Lucienne Delyle – Les Feuilles Mortes [The Autumn Leaves] Chanson (J.Kosma – J.Prevert) Orchestre dir. Aimé Barelli avec les Choeurs René Saint-Paul, Columbia 1946 (French) NOTE: This beautiful song is my definite farewell to this year’s hot, VERY hot summer. Unfortunately, the awkward circumstances of the “pandemic” hysteria in the world made it impossible for many of us (me, included) to enjoy the summertime pleasures. So let us, at least, please ourselves with what we can: some beautiful music and many friendly thoughts we are sharing between us in this place. Lucienne DELYLE (b. Lucienne Delache in 1913 in Paris – d. 1962 in Monte Carlo) - renowned French singer, active from the end of the 1930s until the end of the 1950s. She was orphaned at a very young age, and began working as a pharmacy assistant. Passionate about the French chanson, she sang as an amateur singer under the name Lucienne Delyle, slowly becoming better known within a growing circle of her fans. In 1939 she was noticed on the radio program for the new talents and was contracted at the music-hall. This opened for her opportunities for recordings which contributed to her growing fame. In 1940, Delyle married a jazz trumpeter and orchestra leader Aimé Barelli who guided her career for the rest of her life. In 1942 the nostalgic song “Mon amant de Saint-Jean” written by the popular composer and accordion-ensemble leader Émile Carrara was offered Lucienne Delyle, who made it one of the greatest hits of the Occupation years. In 1943 she started performing at Bobino and continued recording her new hits, to mention “Je suis seule, ce soir”, “La Chapelle au clair de lune” or “Tu n'avez pas très bon caractère”. She coped well with almost every genre and style, from realistic song to the musette waltz, sentimental song, jazzy song, sometimes tinged with exotic influences. "Her low voice with a warm timbre and precise diction have had a decisive influence on French chanson de variété” – writes the French song encyclopaedia about her. Delyle was also very popular after the 2nd WW and during the 1950s. In 1953, Bruno Coquatrix invited her with her husband Aimé Barelli, for the reopening of the Olympia, where the young Gilbert Bécaud had his debut. In the end of the 1950s, Lucienne Delyle’s career declined because of the leucaemia and she gave her last concert, accompanied by Aimé Barelli, on the Bobino stage in Nov 1960.