“In the evening my mother used to sing to us when I was a child / The story of a lost boat and a white bird / One day, the boat goes straight for the ocean / And alone, with a heart full of love, a girl is waiting / The sailor said to her: ‘Don’t forget I love you’. Winter and spring, she waits all the same / She sees a white bird alight near her / Who carried a few words in the hollow of her wing / La paloma adieu / Adieu, it’s you I love / My life goes away but don’t be too sad / Oh my love, goodbye”.
It is believed that the text is written so lightly, the French text is signed Catherine Desage. The Spanish text is slightly different. It is believed to be a sentimental text with no head or tail. Now, the story of the sailor setting sail, the girl waiting for him. The adventure of the lost boat and the white bird. All these elements of the story are borrowed from a legend that took shape following an episode of the invasion of Greece by Persia in 492.
During this campaign, the fleet, commanded by the Persian general Mardonios, was caught in a terrible storm off Mount Athos. Ships sank. And from the sunken ships, white birds have been seen flying away. Historians believe they are carrier pigeons. And that’s how this legend of the dove was born. ‘Paloma’ means ‘dove’ in Spanishthe messenger dove of the sailor lost at sea.
This dove which, as in the song, “carried a few words in the hollow of his wing”.
And so, the motifs of the legend, the boat in the storm, the sea that keeps lovers away and the flight of white birds, are found in Mireille Mathieu’s song.
