This classic café-concert song was first written in 1895 and first recorded by Aristide Bruant in 1905.
This particular version is a live recording from 2003 by Paulo at the cabaret Le Lapin Agile in Montmartre.
It is the story of a streetwalker in the area of the Bastille. Her nickname is Nini Peau d’Chien (Nini dog skin). Back at the end of the 19th Century, the Bastille area was known for tanning leather from “Chien de mer”, a type of shark. Chien also makes reference to her living conditions. Think slum-dog.
Songs about prostitutes were very common in the café-concert and cabarets; songwriters wanted to highlight social inequalities and the conditions of many women living in poverty, having to resort to the world’s oldest profession.
In the song, Nini is a redhead, and the author makes reference to the stigma associated with red-haired people and body odours.
Like many chanson réalistes, it is written in the form of a ballad recounting the story of the character from the beginning.
“Quand elle était p’tite (When she was a wee girl)
Le soir elle allait (In the evening, she would go)
À Sainte-Marguerite (To Saint Marguerite)
Où qu’elle se dessalait” (To absolve her sins)
“Maintenant qu’elle est grande (Now she has grown up)
Elle marche le soir” (She walks the night)
Addressing the stereotypes and stigma:
“Elle a la peau douce (Her skin is soft)
Aux taches de son (With freckles)
À l’odeur de rousse (The scent of a red-head)
Qui donne des frissons” (That makes one shiver)
Yet everyone loves Nini
“Quand le soleil brille (When the sun shines)
Dans ses cheveux roux (On her red hair)
Le génie d’la Bastille (The Spirit of Livery from Bastille)
Lui fait les yeux doux (Flirts with her)
Et quand elle se promène (And when she strolls)
Du bout d’l’Arsenal (Around the Arsenal)
Tout le quartier s’amène (The whole district gathers)
Au coin du Canal” (To the end of the canal)
Et Paulo nous chante d’Aristide Bruant
Nini peau d’chien
À la Bastille on aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
Elle est si bonne et si gentille!
On aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
À la Bastille.
Quand elle était p’tite
Le soir elle allait
À Sainte-Marguerite
Où qu’a s’dessalait
Maint’nant qu’elle est grande
Elle marche, le soir,
Avec ceux
d’la bande du Richard-Lenoir
À la Bastille on aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
Elle est si bonne et si gentille!
On aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien (x2)
À la Bastille.
Elle a la peau douce
Aux taches de son
À l’odeur de rousse
Qui donne un frisson
Et de sa prunelle
Aux tons vert-de-gris
L’amour étincelle
Dans ses yeux d’souris.
À la Bastille on aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
Elle est si bonne et si gentille!
On aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
À la Bastille.
Quand le soleil brille
Dans ses cheveux roux
L’génie d’la Bastille
Lui fait les yeux doux
Et quand a s’promène
Du bout d’l’Arsenal
Tout l’quartier s’amène
Au coin du Canal.
À la Bastille on aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
Elle est si bonne et si gentille!
On aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
À la Bastille.
Mais celui qu’elle aime
Qu’elle a dans la peau
C’est Bibi-la-Crème
Parc’ qu’il est costaud
Parc’ que c’est un homme
Qui n’a pas l’foie blanc
Aussi faut voir comme
Nini l’a dans l’sang.
À la Bastille on aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
Elle est si bonne et si gentille!
On aime bien
Nini Peau d’chien
À la Bastille.
And Polo sings to us, by Aristide Bruant
Nini Dog Skin
At the Bastille, we like her
Nini Dog Skin
She is so good and so kind
We like her (x2)
Nini Dog Skin (x2)
At the Bastille
When she was a wee girl,
in the evening she went
to Sainte Marguerite
Where she was absolving her sins
Now that she is grown up,
she walks the night
with those
of the Richard Lenoir gang.
At the Bastille, we like
Nini Dog Skin
She is so good and so kind
That we like her
Nini Dog Skin (x2)
At the Bastille
Her skin is soft
with freckles
and the scent of a red-head
that makes us shiver
And in her eyes
a green shade of grey,
love sparkles
in her mousey eyes
At the Bastille, we like her
Nini Dog Skin
She is so good and so kind
We like
Nini Dog Skin x2
At the Bastille
When the sun shines
on her red hair
The Spirit of Liberty in Bastille
is flirting with her
And when she strolls
from the end of the Arsenal
The whole district gathers
at the corner of the canal
At the Bastille, we like her
Nini Dog Skin
She is so good and so kind
we like
Nini Dog Skin x2
At the Bastille
But the one she loves
that she has under her skin
it’s Bibi the Cream
Because he is tough
Because he is a man,
he is not a coward
You must see how
Nini has him in her veins
At the Bastille, we like
Nini Dog Skin
She is so good and so kind
We like
Nini Dog Skin x2
At the Bastille
Between the French lyrics 
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