5. Non, je ne regrette rien

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Edith Piaf's life and work deconstructed across five songs. 5. Non, je ne regrette rien. Elizabeth Alker explores a song that has come to define Piaf even though it wasn't meant for her and she almost turned it down. By 1960 Piaf was crippled by rheumatism, buoyed by painkillers and alcohol and had defied the obituarists after falling into a coma. Doctors warned her that taking to the stage again would kill her. An inauspicious context for song writer Charles Dumont to hit her up with a new ballad. Actually an old ballad, written in 1956 for Rosalie Dubois. But with a change in title Dumont thought the song the perfect vehicle for Piaf's soulful destruction and defiance. When he finally turned up at her apartment she thought he looked like a civil servant, barely daring to look at her. Dumont was sweating profusely. Things were looking pretty grim but then he started to play... Elizabeth Alker celebrates the song that has come to define Piaf ever more. Producer: Mark Burman A Whistledown Production for BBC Radio 3