You may thing this odd – I don’t speak French and I am way too young to know these songs.
But these are the songs of my childhood. French music was still influential and very much enjoyed in ’60s South Vietnam. Songs from this era were ‘carried over’ to Melbourne by my family and I heard them almost every day growing up. It must have reminded my folks of happier times.
Recently, in Saigon I was in a lovely cafe which controversially had a playlist of exclusively French songs from pre-Communist days. It somehow felt like home. It was there that I penned this list of French favourites:
La Boheme – Charles Aznavour (1965)
An easy start. This is a masterpiece of French chanson and the man’s signature song for a reason – it’s brilliant!
Le Temps De L’amour – Francoise Hardy (1962)
Sung by one of the world’s most beautiful women, then and now. Many 60′s Vietnamese singers have emulated her sound (because it’s a gorgeous).
La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser – Sylvie Vartan (1963)
The string riff is sublime; dat-dat-dah-duh (dut-dut-dut-dut). It was a big hit in Vietnam and there is a fantastic cover in French and Vietnamese by Thanh Lan.
L’amour Est Bleu – Vicky Leandros (1967)
One of the most recognisable songs in the world thanks to the Paul Mauriat orchestra cover. There is a melancholy bliss in the original that Mauriat misses. My favourite Leandros is Apres Toi from 1972.
Capri C’est Fini – Herve Vilard (1965)
Recorded when he was only 19, Vilard was uber cute (in a Ferris Bueller kind of way) and suffering from a broken heart. Ah, young love; I’m sure he got over it!
La Nuit – Salvatore Adamo (1964)
Adamo has an unmistakable voice. When he modulates the ‘uuooo’ it sends pleasurable shivers down the spine. Another fav is Mes Mains Sur Tes Hanches with the catchy la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la (yes, that’s 9 la’s).
Garde-moi La Derniere Danse - Dalida (1961)
This song is fine, but I’m adding Dalida just so I can mention her song with Alain Delon Paroles, Paroles from 1973 (it was played at every single family gathering!).
Aline – Christophe (1965)
This song has been doing the dance remix circuit since the late 90′s, bizarre, but it goes to show that a good song can go a long, long way!
Et Maintenant – Gilbert Becaud (1961)
Before Shirley Bassey got her delicious chops on this hit (aka What Now My Love), Gilbert ‘Monsieur 100,000 Volts’ Becaud was already raking in gagillions in royalties for his recording in French.
Dans Le Temps – Petula Clark (1965)
Last but not least, I could not be a gay man and talk about ’60s music without paying tribute to the fabulous Petula Clark (and who doesn’t love Downtown?!).
@danvogue
Love!!!!
I’ve been copy and pasting them into youtube. I love them too!
I’ll add links tonight, I thought they’d be your thing too! I’d love to see you dancing to these tunes
I will not dance to any! Maybe ‘downtown’
This list is amazing! Aline was my favorite! I have been listening to this song over the radio for years and I don’t know the title. LOL.
Just now, there was a neighbor car passed by with pretty powerful sound playing this song and I was curious, what is the title of this song? It turned out me to look for the song via Google, mais je ne parle pas francais bien … then I found page; Now here it is – the mystery has been solved. Thanks!
That is very kind of you to say. Please do share your favourite songs too!