“...The poster which seemed a stain of blood/ Because it is difficult to pronounce your names/ It was looking for an effect of fear on passers-by…”
These verses by Louis Aragon were sung in 1961 by Léo Ferré in homage to the communist group Francs-tireurs et partisans, known as Manouchian, named after its leader Missak Manouchian, who will now be buried in the Pantheon on February 21, 2024.
The words of Louis Aragon's poem, dedicated to the memory of the group of resistance fighters shot by the Germans on February 21, 1944, some six months before the Liberation of Paris on August 25.
Titled
“Strophes to remember”
, these verses were first published in the newspaper
L'Humanité
on March 6, 1955.
Read alsoThe Élysée announces the entry into the Pantheon of Missak Manouchian, figure of the Resistance
Touched by the acts of resistance of the Manouchian group immortalized by Aragon, Léo Ferré decides to put these verses to music.
He composed an almost minimalist melody, simply punctuated by a drum roll, intended to highlight the sacrifice of these men who had not
“claimed glory, nor tears, nor the organ, nor prayer to the dying.. .”
.
Léo Ferré sings
L'Affiche rouge
by Louis Aragon (music by Léo Ferré) in 1961, a song created by Monique Morelli
The red poster
will be the first title, a symbol, of the disc very soberly titled
Les Chansons d'Aragon
, an album which followed the adaptation of Les
Fleurs du mal
by Charles Baudelaire (1957) composed by this great committed singer who did not did not hide his attachment to the anarchist movement.
Also read: Stéphane Courtois: “Manouchian was a casting error”
L'Affiche rouge
turned into a great success and became a sort of standard bearer for the recitals of Léo Ferré who practically never failed to perform it.
Inhabited by this text which evoked courage, self-sacrifice and love, Ferré ended his song, almost in tears, by chanting this last verse: “
... There were 20 and 3 when the rifles flourished/ 20 and 3 who gave their hearts before time/ 20 and 3 strangers and our brothers nevertheless/ 20 and 3 lovers of living to death/ 20 and 3 who shouted France while falling down..."