Le Déserteur


"Le déserteur" is a famous anti-war song written by French singer Boris Vian and released on May 7, 1954 during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
It was first sung by Marcel Mouloudji, in 1954. Subsequently, it was forbidden by the French censor to be sold or broadcast until 1962. It was later translated into English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, Polish, Welsh, Catalan and Danish and then many other languages.
The song was recorded in French by Peter, Paul & Mary in 1966 and by Esther & Abi Ofarim for their album 2 In 3 in 1967.
In the United States, it was a major anti-war song by Joan Baez during the Vietnam War.
The song is in the form of a letter written to the French President by a man who states that he is going to refuse his call to arms and desert, and explains his reasons for doing so.
In the late 1970s, the song was covered by nuclear protesters in Brittany, as a direct apostrophe to the fierce pro-nuclear French president Giscard d'Estaing in the Plogoff struggle.
A stanza of the song appears in Thomas Pynchon's novel V.
The last stanza of the song was altered by Boris Vian at the request of Michel Mouloudji who wished to record it. In the original stanza, the deserter is carrying arms, and intends to defend himself against the forces of law, should they pursue him. In the version of Mouloudji he is unarmed when he faces pursuers, and ready to die. Below is the altered French stanza and its English translation.
Si vous me poursuivez,

Prévenez vos gendarmes

Que je n'aurai pas d'armes

Et qu'ils pourront tirer.
If you pursue me,

Warn your policemen,

That I won't be carrying a weapon,

and that they can shoot me.
The resulting version, in spite of its pacifist leaning, was banned from 1954 till 1962, from public broadcast.