# Hymne à l'amour

"Hymne à l'amour" (French pronunciation:); French for "Hymn to Love") is a 1949 French song with lyrics by Édith Piaf and music by Marguerite Monnot. It was first sung by Piaf that year and recorded by her in 1950 for Columbia records.
Piaf sang it in the 1951 French musical comedy film Paris chante toujours (Paris still sings).
The song has been performed by many other singers. It has also featured in two Olympic Games ceremonies: at the 2020 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in Tokyo in 2021, sung by Milet, and at the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris in 2024, sung by Céline Dion.

## Édith Piaf

The lyrics were written by Piaf and the music by Marguerite Monnot. It was written to Piaf's lover and the love of her life, the French boxer, Marcel Cerdan. On 28 October 1949, Cerdan was killed in the crash of Air France Flight 009 on his way from Paris to New York to come to see her. She recorded the song on 2 May 1950. The song appeared on her albums, Edith Piaf (1953), Le Tour de Chant d'Édith Piaf a l'Olympia - No. 2 (1956) and Le Tour de Chant d'Édith Piaf a l'Olympia - No. 3 (1958).

## English versions

"Hymne à l'amour" was translated into English by Piaf's protégé Eddie Constantine as "Hymn to Love", which was recorded by Piaf on her album La Vie En Rose / Édith Piaf Sings In English (1956). This version was featured on Cyndi Lauper's 2003 album At Last.
It was also adapted into English as "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" with lyrics by Geoffrey Parsons. Kay Starr brought fame to this version in 1954, with her version reaching No. 4 on Billboard's charts of Best Sellers in Stores and Most Played by Jockeys. Starr's version was ranked No. 20 on Billboard's ranking of 1954's Most Popular Records According to Retail Sales and No. 20 on Billboard's ranking of 1954's Most Popular Records According to Disk Jockey Plays.
Donna Loren released a version of "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1963. Mary Hopkin released a version of "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1976, which reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart.

## 2024 Olympic performance

Canadian singer Celine Dion sang "Hymne à l'amour" in French from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower on 26 July 2024, at the culmination of the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris. It was her first public performance since 2020 and the first since her 2022 diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome. Dion's version was released as a single on 10 October 2024, the 61st anniversary of Edith Piaf's death.

### Charts

Chart performance for "Hymne à l'amour" :
| Chart (2024) | Peak position |
| Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard) | 4 |
| France (SNEP) | 65 |
| Quebec Top Sales Songs (ADISQ) | 1 |
| UK Singles Downloads (OCC) | 22 |
| US World Digital Song Sales (Billboard) | 4 |

## Japanese versions

"Hymne à l'amour" was adapted into Japanese in 1951 as "Ai no Sanka" (愛の讃歌, "Love Hymn"), by singer Fubuki Koshiji, featuring lyrics by Tokiko Iwatani. The song became one of her signature songs, amassing around 2,000,000 copies sold of various singles featuring this song. "Love Hymn" was covered by Keiko Masuda in her 2014 covers album Ai Shōka (愛唱歌, Love Songs).
"Hymne à l'amour" was covered by Japanese singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada in 2010, under the name "Hymne à l'amour (Ai no Anthem)" (愛のアンセム, Ai no Ansemu). The title is unique to Utada's version, as most Japanese renditions have the same title as Fubuki Koshiji's 1951 cover, "Ai no Sanka". Utada's version reached No. 5 on Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay, No. 7 on Billboard Japan Hot 100, and No. 19 on RIAJ Digital Track Chart Top 100.
Singer-actress Atsuko Maeda performed the Japanese version of the song in the 2019 film To the Ends of the Earth. The lyrics also give the film its title. The song was performed by Milet at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on 8 August 2021.

## In literature

The song is a central plot point to Anne Wiazemsky's 1996 autobiographical novel Hymnes à l'amour [fr], which won the Prix Maurice Genevoix that year.