MUSIC & SONGS Contents : 1 Oldies 2 Rock and Pop 3 Drinking songs 4 Other songs

Part of Language & Culture

Oldies

                Title                         Author                  Difficulty level       Comments

Aline	Christophe		Did you say summerlove ?!
Mirza	Nino Ferrer		A song for dog rescuers.
Ma liberté	Georges Moustaki		A beautiful song about a man's life and freedom
Les loups sont entrés dans Paris	Serge Reggiani		An original and metaphoric song
Sarah	Serge Reggiani		An homage to a woman who meant a lot to him
Le petit garçon	Serge Reggiani		A man's love for his son
Potemkine	Jean Ferrat		A tragic song for a tragedy
L'aigle noir	Barbara		A crystalline voice, for a song of vision
Les voyages	Barbara		You have a beautiful memory of your last trip to France ? Here's your song.
Mon amie la rose	Marie Laforêt		Tempus fugit
La complainte des infidèles	Mouloudji		She left you. Mouloudji won't bring her back, but you can mourn and vow revenge with this song.
Il n'aurait fallu	Léo Ferré		Originally a poem by Aragon, it becomes a superb song about love and death.
L'albatros	Léo Ferré		The sung  version of one of Baudelaire's masterpieces
Un homme heureux	William Sheller		Timeless song about love and happiness
Fier et fou de vous	William Sheller		The music is a bit out of fashion, but if you've ever loved somebody in vain, the lyrics will sound familiar
Les filles de l'aurore	William Sheller		Typical of Sheller's style.
Il y a deux filles en moi	Sylvie Vartan et Françoise Hardy		A beautiful duo.
L'amour c'est comme les bateaux	Sylvie Vartan		This song gives justice to Sylvie Vartan's voice.
Par amour, par pitié	Sylvie Vartan		A love song from the yéyé period.
Nicolas	Sylvie Vartan		French adaptation of a song from one of Hungarian most famous singer and composer : Mate Peter. Too bad he died so young.
Je veux chanter pour ceux	Michel Berger		An humanitarian song of the 80's
Poupée de cire, poupée de son	France Gall		Typical from the yé yé period, this song launched her career

Rock and Pop

                  Title                         Author                  Difficulty level       Comments       

Un autre monde

Téléphone

A classic rock song of the 80's

Drinking songs

                    Title                         Author                  Difficulty level       Comments       

Fanchon			Indissociable from the French "art de vivre"
Chevalier de la table ronde			Probably the most famous of all wine songs
Ah que nos pères étaient  heureux			A wine song ; nice version with instrument
Tourdion, quand je bois du vin clairet			Two versions : one sounds like a religious song, the second like a medieval song, in the end it's still a wine song
C'est à boire qu'il nous faut			The refrain is a classic, but most people have forgotten the rest of the lyrics...
Il est des nôtres			Famous, but this version with accordion doesn't give the song complete justice ; alas I couldn't fine a nice "vocal only" version (not performed by drunk people...)
51 je t'aime			A song dedicated to the "Pastis", a anis-based alcohol drunk in the South of France.
Ban bourguignon			Ah, la la... Easiest-to-learn lyrics guaranteed

Other songs

        Title                                 Author                  Difficulty level       Comments

Jean Petit qui danse	folkloric		A great folkloric song to learn body parts
Vois sur ton chemin	choral		One of the main song of the French movie "the chorus"
Le café	Oldelaf		You drink coffee at the office ? This funny song should make you smile...
A quoi ça sert l'amour ?	Edith Piag & Theo Sarapo		Is love a waste ?
La pince à linge	Francis Blanche		Beethoven and the clothes peg. Humour stretched to the limit.
La truite	Francis Blanche		If you like fish, and Schubert.
Chanson sans calcium	Les frères Jacques		The only song that is in a worse physical condition than you are.
Bonne humeur	La chanson du dimanche		Minimalist, fun and absurd. French humour...
Bluetooth	La chanson du dimanche		You've got a friend who's a geek ? Or is it you ?
Petit Cheminot	La chanson du dimanche		A French speciality : strike. Come and enjoy it !
Super pouvoir d'achat	La chanson du dimanche		Gimme gimme... what ? Love ? A man after midnight ? Nay, purchasing power !
Aaaah Chiche	La chanson du dimanche		You want to chuck everything up. Time to listen to this one. To get more inspiration...

COMMENTS If you want to share your opinion or start a discussion about this list (for comments about each song, go to the page of the song), or if you have any comments, suggestions or questions, please use the block below. Thank you !