Eugene Lemercier

Eugene Lemercier was born on 1 March 1862 in Paris (France). He was the youngest of three children and his father worked as a gauger. Eugene Lemercier completed his school and followed the footsteps of his father and became a gauger. But his passion was writing texts and poems and perform them on stage. So during the day he earned his living as a gauger and by night he offered his texts at the bars and cabarets. This double burden did not well with Eugene Lemercier for health reasons and he had to decide. So he quit his position as a gauger and dedicated his life to acting, singing, writing, composing and performing. That was in 1889.
Eugene Lemercier made his debut at the Lyre Bienfaisante, a well-known goguette in Paris. He received huge success and very soon performed at all distinguished venues in Paris: the Grillon, Salle des Capucines, Galerie-Vivienne, Treteau de Tabarin, Lune Rousse, La Boite a Fursy, Lyon-d'Or, Quat'z'Arts, Ane-Rouge, Chat-Noir, Les Decadents, Noctambules or Carillon. In 1894 he was the director of the Cabaret des Elephants. Eugene Lemercier was known for his politicial, biting and satirical texts, but always witty and humorous. These texts were presented as declamations or songs, for which Eugene Lemercier also composed the music himself sometime. His output of poems was so vast that many other artists performed with his texts or other composers wrote music on his words. Singer of his songs were such renowned artists like Yvette Guilbert, Yon-Lug or Kam-Hill. Most of these songs were published by different publishing houses and he created among them some iconic chansons like "On dirait qu'c'est toi", "Le double suicide" or "Les larmes de la vie".
Eugene Lemercier also wrote larger texts like revues and plays, and librettos for operas-bouffas which were set to music by composers like Paul Daubry or Desire Dihau. These works were performed at the above mentioned cabarets but also at the Moulin Rouge or the Divan Japonais. His novel "Les vieux ont soif" was published by France-Edition. And he created the text "Tout pour les Quat'z'Arts" for the first own production of the famous cabaret Quat'z'Arts which he performed himself on 12 March 1894 for the first time.
Eugene Lemercier was honoured as a Knight of the Legion of Honour for his lifetime achievements. In his last years he was also vice-president of the French SACEM.
Eugene Lemercier died on 26 December 1939 in Paris (France). 

A photo of his workplace at his apartment has survived. One can see a bust of the chanssonier Jean-Pierre de Beranger on the right and the iconic drawing of Charles Leandre at the wall.

Archive Eugene Lemercier

In September 2025 I bought the main part of the estate of Eugene Lemercier. That included autograph texts for most of his revues, plays, operas and chansons.

famous caricature of Eugene Lemercier by Charles Leandre