The Lovers’ Chronicle 20 January – gittin’ it right – photography by Hippolyte Bayard – birth of Yvette Guilbert

Dear Zazie, Here is today’s Lovers’ Chronicle from Mac Tag dedicated to his muse. Follow us on twitter @cowboycoleridge. Did you git it right? Rhett

The Lovers’ Chronicle

Dear Muse,

another dream époque…
well done, he thinks, whoever is running the dreams, this one looks good
inside the Moulin Rouge during the Belle Époque
and that is the red head, Yvette Guilbert on stage singing, beautiful
look there is Lautrec on the front row, he loves to paint her
sipping absinthe he thinks, only one thing missing
hello dear, he looks up, yes, the beautiful red head
thanks dream gods, you got it right

the Queen, Aretha sings a song that fits,
written by Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller;
“Do it till we get it right
Even if it takes from morning
Till way into night
We’ve got do it till we get it, get it right”
“Aretha anytime, one of the voices”
spoiler alert for those who have not
been keepin’ up, we got it right
“We sure did”
we could follow that up with another song,
“It’s About Time” by Van Halen
“Hey doesn’t matter when
just matters that we did”

i believe the effort was always there, it was just misguided most of the time, nature and nurture conspired to give us what we got, there is no way to see above or around that, but what matters is gittin’ it right for over four years, and most obviously, since we met

i will keep writin’ this
’till you understand

each day, time spent
reflectin’ on choices
made and not made
where it all went wrong

or was gittin’ it wrong
just what had to happen

i want to be
i want to feel
everything

might be kinda nice
to git one thing right

Pale Love, Pale Rider

allright, we can git this right
you stickin’ with that story
after so many wrong turns,
sooner or later has to come
well, not holdin’ my breath
if only you had breath to hold
damn right then i could run this show
whoa, fortunately that cannot happen
hey can we focus on what matters
more mezcal and pizza
on that we can agree

trouble sleepin’ again
“Is there something
on your mind?”
you mean,
besides the ongoin’
ache of missin’ you

Thanks for inspiration for this one goes to you, the Van Halen song, “Best of Both Worlds” and the novel Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. A must read book, in my opinion.

i will never forget
the first time i saw you
you were different
than all the others
you were special
you still are

i will keep writin’ that
till you understand…

each day, time spent
reflectin’ on choices
made and not made
where it all went wrong

or was gittin’ it wrong
just what had to happen
to finally git it right

i want to be
i want to feel
everything

i knew what i was livin’ on
and it was not enough
“I need more than just words can say
I need everything this life can give me.”

knowin’ what you have
knowin’ what you need
knowin’ what
you can do without

most want in
i just wanted out
to live again
i saw another other future
and i could not stop seein’ it

years spent runnin’
towards or from
emptiness

not sure which

a friend says
i am runnin’ towards
a different kinda
emptiness

perhaps
but i know what lies
in this emptiness

to live life as if it matters
is that too much to ask
to plumb the depths
of every emotion
to chase the light
and the voices
and the visions
of the past
to at least try
to understand

“I wish I could
have been there with you”

you were

end of a long hard week
plenty work, not enough sleep
and missin’ what cannot be had
pain wellin’ up inside
just one way
to make it go away

rememberin’…

lookin’ for,
for somethin’
i knew not what

i found,
more than i
could have imagined

you

you, my canvas
upon which
i will sketch a love
unlike anything
you have ever known

il deserto
faccia a faccia
fuga a cavallo
il tramonto
ripresa

***

I know you cannot
I know you are just
Lonely
But that works for me

Again, it is you
That revived my faith
Pour yourself into me
I await my fill

***

Aside my torment!
Disappear, come not this way!
Dissipate up, fatal dream!
The dawn of happiness rises
The shadow of you! Come!

Today is the birthday of Hippolyte Bayard (Breteuil, Oise, France 20 January 1801 – 14 May 1887 Nemours, France); photographer and pioneer in the history of photography. He invented his own process that produced direct positive paper prints in the camera and presented the world’s first public exhibition of photographs on 24 June 1839. He claimed to have invented photography earlier than Louis-Jacques Mandé Daguerre in France and William Henry Fox Talbot in England, the men traditionally credited with its invention.

Gallery

Self-portrait

Woman with fan (1843)

Woman at the Gate, 1855

Duchess d’Harcourt

Mlle X

And today is the birthday of Yvette Guilbert (Paris; 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944 in Aix-en-Provence); cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque. Guilbert debuted at the Variette Theatre in 1888. She eventually sang at the popular Eldorado club, then at the Jardin de Paris before headlining in Montmartre at the Moulin Rouge in 1890. The English painter William Rothenstein described this performance in his first volume of memoirs:

“One evening Lautrec came up to the rue Ravignan to tell us about a new singer, a friend of Xanrof, who was to appear at the Moulin Rouge for the first time… We went; a young girl appeared, of virginal aspect, slender, pale, without rouge. Her songs were not virginal – on the contrary; but the frequenters of the Moulin were not easily frightened; they stared bewildered at this novel association of innocence with Xanrof’s horrific double entente; stared, stayed and broke into delighted applause.”

She was a favorite subject of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, who made many portraits and caricatures of Guilbert and dedicated his second album of sketches to her. Sigmund Freud attended performances, including one in Vienna, and called her a favorite singer. George Bernard Shaw wrote a review highlighting her novelty.

In 1895 she married Dr M. Schiller. Guilbert made successful tours of England and Germany, and the United States in 1895–1896. She performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In later years, Guilbert turned to writing about the Belle Époque and in 1902 two of her novels (La Vedette and Les Demi-vieilles) were published. Guilbert became a respected authority on her country’s medieval folklore and on 9 July 1932 was awarded the Legion of Honor as the Ambassadress of French Song.

Guilbert died aged 79. She was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Twenty years later her biography, That Was Yvette: The Biography of a Great Diseuse by Bettina Knapp and Myra Chipman (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1964) was released.