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). 

Archive Eugene Lemercier

In September 2025 I bought the main part of the estate of Eugene Lemercier. The following finding aid provides information about the contents of my archive:

1) Tout pour les Quat'z'Arts

The famous Cabaret des Quat'z'Arts was opened in December 1893, but the first own revue was not given before 12 March 1894 when Eugene Lemercier opened the Cabaret with his revue "Tout pour les Quat'z'Arts". Due to the historical importance of this revue and the fact that no copy of the published text is archived in public libraries I would like to present it here:

2) La Confession d'un Chansonnier

Part of the estate was a typewritten text titled "La confession d’un chansonnier par Eugène Lemercier". I noticed that this was the autobiography of Eugène Lemercier and it seemed that the work was never published. Due to the fact that the content is of historical value I decided to publish the text.
The autobiography starts around 1880 when Eugène Lemercier still lived with his parents and made his first gentle steps as a man and as a poet. He then takes us through the achievements, strokes of fate and anecdotes of his life as a chansonnier but also as a private person and admirer of the female attributes. It is no coincidence that the autobiography starts with the words "Cherchez la femme". The text is written chronologically and ends in the year 1914.
While being very true to the text I could not resist to include several photos that illustrate the persons and events in the book. Finally the work has 116 pages and costs 39€ plus 10€ tracked shipping to anywhere in the world.

3) Chansons

Part of the estate are also 300 printed scores of chansons on words by Eugene Lemercier. I checked if any of these scores are unknown in public libraries and found ca. 70 that are not archived in a public library, especially not in the French National Library that holds naturally the most copies of the works by Eugene Lemercier. For preservation I made scans of these "missing" chansons and present them here:

The presented chansons in the file are:

• Promenade conjugale (music by Georges Charton)
• Le Scandale de Belleville (sung to the air La Tonkinoise)
• Couplets ecrits en l'honneur des Depositaires du Groupement des grands journaux de Paris (sung to the air En revenant de la revue)
• Discours de M. Leon Bourgeois (sung to the air Famille Alphonse du Gros-Caillou)
• Lettre d'Yvette Guilbert a Sarcey (sung to the air On dirait qu' c'est toi)
• Reponse de Sarcey a Yvette Guilbert (sung to the air La Lettre de la Perichole)
• Pourquoi je suis buveur (music by M. Uberti)
• Le Veau de M. Alfred Capus (sung to the air Cas d'Exemption)
• Ma femme ne l'veut pas! (music by Victor Leclerc)
• Apres la biture (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• Le General Poilloüe (sung to the air Gigolette)
• La Complainte du Panier (sung to the air La Serenade du pave)
• Lettre a Gaston (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• Article pour Enfants (sung to the air Cas d'Exemption)
• L'Affranchissement des Femmes (music by Henri Emmanuel)
• j'aime pas les Sergots (music by Victor Leclerc)
• Les Legumes (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• Les sages femmes (music by Georges Picquet)
• Le Philtre et la Saucisse (music by Paul Daubry)
• Les Bijoux de M. de Rute (music by Paul Bletry)
• L'accident de Duclerc (music by H. Fragson)
• Cocu par le cure (music by Marcel Lefevre)
• Les Automobiles
• Triste Metier!!!
• Les Affaires de Grece (sung to the air Ah! Mes Enfants!)
• Parodie de "Son amant"
• Ah! Pancrace! (music by Georges Charton)
• Les Aiglons (music by Jean Nelly and Laurent Halet)
• A mon enterrement (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• C'est un billet (music by A. Olivier and Jules Legay)
• La Crinoline (music by Laurent Leon)
• Doleances d'un vieux chansonnier (sung to the air Fanfreluche)
• La Femme et la Rose (music by Eug. Daulnay)
• La folle mazurka (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• Il n'est donc jamais la? (music by Maurice Gracey)
• La legende de la Baleine et du Carrelet (music by Georges Reisch)
• Lolotte! (music by Eugene Rosi)
• Les Loustics du Poulailler (music by Georges Reisch)
• Ma femme et ma vache (sung to the air Les Boeufs)
• Les Miroirs (music by Albert Chantrier)
• La mort de la "Marquis" (music by Andre Colomb)
• Le Patin a Roulettes (music by Georges Charton)
• Le petit Oeillet (music by Victor Thiels)
• Le petit Quinquin belge (music by Desrousseaux)
• La Plainte de la Terre (music by Victor Thiels)
• Polichinelle est enterre (music by Victor Leclerc)
• Protestation porcine (music by Andre Colomb)
• Les Rameaux sont fletris (music by Eug. Dede fils)
• Serenade fleurie (music by Eugene Lemercier and R. Soler)
• Si l'on n'avait pas ca (music by Alcib Mario)
• Supreme pardon (music by Rene de Buxeuil)
• Le Triomphe du Pinard (music by Charles d'Avray)
• Les trois Invalides (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• La Valse des Pipes (music by Leon Dequin)
• Le Vin du General Joffre (music by Victor Thiels)
• La Marche des Tondeurs de Chiens (music by Leon Dequin)
• Le Portrait de mon Pere (music by Leon Dequin)
• Le Ravitaillement (music by L. C. Desormes)
• L'Ouverture de l'Exposition (music by Paul Courtois)
• Sur le Lac (music by Felicien Vargues)
• Avec Bibi (music by Elzear Jaubert)
• Le Proces Fabre-Papillaud (music by Eugene Lemercier)
• La Legende du Beret (music by Leon Dequin)
• La Lecon d'Articulation (music by Leon Dequin)
• Les deux Jaloux (music by Eugene Lemercier and Henri Emmanuel)

title page of the issue XII of "Les Chansonniers de Montmartre" dedicated completely to the oeuvre of Eugene Lemercier, drawing by Charles Leandre