Nick Cave has made a cover of Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’ from Jack Antonoff‘s soundtrack to The New Look. The Bad Seeds frontman’s rendition of the song was produced by Antonoff for the new Todd A. Kessler-created historical drama, which premiered on Apple TV+ on February 14.
Released as a single in 1947, the original version of ‘La Vie En Rose’ is the signature track of French singer Piaf. The lyrics are about the happiness of finding true love, appealing to people who had faced difficulties throughout World War II.
The 10-song soundtrack to the series will feature covers of early to mid-20th-century tracks by contemporary artists. Last month saw Florence + The Machine share their version of ‘White Cliffs Of Dover’ from the collection before The 1975 released their take on ‘Now Is The Hour’ and Lana Del Rey dropped her cover of Irving Berlin’s ‘Blue Skies’.
Antonoff also recorded covers by Beabadoobee, Perfume Genius and his band Bleachers for the soundtrack. The record will be the first release from Antonoff’s new label Shadow Of The City and is scheduled to arrive on March 8.
Cave’s rendition starts off with a prominent piano. This cover goes at the same if not slower pace as the original; it delivers the English lyrics one line at a time. Unlike Pilaf’s version, the lyrics do not blend as much; especially with the delivery of “my love my light my heart”. The middle has this intersection where he makes random sounds to make the instrumentals stronger. After the first have, he changes tone. It breathes life into the original with translations like “give your heart and soul to me, and life will always be”. These rhymes make this cover stand out as something completely different.
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