While the 2024 edition of Eurovision was punctuated by the victory of Nemo, a non-binary Swiss artist, but will also have been polluted by numerous controversies, Fabien Lecoeuvre offers you, exclusively for Interviews, to look back at the songs that have marked the history of the competition. Whether they won Eurovision or just participated, certain titles had great destinies. Here are the secrets of five great songs linked to Eurovision from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s…
THE BIRD AND THE CHILD
Eurovision Grand Prix in 1977, “L'Oiseau et L'Enfant” allowed Marie Myriam to enter the legend of this Competition and start a brilliant career as a singer.
It was because one evening in 1976, the composer Jean-Paul Cara wanted to eat Portuguese specialties that he met a young girl with a velvet voice, a certain Myriam Lopes. Myriam is none other than the daughter of the owner of the restaurant where he went to dinner that evening, and when Jean-Paul Cara hears her singing, “Ne me gauche pas” by Jacques Brel, he is dazzled by the timbre of her voice to the point of offering to work with her. Obviously, Myriam accepted without hesitation and very quickly their collaboration gave birth to the first two songs, “Ma colombe” and “Rêves d'ailleurs” which were not released in France but received a nice reception in Quebec.
Jean-Paul Cara, who the previous year had come second in the Eurovision contest with one of his compositions, “1, 2,3”, sung by Catherine Ferry, decided to repeat the experience, this time hoping to finish No. 1. For this, he decides to register Myriam Lopes in this competition. All that remains is to find the song. He takes out of these drawers, a melody that he wrote some time earlier and begins to think about lyrics. One day, while walking up Rue des Martyrs, in Montmartre, he saw a child watching birds passing by in the distance, which inspired the first words of the song. For the rest, he calls on the owner of his home, Joe Gracy, who finishes the text of “The Bird and the Child”. After passing the first selections, Myriam Lopes, who became Marie Myriam for the event, presented herself on May 7, 1977, the day before her 20th birthday, at the big Eurovision Contest which took place that year in Wembley, England. With 136 points, Marie Myriam won the Eurovision grand prize hands down and sold more than 4 million copies of “The Bird and the Child” which will forever mark her career as a singer.
DO NOT GO WITHOUT ME
With the song Ne partez pas sans moi, Céline Dion won in 1988, for Switzerland, the 33eEurovision Song Contest. A tremendous victory which opens the way to an international career for the singer and also marks the beginning of her great love story with her manager René Angélil.
The history of the song Do not go without me is above all a composer's favorite for the voice of Céline Dion.
In 1986, Atilla Sereftug, a composer of Turkish origin living in Switzerland, came in second place in the Eurovision Contest, with his song entitled Not for me performed by singer Daniela Simons for Switzerland. Following this first participation, the composer's manager encouraged him to find another performer for Eurovision 1988 with a new song. After listening to several young artists, Atilla Sereftug literally fell for the incredible voice of Céline Dion.
The composer therefore contacted René Angélil by fax to suggest that the Canadian artist represent Switzerland in the Eurovision song contest. Ten days later, he received a not very enthusiastic response from René. As a result, the composer's entourage advised him to abandon this track and offered him another singer of Polish origin. But Atilla Sereftug, obsessed with Céline Dion's voice, refuses. He is convinced that it is she and no one else who must represent Switzerland. For a week, he constantly listened to Céline's voice and one morning, waking up very early, he composed the melody of Do not go without me. The same evening, he prepared a model in a friend's studio and the next day, he sent it to René and Céline in Canada.
Two weeks after receiving the model, René Angélil and Céline Dion gave their agreement and asked the composer to come see them in Montreal to finalize the song. All you need to do is find the words to accompany this music. Atilla Sereftug then asked the lyricist Nella Martinetti for a text, who wrote to her within 48 hours. A few days later, Attila Sereftug flew to Canada. He is warmly received by René Angélil and Céline Dion. The singer learned the text very quickly and recorded it the next day in a single take.
The Eurovision Song Contest took place on Saturday April 30, 1988, in Dublin, Ireland. Céline Dion, accompanied by René, arrives a week earlier. She chooses her dress herself. 21 countries participate in this 33e competition. Celine Dion and her song Ne partez pas sans moi wins with 137 points, just one point ahead of his opponent, Briton Scott Fitzgerald.s. Céline bursts into tears when the results are announced and René shouts: “I told you, we won!” »
During this evening, Céline Dion's career took on a whole new dimension. René Angélil skillfully uses this Eurovision victory to raise the stakes on Céline Dion's contract with Sony Music. The record company will therefore invest 3 million dollars for the release in 1990 of the singer's first English album.
If professionally this Eurovision Contest was decisive for the international career of Céline Dion, on a personal level, it also changed the singer's life. After the evening, René and Céline kiss lovingly for the first time and truly begin their passionate love story. They kept it secret until 1993.
34 years after its release, the song Ne partez pas sans moi is put back in the spotlight in 2022. It is covered by the students of the Star Academy and becomes the anthem of the TF1 show.
WAX DOLL, SOUND DOLL
In the spring of 1965, a song by France Gall won the Eurovision Grand Prix. Let’s return to the candy pink genesis of “Popée de wax, Poupée de son” composed a few months earlier by Gainsbourg.
Granddaughter of Paul Berthier, organist at Auxerre Cathedral and co-founder of the Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois, France Gall is the daughter of Robert Gall, a former opera singer and author of hundreds of songs. After a first 45 rpm sold more than two hundred thousand copies, France Gall left school and became the first pop lolita of a whole youth. She trusted Serge Gainsbourg for her next records, of which “n'avez pas les idoles” and “Laisse chute les filles” were the flagship titles. Gainsbourg, at this time, wrote songs inspired by jazz, bossa nova and rock. He has already written “The Recipe for Crazy Love” for Michèle Arnaud, “L’amour à la papa” for Juliette Gréco and “La Chanson de Prévert” for Isabelle Aubret. His songs often go against the grain of fashionable topics, and yet...
At the start of the year 1964, in the referendum of the monthly Salut les Copains, France Gall was elected runner-up to Sylvie Vartan, dethroning Sheila and Françoise Hardy. And it was truly on October 15, 1964 that the story of the song “Popée de wax, doll of sound” began, when Serge Gainsbourg discovered his young performer on the front page of Mademoiselle Age Tendre magazine. He is dazzled, the photo is so beautiful. He buys the newspaper, returns home and composes the first notes of “Wax doll, sound doll”. It must be said that on the cover of the magazine, France looks like a pretty doll. Furthermore, Gainsbourg has no trouble finding the words, he is inspired by the words of the young artist that his father generally dictates to him in interviews.
With this song, France Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg at the tenth edition of the Eurovision Grand Prix. On March 20, 1965, she left for Naples with Serge Gainsbourg and her great confidante Brigitte Berthollier. In the afternoon, rehearsals don't go very well. The musicians in the show don't like the song's orchestrations being too fast. When the artist finished rehearsing, they whistled and protested violently. Everyone there is devastated, Gainsbourg sulks and threatens to return to Paris. France Gall makes fun of all this because the same evening, live, she performed “Wax doll, sound doll” with a trembling voice and pale complexion, in front of two hundred million viewers. Approved by the jury by an absolute majority of votes, it finds itself propelled to first place with 32 points. Consecrated international star in an instant, hustled and oppressed, she returns alone to Paris the day after this success, the extent of which she does not yet understand. The French press is going wild and as a whole contests this choice. So Gainsbourg pulls out his claws and defends his young performer. He doesn't allow anyone to say bad things about this girl who sings in tune. He accuses the new yé-yé idols of not admitting the success of France Gall and finds Françoise Hardy too “adolescent”. Back in Paris, he said: “France Gall is an ambiguous character. Under the guise of childish kindness, she is the only one of our pop singers to attack the system. France Gall is Alice in Wonderland... If you know how to open this oyster, you will find the pearl... Otherwise you will come across a mussel! »
Serge Gainsbourg is amazed after the victory of his song “Popée de wax, Poupée de son”. The gala proposals for abroad are becoming clearer. In Japan, France Gall becomes a record millionaire overnight. She recorded the song in Italian, Spanish and German and ranked among the best sellers of the year in more than nineteen countries. In France, “Wax doll, sound doll” sold more than one million six hundred thousand copies. An absolute record in the history of French song in 1965.
I SOUGHT
Undeniable hit of summer 2016, I sought performed by the Franco-Israeli singer Amir Haddad arrived in 6e position at 61e Eurovision Song Contest.
Amir Haddad was born in Paris in 1984 but at the age of 8 he moved to Israel with his family. Gifted as a singer, despite being deaf at birth, it was there that he became known in 2006, arriving in the final of the Israeli version of the show. The new Star. Even though a musical career was emerging for him, he simultaneously undertook studies to become a dentist. In 2011, he released his first album which included the Hebrew version of Patrick Bruel's title, I will tell you anyways which is very successful. Two years later, Amir, returning to France after obtaining his dentist's diploma, presented himself to the castings of the 3e season of the show The Voice, broadcast on TF1. He was selected and participated in the program between January and May 2014, coached by Jenifer. Amir reached the Final but was beaten by Kendji Girac. After the show, Amir then prepared a first album in French and it was while working on titles for this album that the song was born. I sought.
To create this song, Amir Haddad surrounded himself with two young songwriters. One is called Nazim Khaled, he is originally from Marseille but grew up in Saint Etienne where he studied music at the city's Conservatory. We owe him songs for Yannick Noah, Chimène Badi and Kendji Girac. The other co-author of I sought his name is Johan Errami. He is a 25-year-old songwriter from Tarare in the Rhône. He first composed for rappers like Soprano, Alonzo or Rohff before creating songs like My love ou Mama's eyes for Kendji Girac. Amir, Nazim and Johan met in January 2015 and very quickly struck a chord between them. They then decided to write and compose songs together. I sought was born in just two hours, during a sleepless night in a Parisian recording studio. Initially, the song did not satisfy the three creators who did not at all envisage it becoming a single. It is by having different people outside the team listen to it that they will change their minds. Amir's album is signed by Warner Music. It is preceded by a first single in June 2015, entitled Oasis which goes relatively unnoticed. I sought was officially released on January 22, 2016 without there being any question yet that this song will represent France in the 61st Eurovision Song Contest. It was only on February 29, 2016 that France 2 made the news official. The Final takes place in Stockholm on Saturday May 14, 2016. Amir Haddad and his title I sought arrives in sixth place in the competition with 257 points, which makes it the best ranking for France since 2002. Having already become a great radio success in France, throughout the spring, this good result at Eurovision allows it to also become one of the big hits of summer 2016. For the record, the Secretary of State for Francophonie André Vallini launched a controversy by taking offense via social networks that I sought had a chorus in English which was a shame for a song representing France. Amir defended himself by saying that the song was started as a gimmick that sounded like English but that in no case had he intended to write a song with a chorus in English. Ultimately, the success of the song and its good result in the Eurovision contest will finally put an end to the controversy.
WHITE AND BLACK BLUES
In 1990, Serge Gainsbourg wrote the lyrics for White and Black Blues, the song that represents France in the Eurovision Song Contest. With this magnificent title, an ode to tolerance and respect for differences, Joëlle Ursull ranks tied for second place in the competition and enters the Top 50.Between Gainsbourg and Eurovision, it is a long story which begins in 1965 when with one of his songs that he wrote and composed: Wax doll, sound doll, young France Gall wins the competition for Luxembourg. Two years later, in 1967, Serge Gainsbourg did it again by writing and composing Boom-Badaboum, a song performed by Minouche Barelli who represents Monaco in the Competition and ranks 5e place. And then, in 1990, it was one of his songs again, White and black blues, of which he only signed the lyrics which is in competition during the 35e Eurovision contest which took place in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, on May 5, 1990. It was at the initiative of the new entertainment director of Antenne 2, Marie France Brière that Serge Gainsbourg was asked to write a song for Joëlle Ursull, the ex-member of the group Zouk Machine who is starting a solo career and who was chosen to represent France at Eurovision that year. To music by guitarist and composer Georges Augier de Moussac, known in particular for his numerous collaborations with Hugues Aufray and Serge Gainsbourg imagine a text which denounces racism and claims pride in its roots. With this title, Joëlle Ursull ranks with 132 points, in second place, tied with Liam Reilly, the singer who represented Ireland, just behind Toto Cutugno who won the competition. Even if with this song, Joëlle Ursull did not reach first place, she achieved immense commercial success. The record sold 500 copies and became a Gold record, even ranking No. 000 in the Top 2 in July 50.
