Hymne à l'amour


"Hymne à l'amour" is a popular French song originally performed by Édith Piaf.

Édith Piaf

The lyrics were written by Piaf and the music by Marguerite Monnot. It was written to her lover and the love of her life, the French boxer, Marcel Cerdan. On October 28, 1949, Cerdan was killed in the crash of Air France Flight 009 on his way from Paris to New York to come to see her. She recorded the song on May 2, 1950.

English versions

"Hymne à l'amour" was translated into English by Piaf's protégé Eddie Constantine as "Hymn to Love", which was recorded by Piaf on her album La Vie En Rose / Édith Piaf Sings In English. This version was featured on Cyndi Lauper's 2003 album At Last.
It was also adapted into English as "If You Love Me " with lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons. Kay Starr brought fame to this version in 1954, with her version reaching No. 4 on Billboards charts of Best Sellers in Stores and Most Played by Jockeys. Starr's version was ranked No. 20 on Billboards ranking of 1954's Most Popular Records According to Retail Sales and No. 20 on Billboards ranking of 1954's Most Popular Records According to Disk Jockey Plays.
Mary Hopkin released a version of "If You Love Me " in 1976, which reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.

Japanese versions

"Hymne à l'amour" was adapted into Japanese in 1951 as "Love Hymn", by singer Fubuki Koshiji, featuring lyrics by Tokiko Iwatani. The song became one of her signature songs, amassing around 2,000,000 copies sold of various singles featuring this song. "Love Hymn" was covered by Keiko Masuda in her 2014 covers album.
"Hymne à l'amour" was covered by Japanese singer-songwriter Utada Hikaru in 2010, under the name "Hymne à l'amour". The title is unique to Utada's version, as most Japanese renditions have the same title as Fubuki Koshiji's 1951 cover, "Love Hymn". Utada's version reached No. 5 on Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay, No. 7 on Billboard Japan Hot 100, and No. 19 on RIAJ Digital Track Chart Top 100.

In literature

The song is a central plot point to Anne Wiazemsky's 1996 autobiographical novel Hymnes à l'amour, which won the Prix Maurice Genevoix that year.