August 08 #4

And Rod asks again:

Back in 1984 Louise Pitre, a Broadway performer to this day, did what has been called the best version ever of Edith Piaf’s famous song “No Regrets.” Now Louise is on tour right now and, from her website (louisepitre.com), I was able to call an office that deals with enquiries and they had no answers. Is this version of Edith Piaf’s song still available? Have you ever heard it? I’ve looked in various used CD stores and haven’t found it. Need to look more in these venues I guess but I’ve also done a search at the big HMV downtown without success. Where does one find something really good but not immediately accessible like this song?

Alan answers:

The original title of the song is “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” (“No, I Regret Nothing,” the translation of which has been simplified to “No Regrets”). It was first recorded by Piaf in about 1961. Both French and English versions can be found on YouTube.

Canadian-born Louise Pitre first gained attention in her role as Fantine in the productions of Les Miserables in Toronto, Montreal and Paris in the late 80s. That was followed up by her portrayal of Edith Piaf in three productions of Piaf beginning in 1992. You would think that there might be an original cast recording Pitre’s production of Piaf, but there doesn’t seem to be. It’s likely that CDs were sold at the theatre, but nothing seems to have turned up anywhere else.

Pitre has two CDs. The first, a collection of chanteuse recordings called All of My Life Has Let to This (LML), was released in 2001 but doesn’t feature “No Regrets.” A second album, Shattered (Orange), also doesn’t feature anything by Piaf.