Charles Aznavour was a late starter as Chanson star. Although he had written songs for other singers in the fifties and released first singles ("Sur ma vie"), but the breakthrough came in 1960 with "Je m'voyais déjà". In the same year appeared "Tu t'laisses aller", a song that appeared as usual then quickly in German.

"You are so funny to behold," the singer sings of the woman, of the "sloppy figure", "your chatter so empty and stupid" - what dares! Turning from love over habituation into weariness, such a thing was rarely in the Schlagerworld of the sixties topic. After all: The last two stanzas turn the text (translated by Ernst Bader) into the conciliatory. Aznavour remained one who sang words that were otherwise rarely heard in German - see "When I Fucked It" (from the album "Melody of Life", 1980).

"Here encore" from 1964 is a classic by Aznavour, who looks back on life. He was just twenty, had wasted time on selfish things, now the years are gone. The ballad became US hit parade success in the English-language version "Yesterday When I Was Young", sung by Roy Clark - just one of over a hundred interpretations.

Also nostalgic is "La Bohème", one of the most famous songs of Charles Aznavour. An artist tells of the great time of the scene in the Paris Montmartre district. Although you only ate every two days, but you were just young and crazy. Hildegard Knef sang the song in German.

A wanderlust tune: Away from the gray of the north and the drudgery, out to the sea and to the south, so the dream goes in "Emmenez-moi". The video, taken in 1968 in the famous Olympia in Paris, shows why Charles Aznavour was so popular as a showman and on the move to old age.

It is always possible to sing about love, in the language of Shakespeare as well as in that of Molière: in this Anglo-French mish-mash, the combination of sad eyes, the greatest nonchalance in performance and casual insolence is captivating.

Aznavour's biggest hit in the UK (number one 1974) was "She," a song that was picked up again in the nineties in the comedy "Notting Hill", but sung by Elvis Costello.

And here's a small bonus: Charles Aznavour as bar pianist Charlie Kohler in François Truffaut's Nouvelle Vague classic "Shoot the Pianist" (1960).

Charles Aznavour has now died at the age of 94 years. Read his last SPIEGEL interview here.