Charles Dumont, a composer known for creating melodies for both French and international stars, passed away at the age of 95. Throughout his career, he worked with iconic artists like Dalida, Jacques Brel, Juliette Gréco, and Barbra Streisand. However, he is most famously linked to one particular song.
Dumont, who initially trained as a trumpeter and was relatively unknown as a musician, was 31 years old when he and lyricist Michel Vaucaire decided to visit Édith Piaf at her home on Boulevard Lannes in Paris in October 1960.
In a 2013 interview, Dumont recalled, “She had already rejected three of my songs.” Despite his reluctance to try again, Vaucaire persuaded him to go. At the time, Piaf, who had collapsed on stage several months earlier and would pass away just three years later, was ill and weary, making her reluctant to meet the duo.
Eventually, Édith Piaf agreed to listen to Charles Dumont’s song. He played it for her once, then again. “She asked me if I was really the composer,” Dumont recalled. “I said yes. She asked me to play it again, so I did, and her attitude changed. She looked at me in a new way.”
Piaf then assured him, “Don’t worry, young man. This song will go around the world, and I will open my next concert with it.”
The following month, Piaf recorded the song, and by December, she performed it live at the Olympia concert hall, receiving 22 curtain calls.
The song, “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (No, I Regret Nothing), became an enormous hit. It sold over 800,000 copies, topped the French charts for seven weeks, and became one of the most famous French songs ever, recorded in over a dozen languages.
In a 2015 interview, Dumont reflected, “My mother gave birth to me, but Édith Piaf brought me into the world. Without her, I wouldn’t have achieved everything I did, both as a composer and a singer.”
The song’s lyrics, which start with “No, nothing at all / No, I regret nothing,” express the singer’s total rejection of her past, as she declares, “For my life, for my joys / Today, starts with you.”
“That’s me! That’s my life!” Piaf reportedly said, identifying deeply with the song. Dumont went on to write 30 more songs for Piaf before her death at the age of 48. He later enjoyed a successful career as a composer and performer, making his final stage appearance in Paris in 2019.
“Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” has been recorded in English by artists such as Shirley Bassey and Elaine Paige, and the song remains a beloved anthem, particularly among the French Foreign Legion. It’s also appeared in numerous films and commercials.
The phrase has even entered popular culture, with notable figures, such as British former chancellor Norman Lamont, using it to defend their actions, including after the UK’s 1992 sterling crisis and its withdrawal from Europe’s exchange rate mechanism.