Les Champs-Élysées (song)

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"Waterloo Road"
Digital reissue cover
Single by Jason Crest
B-side"Education"
Released28 February 1968
LabelPhillips
Songwriter(s)Michael Anthony Deighan, Michael Wilshaw
Jason Crest singles chronology
"Here We Go Round (The Lemon Tree)"
(1967)
"Waterloo Road"
(1968)
"Place in the Sun"
(1969)
"Les Champs-Elysées"
Single by Joe Dassin
from the album Joe Dassin (Les Champs-Élysées)
LanguageFrench
B-side"Le Chemin de papa"
Released11 May 1969
Length2:40
LabelCBS Disques
Songwriter(s)Pierre Delanoë, Michael Wilshaw, Michael Deighan
Producer(s)Jacques Plait
Joe Dassin singles chronology
"Me que me que"
(1969)
"Les Champs-Elysées"
(1969)
"C'est la vie, Lily"
(1970)

"Les Champs-Élysées" is a 1969 song by American-French singer Joe Dassin. It is a French adaptation of "Waterloo Road", written the previous year in English by the British songwriting team of composer Mike Wilsh and lyricist Mike Deighan. While the English version refers to Waterloo Road, London, Dassin's version references the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Composition

The song was originally called "Waterloo Road" (English lyrics by Michael Anthony Deighan, music by Michael Wilshaw) and released as their fourth single by the British rock band in 1968 Jason Crest. French lyricist Pierre Delanoë then adapted the lyrics into French.[1][2]

French release

The song's French counterpart of "Les Champs-Élysées" was released by Joe Dassin as a single in 1969, with "Le Chemin de papa" on the B-side.

While "Waterloo Road" enjoyed modest success, "Les Champs-Élysées" entered charts in multiple European countries, and was Number One in some charts (e.g. IFOP's) in August 1969 in France, eventually selling 600,000 copies.

Track listing

7" single (CBS 4281)

  1. "Les Champs-Élysées" (2:40)
  2. "Le Chemin de papa" (2:22)

Charts

Chart (1969) Peak
position
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[3] 16
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[4] 5
West Germany (Official German Charts)[5] 31
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[6] 4

Adaptations

In the same year (1969) the song was covered by Slovene (then Yugoslav) singer Majda Sepe under the title Šuštarski most (Shoemakers bridge in Ljubljana). This cover was itself later covered by a Slovenian punk cover band Odprava zelenega zmaja.

Covered by American punk icons NOFX on their 1997 album So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes

The entire song plays under the closing credits of Wes Anderson's film The Darjeeling Limited (2007).

The melody of Les Champs-Élysées was later used for the television commercial of CJ CheilJedang's dessert brand Petitzel Eclair in 2016, with lyrics sung by I.O.I.

The refrain of the song, accompanied by a yellow bouncing ball over the lyrics, was played during breaks in NBCSN's coverage of the 2018 Tour de France.

In 2018, the song was remade by Paul Pogba and Benjamin Mendy to honor Chelsea Football Club and France National Football Team star N'Golo Kante.[7] This adaptation achieved great popularity in France during the French team's title run in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and also among Kante's teammates.[8]

The song is performed in ninth episode (titled "Evil Patrol") of the third season of the DC Comics television show Doom Patrol episode in 2021 by Riley Shanahan (Ultimax the Brain) and Jonathan Lipow (Monsieur Mallah).

References

  1. ^ "Veteran French Lyricist Pierre Delanoe Dies". Billboard. 29 December 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  2. ^ Éric Neuhoff (11 July 2011). "Les Champs-Élysées de Joe Dassin". Le Figaro. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Joe Dassin – Les Champs-Élysées" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  4. ^ "Joe Dassin – Les Champs-Élysées". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  5. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Joe Dassin – Les Champs-Élysées" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 2020-02-28. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON Joe Dassin"
  6. ^ "Joe Dassin – Les Champs-Élysées" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  7. ^ Rachmanda, Kenchal. "N'golo Kante song". YouTube. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  8. ^ "The Whole Nation of France Singing N'Golo Kante Song!". YouTube. Retrieved 17 May 2020.