Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin, Ginette Reno
“Songs are very personal and they mean different things to us according to our own individual experience. I’m including this one here because to me it speaks of a spiritual journey similar to that of recovery, a journey upwards to a place of wellbeing and beauty, a journey on which we may venture out on our own but which we cannot complete alone. It’s a long and difficult ascent, one that calls for faith, courage, humility, wisdom, and a lot of perseverance, qualities that Ginette Reno has exemplified in her own life's struggles. Her previous major performance of the song was in 1975, before an audience of more than 300,000 wildly cheering fans in Montreal’s Mount Royal. Thirty-three years later and older, and despite persisting health issues, she surpassed herself in the 2008 performance we’re featuring here with Celine Dion, who was recently diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder--which in retrospect makes the song's joint performance all the more poignant. Neither woman, it would seem, is about to give up on life—or on singing. They both want to go “a little higher, a little farther.” They have earned our admiration and our gratitude. May we all may be able to marshal the same strength of spirit in the face of our own challenges as we “trudge the Road of Happy Destiny,” as the Big Book describes our journey of recovery. May we too rise above above whatever hurdles we encounter, so that in the end we too may be blessed enough to sing “c’est beau.” The song was composed by Jean Pierre Ferlan, the man who joins Ginette Reno and Celine Dion in this performance. The translation provided is intended only to give English speakers some idea of its thematic content; it dos not reflect the poetic beauty of the original French.
Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin / A little higher, a little farther
Je veux aller un peu plus loin / I want to go a little farther
Je veux voir comment c'est là-haut / I want to see what it’s like up there
Garde mon bras, tiens ma main /Grasp my arm, hold my hand
Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin / A little higher, a little farther
Je veux aller encore plus loin / I want to go a little farther
Laisse mon bras mais tiens ma main / Let go of my arm, but hold my hand
Je n'irai pas plus loin qu'il faut / I won’t go farther than is necessary
Encore un pas, encore un saut /One more step, another jump
Une tempête et un ruisseau / A storm and then a brook
Prends garde, prends garde, j'ai laissé ta main / beware, Beware, I’ve released your hand
Attends-moi là-bas je reviens / Wait for me down there, I’ll be back.
Encore un pas, un petit pas / One more Step, one little step
Encore un saut et je suis là / Still another hop and I’ll be there
Là-haut si je ne tombe pas / Up there, if I don’t fall
Non, j'y suis, je ne tombe pas / No, I’m there, I didn’t fall, No
C'est beau, c'est beau /It’s beautiful, it's beautiful
Si tu voyais le monde au fond, là-bas / if you saw the world at the bottom, down there
C'est beau, c'est beau / It’s beautiful, it's beautiful
La mer plus petite que soi /The sea smaller than we are
Mais tu ne me vois pas / But you can no longer see me
Un peu plus loin, un peu plus seul /A little farther, a little more alone
Je ne veux pas être loin tout seul / I don’t want to be far and all alone
Viens voir ici comme on est bien /Come and see how good it feels here
Quand on est haut, comme on est bien / When we are up here, how good it feels
Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin /A little higher, a little farther
Je ne peux plus te tenir la main /I cannot hold on to your hand anymore,
Dis-moi comment j'ai pu monter / Tell me how I went up
Comment descendre sans tomber /How to go down and yet not fall
Un peu plus loin, un peu plus fort / A little farther, a little stronger
Encore un saut, essaye encore / Another hop, another try
Je voudrais te tendre les bras /I would like to stretch my arms out to you
Je suis trop haut, tu es trop bas /But I’m too far above, you too far below
Encore un pas, un petit pas / One more step, one little step
Tu es trop loin, je t'aime / You are too far, I love you
Adieu, adieu, je reviendrai / Good bye, Good bye, I will return
Si je redescends sans tomber / If I can to go down and yet not fall
C'est beau, c'est beau / It’s beautiful, Its’ beautiful
To listen to Un peu plus haut, or return to The Language of the Heart, please click on link.
