Une Petite Française
Encyclopedia
"Une petite française" was the Monegasque
entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977
, performed in French
by French
singer Michèle Torr.
This was Torr's second Eurovision entry, she had first represented Luxembourg
in 1966
with "Ce soir je t'attendais
", then finishing in 10th position.
The song was composed by Olivier Toussaint
and Paul de Senneville
, a very successful team whose compositions were recorded by major French singers such as Michel Polnareff
, Christophe
, Dalida
, Petula Clark
, Claude François
and Mireille Mathieu
all through the 60s and 70s. In 1976 they had written Richard Clayderman
's multimillion-selling instrumental "Ballade pour Adeline
".
"Une petite française" is a mid-tempo ballad, with Torr describing herself as an average Frenchwoman, rather than the cosmopolitan types more commonly associated with that country. She confides that she is no Marilyn
, she never reads about her own life in the magazines, she doesn't own a Rolls
, she doesn't consider herself an idol, she hasn't read Pascal
, she rarely visits Paris, she hasn't changed her name, she leads a quiet provincial life with her children - she just happens to be country girl from Provence
who likes to sing. She asks her audience to be the judge of whether she should have left her home for a career in music.
Torr recorded the song in five languages; French, Italian
("La mia canzone", translated: "My Song"), Spanish
(with the same title as the French original, "Une petite française"), German
("Die schönsten Blumen blühen auf dem Land", translated: "The Most Beautiful Flowers Bloom in the Countryside") and English
("I'm Just a Simple Country Girl from France").
The song was performed second on the night, following Ireland
's The Swarbriggs Plus Two
with "It's Nice To Be In Love Again
" and preceding the Netherlands
' Heddy Lester
with "De mallemolen
". At the close of voting, it had received 96 points, placing 4th in a field of 18.
It was succeeded as Monegasque representative
at the 1978 Contest
by Caline & Olivier Toussaint
with "Les jardins de Monaco
".
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition series, and was held on 7 May 1977 in London. With Angela Rippon as the presenter, the contest was won by Marie Myriam who represented France, with her song "L'oiseau et l'enfant" . This was France's fifth victory, a record, which was equalled...
, performed in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
singer Michèle Torr.
This was Torr's second Eurovision entry, she had first represented Luxembourg
Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest
Luxembourg was one of the countries to participate in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.From their debut to 1993 Luxembourg competed frequently in the Contest, being absent from the contest once during this period...
in 1966
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition and was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was originally created in this year. This was possibly created due to the 1965 Swedish entry, "Absent...
with "Ce soir je t'attendais
Ce Soir Je T'Attendais
Ce soir je t'attendais was the Luxembourgish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1966, performed in French by French singer Michèle Torr....
", then finishing in 10th position.
The song was composed by Olivier Toussaint
Olivier Toussaint
Olivier Toussaint is a French composer, pop singer, orchestra arranger, company manager, and record producer.-Early life:He was born in Paris, in a family of classical musicians. His great-grandfather, Gilbert Duprez was a very well known Opera singer...
and Paul de Senneville
Paul de Senneville
Paul de Senneville is a French melody composer and a music producer.-Career:He began his career as a journalist working for big French newspapers such as France Soir...
, a very successful team whose compositions were recorded by major French singers such as Michel Polnareff
Michel Polnareff
Michel Polnareff, born in Nérac on 3 July 1944, is a French singer-songwriter who was very popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s...
, Christophe
Christophe (singer)
Christophe is a French singer and songwriter. He was born Daniel Bevilacqua on 13 October 1945 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, Essonne to Italian parents....
, Dalida
Dalida
Dalida , born with Italian name of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, was a world-famous singer and actress born in Egypt with Italian origins but naturalised French with the name Yolanda Gigliotti. She spent her early years in Egypt amongst the Italian Egyptian community, but she lived most of her adult...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, Claude François
Claude François
Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...
and Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille Mathieu is a French chanteuse, and pop singer. Hailed in the French press as the successor to Édith Piaf, she has achieved great commercial success, recording over 1200 songs in nine different languages, with more than 120 million records sold worldwide.-Childhood to early...
all through the 60s and 70s. In 1976 they had written Richard Clayderman
Richard Clayderman
Richard Clayderman is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville and Olivier Toussaint, instrumental renditions of popular music, rearrangements of movie soundtracks, ethnic music, and easy-listening arrangements of most popular works of...
's multimillion-selling instrumental "Ballade pour Adeline
Ballade pour Adeline
"Ballade pour Adeline" is a 1976 instrumental composed by Paul de Senneville and Olivier Toussaint. Paul de Senneville composed the piece as a tribute to his newborn daughter, Adeline. The first recording was by Richard Clayderman and world-wide sales now have reached 22 million copies in 38...
".
"Une petite française" is a mid-tempo ballad, with Torr describing herself as an average Frenchwoman, rather than the cosmopolitan types more commonly associated with that country. She confides that she is no Marilyn
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, she never reads about her own life in the magazines, she doesn't own a Rolls
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
, she doesn't consider herself an idol, she hasn't read Pascal
Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal , was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic philosopher. He was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen...
, she rarely visits Paris, she hasn't changed her name, she leads a quiet provincial life with her children - she just happens to be country girl from Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
who likes to sing. She asks her audience to be the judge of whether she should have left her home for a career in music.
Torr recorded the song in five languages; French, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
("La mia canzone", translated: "My Song"), Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
(with the same title as the French original, "Une petite française"), German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
("Die schönsten Blumen blühen auf dem Land", translated: "The Most Beautiful Flowers Bloom in the Countryside") and English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
("I'm Just a Simple Country Girl from France").
The song was performed second on the night, following Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
's The Swarbriggs Plus Two
The Swarbriggs
Thomas Sheridan and John James Swarbrigg are Irish music promoters and former pop musicians. As The Swarbriggs they represented Ireland at the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest with That's What Friends Are For. As The Swarbriggs Plus Two, with Nicola Kerr and Alma Carroll, they competed again in 1977...
with "It's Nice To Be In Love Again
It's Nice To Be In Love Again
"It's Nice to Be in Love Again" was the Irish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by The Swarbriggs Plus Two.The song is a moderately up-tempo number, with the band singing about the joy felt by someone in love again...
" and preceding the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
' Heddy Lester
Heddy Lester
Heddy Lester is a Dutch singer and actress, best known outside the Netherlands for her participation in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest.- Early career :...
with "De mallemolen
De Mallemolen
"De mallemolen" was the Dutch entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in Dutch by Heddy Lester. The song was composed by Lester's brother Frank Affolter, with lyrics by Wim Hogenkamp....
". At the close of voting, it had received 96 points, placing 4th in a field of 18.
It was succeeded as Monegasque representative
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
Monaco first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959. The country's first and only win in the contest came in 1971, when Séverine performed "Un banc, un arbre, une rue". In 1972 Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined...
at the 1978 Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd of its kind, and was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris. With Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone as the presenters - the first time more than one presenter hosted the contest - the contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented Israel, with their...
by Caline & Olivier Toussaint
Olivier Toussaint
Olivier Toussaint is a French composer, pop singer, orchestra arranger, company manager, and record producer.-Early life:He was born in Paris, in a family of classical musicians. His great-grandfather, Gilbert Duprez was a very well known Opera singer...
with "Les jardins de Monaco
Les Jardins De Monaco
"Les jardins de Monaco" was the Monegasque entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, performed in French by French duo Caline & Olivier Toussaint....
".