The song “Requiem pour un fou”, performed by Johnny Hallyday, arouses controversy. For a feminist collective, certain passages of the title released in 1976 would be an apology for femicide.
The song Requiem for a Madman by Johnny Hallyday is at the center of a controversy, due to certain passages. A feminist collective accuses the lyrics of glorifying femicide, citing phrases like “I loved her so much and to keep her, I killed her.” or even “For a great love to always live, it must die, it dies of love.” Deemed intolerable, these words led the collective, based in Saint-Omer, to consider disrupting the arrival of David Hallyday, who covers this title in his tour across France.
Did the song provoke reactions when it was released?
Yes, but they were not negative! The song, released in 1976, was an immediate success, reaching number one on the charts and selling over 500,000 copies. It even returned to the top listens when Johnny died in December 2017. No controversy surrounded the song in 1976; it was only in 2021 that it provoked the first criticism.
The controversy was sparked by a Nagui show, in which a candidate performed the song. Some Internet users were outraged on Twitter, deeming it inappropriate to hear words evoking domestic violence during prime time. Nagui recalled that the song was fiction.
In 2022, the controversy is relaunched, this time in the context of the case involving a deputy from the La France Insoumise group, convicted of domestic violence. Jean-Luc Mélenchon had expressed his compassion for Adrien Quatennens, without mentioning the victim, which aroused the indignation of feminist movements.
On this occasion, Bertrand Dicale, in his column These songs that make the news on France Info, established a parallel between the words of Requiem for a Madman and the tweet from Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He explained that when Johnny sings “I loved her so much that to keep her, I killed her.”this can give the impression that the murderer’s act is justified, by making the victim the one who “drove mad” the man who killed her.
This representation of the aggressor as a victim is what arouses the anger of feminists, particularly in Pas-de-Calais.
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Johnny Hallyday controversial feminism song
