de la bonté"), an appeal made by Abbé Pierre during the cold wave of winter 1954 in France to help the homeless. However, this hypothesis does not appear to be supported by any specific documentary evidence. According to Jacques Vassal, a biographer of Georges Brassens, the singer never met Abbé Pierre.
Lyrics
The author thanks the few kind people who helped during his difficult time. The poem has three stanzas: in the first, he thanks a man from Auvergnat who gave him four firewood to warm him in the cold winter. in the second, he thanks an innkeeper who gave him four slices of bread when he was hungry, and in the third, he thanks a stranger who smiled at him in support when the police arrested him. He wishes that when they die, the undertaker will send them straight to heaven, to the Eternal Father.
In the three stanzas, Brassens condemns the rest of the people, those who left him to freeze, starve, and mock him while he was being led away by the police. He calls them "Les croquants," which may be negatively interpreted as "bastards".
The reference to the people of Auvergnat is also symbolic. The people of Auvergnat came to Paris from the rural region of central-southern France. They made their living mainly by selling wine and coal, and they earned a reputation as misers. Brassens turns things around and sees them, the simple people who do not have a penny in their pockets and are not considered models of morality, as the true men of kindness.
Identity of "the Auvergnat" and "the Hostess"
In 1979, Georges Brassens stated on the radio program Top Club, hosted by Guy Lux, that the song was connected to his stay with Marcel Planche and Jeanne Le Bonniec. The couple lived in an extremely modest house at 9 Impasse Florimont in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, where Brassens took refuge on March 21, 1944, to evade the STO (forced labor).
Jean-Paul Sermonte and Jean-Claude Lamy, authors of books about the singer, consider the Auvergnat to be an embodiment of Marcel Planche. The Hostess in the second verse would therefore represent Jeanne Le Bonniec, who supported Brassens during his years of poverty. Eight years later, he dedicated another song to her, Jeanne, which can be regarded as the female counterpart to "the Auvergnat".
The character of the Auvergnat may also have been inspired by Louis Cambon, a native of the Cantal department and owner of the Bar des Amis. This café-charbon was located opposite Marcel Planche's home. Georges Brassens reportedly regularly came there for lunch and to buy firewood on credit.