Best Ever Albums

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 10:04:00 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/27/2021 15:04

Skinny wrote:

I've always really loved 'Les Champs-Élysées' by Joe Dassin, an apparent favourite of both French football supporters and gilets jaunes protestors. What I only found out recently, however, is that it's a remake of an obscure English song called 'Waterloo Road' by a band called Jason Crest, and that there were already Dutch and Slovenian remakes, replete with specific references to parts of Amsterdam and Ljubljana respectively, which came out before Dassin's version hit big. I've now heard all of these versions, but there's a breezy, summery nonchalance to Dassin's version which places it above all others, for me.

Any thoughts?

Haha, I didn’t know that. The original sounds more like a pop band, like the Kinks, whereas the Joe Dassin version has the bonhomie of a variety singer which is fine for this kind of song. I also prefer the cover.
His other big hit, L’été indien (number 9 of this list), is also a cover (original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9TuuMo-Adw)

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Skinny — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 07:39:51 GMT

Author: Skinny

Posted: 01/27/2021 12:39

I've always really loved 'Les Champs-Élysées' by Joe Dassin, an apparent favourite of both French football supporters and gilets jaunes protestors. What I only found out recently, however, is that it's a remake of an obscure English song called 'Waterloo Road' by a band called Jason Crest, and that there were already Dutch and Slovenian remakes, replete with specific references to parts of Amsterdam and Ljubljana respectively, which came out before Dassin's version hit big. I've now heard all of these versions, but there's a breezy, summery nonchalance to Dassin's version which places it above all others, for me.

Any thoughts?

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 07:18:13 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/27/2021 12:18

# 15 Syracuse (1962) Jean Sablon

I wish those recordings of 60’s crooners were engineered with a bit less gloss ! But the singing of Jean Sablon (aged 56 at the time) is clean and simple, as it should be with simple lyrics like these about wishing to see the beautiful places of the world. And a voluptuous melody composed by Henri Salvador.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icgRG2XUrI8

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 09:39:24 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/19/2019 13:39

# 14 Un Homme Heureux (1991) William Sheller

Such a beautiful melody ! (although I always found the first six notes difficult to hum and I’d be interested to know why, from a someone who know solfege !)

This is from an album recorded live in studio in front of a 200-people audience, this song being performed by Sheller alone on piano.

(translation by lyricstranslate.com)

Link

Why are people in love
Always a little bit the same?
When they come by they have
The same look of one craving for two
They’re happy people

Why are people in love
Always a little bit the same?
When they have problems
Well, there’s nothing to say
Nothing you can do for them
They’re people in love

As for me I hardly know you
But how lucky it’d be
If we took off a little bit like them
We could without too much fuss
Make room for the two of us

But if my coming on again isn’t worth it
Let me know from a glint in your eyes
However long it takes
However high the stakes
I want to be a happy man

Why are people in love
Always a little bit rebellious?
They have a world of their own
That nothing compels to look like
Those we’re given as models

Why are people in love
Always a little bit cruel?
When they tell you about themselves
Something keeps you a little further at bay
Something only too human

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Sat, 4 May 2019 05:32:48 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/04/2019 09:32

# 13 San Francisco (1972) Maxime Le Forestier

This gentle accoustic ballad was composed by Maxime le Forestier as a thank-you letter to the hippie community that had welcomed him for a few weeks in San Francisco.
The lyrics simply describes the life in the house. Cliché now, sincere at the time.
(translation by lyricstranslate.com)

Link

It's a blue house
Leaning against the hillside
We come there on foot, we don't knock
For those that live there, having thrown away the key
We gather together
After years on the road
And we come there to sit around our meal
Everyone is there, at five o' clock in the evening

When San Francisco gets foggy
When San Francisco lights up
San Francisco, where are you
Lizard and Luc, Psylvia, wait for me

Swimming in the fog
Intertwined, rolling in the grass
We will hear Tom on the guitar
Phil on the quena until the black night
Another one will arrive
For us to talk about any news
Of the one that will come back in a year or two
Since he is happy, we fall asleep

When San Francisco rises
When San Francisco rises
San Francisco! Where are you
Lizard and Luc, Psylvia, wait for me

It's a blue house
Hanging in my memory
We come there on foot, we don't impose
Those that live there, having thrown away the key
Inhabited by long hair
Big beds and music
Populated by light and crazy people
She will be the last to stay standing

If San Francisco collapses
If San Francisco collapses
San Francisco! Where are you
Lizard and Luc, Psylvia, wait for me

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

dihansse — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:47:17 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 09/11/2018 07:47

bobbyb5 wrote:

Here's the one I was talking about. I listened to a minute of it cuz I couldn't remember which oldies were on it, and the first two are Venus by Shocking Blue and Sugar Sugar by The Archies. And the rest are all familiar too. And I think on the flip side was a Beatles medley. Or that was on the album or something. If I remember they were French or Belgian or something like that. I think.

https://youtu.be/lf-2-pu6R7Q

They were from Holland but it was a huge hit in Belgium too.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

bobbyb5 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 22:17:12 GMT

Author: bobbyb5

Posted: 09/11/2018 02:17

Here's the one I was talking about. I listened to a minute of it cuz I couldn't remember which oldies were on it, and the first two are Venus by Shocking Blue and Sugar Sugar by The Archies. And the rest are all familiar too. And I think on the flip side was a Beatles medley. Or that was on the album or something. If I remember they were French or Belgian or something like that. I think.

https://youtu.be/lf-2-pu6R7Q

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

bobbyb5 — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 22:08:47 GMT

Author: bobbyb5

Posted: 09/11/2018 02:08

Yann wrote:

#10 Rockollection (1977) Laurent Voulzy

This 1977 N°1 hit single in France is 11 min 45 long!
It’s a nostalgic and joyful recollection of a french teenager’s life in the 60’s and among other things, the british and american records he listens to, whose extracts are recreated (not sampled) in the song.

Song extracts :
The Loco-Motion : Little Eva
A Hard Day's Night : The Beatles
I Get Around : The Beach Boys
Gloria : Them
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction : The Rolling Stones
Mr. Tambourine Man : Bob Dylan
Massachusetts : Bee Gees
Mellow Yellow : Donovan
California Dreamin' : The Mamas & the Papas
Get Back : The Beatles

Link

From this personal favorite, and our more laid-back singer, see also the super-soft (but with pretty good riffs):

Désir, Désir (1984) (with Véronique Jeannot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LgYEz0Td1k

Le Cœur Grenadine (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYtAs9P6AJA

This is like a song that was a hit on the radio when I was a kid called Stars On 45. It was the same idea as this. A bunch of oldies with a kind of dance beat. And it wasn't samples but re-creations. Then I remember that they expanded it into a whole album called Stars On LP, or something like that.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 17:04:28 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/10/2018 21:04

#12 Je t'aime...moi non plus (1969) Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg

The song was initially written for Brigitte Bardot (with whom he had a brief romance). A first version was recorded with her in late 1967. But the single was withdrawn after a single radio broadcast due to her husband complaint. The next year he recorded the version we all know with Jane Birkin (his partner for the following 12 years), and the record was released in February 1969.

Originally, Brigitte Bardot asked him to write the most beautiful love song he could imagine: the result is rather a tongue-in-cheek evocation, as well as a disillusion, of sex without love, as the character who is responding “neither do I” to the “I love you” reckons that “physical love is a dead end”. Not so hedonistic after all ? But then again the character perhaps is just talking nonsense to keep his cool...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlpDf6XX_j0

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 12:48:59 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 07/10/2018 16:48

#11 J'ai Deux Amours (1930) Josephine Baker

From street-corner dancer in St Louis to icon of the roaring twenties in France, through french Resistance during World War II, what a life.

Here is her most famous song : J'ai Deux Amours ("I have two loves, my country and Paris")

Link

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 15:01:37 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/21/2018 19:01

#10 Rockollection (1977) Laurent Voulzy

This 1977 N°1 hit single in France is 11 min 45 long!
It’s a nostalgic and joyful recollection of a french teenager’s life in the 60’s and among other things, the british and american records he listens to, whose extracts are recreated (not sampled) in the song.

Song extracts :
The Loco-Motion : Little Eva
A Hard Day's Night : The Beatles
I Get Around : The Beach Boys
Gloria : Them
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction : The Rolling Stones
Mr. Tambourine Man : Bob Dylan
Massachusetts : Bee Gees
Mellow Yellow : Donovan
California Dreamin' : The Mamas & the Papas
Get Back : The Beatles

Link

From this personal favorite, and our more laid-back singer, see also the super-soft (but with pretty good riffs):

Désir, Désir (1984) (with Véronique Jeannot)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LgYEz0Td1k

Le Cœur Grenadine (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYtAs9P6AJA

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 14:58:01 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/21/2018 18:58

bobbyb5 wrote:

Yann wrote:

Do you, do you St Tropez (1964) Genneviève Grad
Just for the video..
This is from the movie “Le gendarme de St Tropez” (The Troops of St. Tropez), a 1964 comedy with Louis de Funès. In this film, de Funès plays Cruchot, a highly uptight gendarme from a small French village, who has been reassigned to the seaside commune of Saint-Tropez under the orders of sergeant major Gerber (played by Michel Galabru). Her lovely daughter Nicole quickly adapts to the life in the city and begin to mix with the local youths. Here, we find her in a bar dancing and singing the now famous song (also called “Douliou douliou St Tropez”) in such a charming 60’s way (I think) and more natural than Brigitte Bardot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhlpVPg6dio

Pretty interesting. I'm going to look for that movie.

It’s barrack-room humour : ), but the film is alright and it’s always interesting to see how people lived in the past, and the way a movie show it.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

bobbyb5 — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 12:05:17 GMT

Author: bobbyb5

Posted: 06/16/2018 16:05

Yann wrote:

Interlude 😉

Do you, do you St Tropez (1964) Genneviève Grad

Just for the video..
This is from the movie “Le gendarme de St Tropez” (The Troops of St. Tropez), a 1964 comedy with Louis de Funès. In this film, de Funès plays Cruchot, a highly uptight gendarme from a small French village, who has been reassigned to the seaside commune of Saint-Tropez under the orders of sergeant major Gerber (played by Michel Galabru). Her lovely daughter Nicole quickly adapts to the life in the city and begin to mix with the local youths. Here, we find her in a bar dancing and singing the now famous song (also called “Douliou douliou St Tropez”) in such a charming 60’s way (I think) and more natural than Brigitte Bardot.

Link

Pretty interesting. I'm going to look for that movie.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 15:55:56 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/14/2018 19:55

# 9 L’été indien Joe Dassin (1975)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4ZE_HLE33Q

In the same year of the previous entry Il voyage en solitaire, this is its romantic-love, sugary counterpart, with in common a certain pastoral, typical 70’s atmosphere which, along with the golden voice of the singer and the hi-fi production, just save this song from desuetude.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 14:41:37 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/11/2018 18:41

# 8 Il voyage en solitaire (1975) Gérard Manset

For his fourth album, Manset digged out a song made two years earlier with a new and slightly out of tune piano. He tried to re-record it but failed to match the intensity. He then decided to keep the original version but to add a few orchestrations and backing vocals.
I like the low-key production, not too much “french chanson” of this song which nonetheless became a french classic.

Link

Translation of the lyrics:

He is travelling alone
And nothing keeps him quiet
He is singing the earth
He is singing the earth
And it's a life without mystery
That needs no commentary
For days on end
He is singing the earth

But he is alone
One day
Love
Left him, went away
To take a tour
Of the other side
Of a city where there are no places to park

He is traveling alone
And nothing keeps him quiet
He knows what he has to do
He is singing the earth
He's the only volunteer
And since he has nothing more to do
Stronger than an entire army
He is singing the earth

But he is alone
One day
Love
Left him, went away
To take a tour
Of the other side
Of a city where there are no places to park

And there it is in sum, the miracle
It's when his song is good
Because it's for the joy it gives him
That he is singing the earth

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Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Sat, 9 Jun 2018 07:52:32 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/09/2018 11:52

Interlude 😉

Do you, do you St Tropez (1964) Genneviève Grad

Just for the video..
This is from the movie “Le gendarme de St Tropez” (The Troops of St. Tropez), a 1964 comedy with Louis de Funès. In this film, de Funès plays Cruchot, a highly uptight gendarme from a small French village, who has been reassigned to the seaside commune of Saint-Tropez under the orders of sergeant major Gerber (played by Michel Galabru). Her lovely daughter Nicole quickly adapts to the life in the city and begin to mix with the local youths. Here, we find her in a bar dancing and singing the now famous song (also called “Douliou douliou St Tropez”) in such a charming 60’s way (I think) and more natural than Brigitte Bardot.

Link

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Wed, 6 Jun 2018 17:11:26 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/06/2018 21:11

# 7 Chacun fait (c'qui lui plaît) Chagrin d’amour (1981)

The first ever french rap 45 was a smash hit (in France). Initially a regular song (as a demo), the songwriter heard The Magnificent Seven by the Clash and then chose to make it a rap song.
(the lyrics are simply the narrative of an agitated night out)

The music in this video starts at 0:44
(and the lady of this duo starts “rapping” at 3:45)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLiyZdkkEJU

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Sat, 2 Jun 2018 06:03:17 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/02/2018 10:03

# 6 Toulouse (1967) Claude Nougaro

Yet another “hometown song” made in 1967 : ). This elegant and moving jazzy ballad combines simple observation of the town (as often with these songs) with an ample, nostalgic theme (and an even more nostalgic middle eight), all wrapped in a lush, impeccable (very 60’s vocal jazz in the studio) orchestration.

The first demo was a rather angry recollection of Toulouse, where Nougaro had spent a difficult childhood and teenage years, but his wife convinced him to make a “love chant” rather than a resentful one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aBk54wMqjA

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

RoundTheBend — Wed, 30 May 2018 22:16:10 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 05/31/2018 02:16

I like the fast lyrics on that one. Thanks!

Re: Classic french songs (sung in french)

Anonymous — Wed, 30 May 2018 03:35:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/30/2018 07:35

sethmadsen wrote:

What's the best Charles Aznavour song?

He's not my favorite singer but I like Emmenez-moi (especially the verse melody, not so much the chorus)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OrKMaeQUx0