Are you familiar with the classic song ‘Que C’est Triste Venise’ by French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour? It was a big hit internationally in the 1960s, translated from the original French to English, German and – most successfully – Italian. I love the song, and I listened to it often while writing my novel The Echoes of Love. It sparks such a sense of romantic nostalgia in me. Following are the French and Italian versions, and an English translation (source).

The original French version

The later Italian version (‘Com’è Triste Venezia’)

The lyrics

How sad Venice can be when you return alone
To find a memory in every paving stone
I walk among the birds that fill San Marco’s Square
With echoes of her words around me in the air.

How sad Venice can be when the mandolins play
A song she sung for me, one unforgotten day
Like images of sleep, the gondoliers go by
But when I try to weep, I find my tears are dry.

How sad Venice can be when mist is in your eyes
And you can hardly see, as pigeons fill the skies
I find the little street and then the old café
Where we would always meet to dream away the day.

How sad Venice can be, beneath the silent moon
That rises from the sea and silvers the lagoon
I hear the vespers chime and cross the Bridge of Sighs
I know that it is time to bid my last goodbyes.

There’s nothing more to say, I pass beneath the light
And then I turn away from Venice in the night
How sad Venice can be, it’s too lonely to bear
When you have lost the love that you discovered there.