Le Large (The Open Sea)

No ordinary tale etched in my memory,
no ship full of pirates that can take control;
no shooting star that would leave me in the dark;
no fear, none at all.

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And tomorrow all will be well and so far away,
there at the end when I take to the sea;
all will be far, so give me your hand,
there at the end when I take to the sea.

No tears--and nothing else that can strangle me,
no cloud of mist across my faded eyes;
no grain of sand or dune to halt the hourglass;
no quarter moon, none at all.

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No other places, none other than you.
No secret key, no chance for me.

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No hungry shark and no sad tune,
no regret, no quaking ground;
no empty phrases
and no chaos--none at all.

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Words and music by Sophie Huriaux
English translation by Frank Beck

In April 2018, Françoise Hardy released the album Personne d'Autre ("Noone else"). It was the 28th album in a career that began 56 years earlier with her hit single "Tous les garcons et les filles" ("All the boys and girls my age/promenade in the street two-by-two . . . ").

But this album was different: it came four years after Hardy nearly died in a Paris hospital at the age of 70, as a result of lymphatic cancer. As a last resort, her son agreed to try an experimental type of chemotherapy, and, miraculously, she regained her health.

When Hardy began to compile material for a new album, she wanted, among other things, to reflect her near-death experience, and French singer/songwriter Sophie Huriaux, better known by her stage name, Le Grand Sophie, provided "Le Large." The song was chosen for the album's video, shot in black-and-white by François Ozon, a French film director who had never done a music video before. His best known films are Swimming Pool (2003) and Frantz (2016).

Few contemporary songs deal with mortality with such openness and finesse; this brilliant collaboration by Hardy, Huriaux and Ozon sees it as the last of life's gifts.

• The song's French lyrics
• VIDEO: Hardy sings Michel Berger's "Message Personnel" (in English)
• Hardy's memoirs, published in May 2018
• Sean O'Hagen interview with Hardy for The Guardian
• Agnès Poirier's interview with Hardy for the New York Times
• VIDEO: Françoise Hardy discusses her new album (in French)

Françoise Hardy in 1966