| Hymne à l'amour | |
| Cover: | Hymneal1956.jpg |
| Caption: | Cover of a 1956 vinyl single featuring Hymne à l'amour as the B-side |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Édith Piaf |
| Released: | 1950 |
| Genre: | Chanson |
| Length: | 3:27 |
| Label: | Pathé-Marconi |
| Lyricist: | Édith Piaf (original French) Geoffrey Parsons (English) |
| Composer: | Marguerite Monnot |
(in French pronounced as /imn a lamuʁ/), or Hymn to Love, is a 1949 French song with words by Édith Piaf and music by Marguerite Monnot. It was first sung by Piaf that year and recorded by her in the 1950s for Columbia records.
Piaf sang it in the 1951 French musical comedy film Paris chante toujours (Paris still sings).[1]
The song has been performed by many other singers. It has also featured in two Olympic Games ceremonies: at the 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Tokyo in 2021, sung by Milet, and at the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris in 2024, sung by Céline Dion.
The lyrics were written by Piaf and the music by Marguerite Monnot. It was written to Piaf's lover and the love of her life, the French boxer, Marcel Cerdan.[2] 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.The song appeared on her albums, Edith Piaf (1953), Le Tour de Chant d'Édith Piaf a l'Olympia - No. 2 (1956) and Le Tour de Chant d'Édith Piaf a l'Olympia - No. 3 (1958).
"" 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 (1956). This version was featured on Cyndi Lauper's 2003 album At Last.
It was also adapted into English as "If You Love Me (Really 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.[3] 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.[4]
Donna Loren released a version of "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1963.[5] [6] Mary Hopkin released a version of "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1976, which reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.[7]
Celine Dion sang this song in French from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower on July 26, 2024, at the culmination of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris. It was her first public performance since 2020 and the first since her 2022 diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome.[8]
"" was adapted into Japanese in 1951 as, 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.[9] "Love Hymn" was covered by Keiko Masuda in her 2014 covers album .[10] [11]
"" was covered by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada in 2010, under the name .[12] The title is unique to Utada's version, as most Japanese renditions have the same title as Fubuki Koshiji's 1951 cover, "Ai no Sanka". Utada's version reached No. 5 on Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay,[13] No. 7 on Billboard Japan Hot 100,[14] and No. 19 on RIAJ Digital Track Chart Top 100.[15]
Singer-actress Atsuko Maeda performed the Japanese version of the song in the 2019 film To the Ends of the Earth. The lyrics also give the film its title.[16] The song was performed by Milet at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on August 8, 2021.[17]
The song is a central plot point to Anne Wiazemsky's 1996 autobiographical novel , which won the Prix Maurice Genevoix that year.[18]