The Blonde Child – A song dedicated to Albina du Boisvouvray
She was beautiful as the night
lam sol7 do
She wandered the Earth endlessly
lam sol7 do
Like a beautiful bird fleeing away
fa do
A solitary Amazon
mi7 lam
One person alone filled her heart
lam sol7 do
A son she had given birth to
Lam sol7 do
He fell, to his own misfortune
fa do
In the desert of Ténéré
mi7 lam
Chorus:
A blonde child follows her everywhere
lam sol7 do
He’s always in her thoughts
Lam sol7 do
He was handsome, he was gentle
lam rém lam
His name was François-Xavier
mi7 lam
One day she dried her tears
One day she rose again
One day she sharpened her weapons
Compassion, charity
She put a ring on her finger
She sold all her diamonds
She set out along the paths
To meet the poor people
Don’t think it’s Mary
Who suddenly descends from heaven
With gold upon her garments
Accompanied by scents of incense
She left without believing in that
Without a book where everything is written
Without a star, without any memory
Only her broken heart remained
She descended into the abyss
Where people moan and die
She went to those who suffer
She went to those who weep
Albina, my sister, I love you
My son is your son’s brother
Your struggle and mine are the same
But our paths are different
There are those who make weapons
Machine guns and cannons
Enough screams, enough tears
Let us truly open our hearts
One day we must understand
That it’s better to love than to hate
That it’s better to give than to take
That we must stop lying
The Earth is just one great garden
Which can feed all its children
So no one ever goes hungry again
So no blood is shed
Will mankind finally understand
That for him, every other man is a brother
That we all share the same destiny
That we’re all children of the Earth
Final Chorus:
Blonde children are with us
They’re always in our thoughts
They were handsome, they were gentle
And we loved them so much
Albina du Boisvouvray, whom I’d met many years ago, had one child of the same age as my son: François-Xavier. He was the pilot of the helicopter used by Thierry Sabine, founder of the Paris-Dakar Rally. They died in an accident that also claimed the life of singer Balavoine. After this tragedy, she founded the François-Xavier Bagnoux Foundation, named after her son, dedicating herself to humanitarian causes. After Jean-Christophe’s death, I invented a safety device for free divers, causing automatic inflation of a Mae West vest after a set immersion time. Albina agreed to fund research on this device; a prototype was successfully tested. But my son’s patent agent, acting shrewdly, misappropriated the funds and the project had to be abandoned. I didn’t know such things were possible. This very proper, upper-class individual defrauded quite a few people under the guise of humanitarian actions—in a thoroughly despicable manner. It’s obviously in these areas that people are least cautious.