The life of a song and its sometimes astonishing rewritings.
Joe Dassin (1969)
Broadcast by the sound system, played by the DJs, chanted at the top of their lungs by the public, but also by the people present (see Anne Hidalgo) during the various ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Joe Dassin’s saw has experienced a new lease of life this summer thanks (or because of… it’s up to you) to the event’s musical director, Victor Le Masne. Having become a unifying anthem, this song is in reality an adaptation in French by the essential Pierre Delanoë of Waterloo Road by the obscure English group Jason Crest, released in 1968. Initially, it only appeared on the B side of a 45 rpm record whose A side wase Papa’s Way. It is however The Champs Elysées which became the hit of the album of the same name. A global success thanks to interpretations of Dassin in German, Italian, Japanese and even English. The circle is closed.
NOFX (1997)
We understand why the American alternative press has often described these Californians as “the funniest band in rock’n’roll.” Just listen to this frankly hilarious cover where the sassy singer Fat Mike seems to make gigantic efforts to bellow Pierre Delanoë’s text with a minimum of accent. And meanwhile, these debonair comrades joyfully knit metal punk riffs, while a trumpet illuminates the chorus. Downright schoolboy. And that’s what bothers the proponents of a certain hardcore orthodoxy in relation to this Los Angeles gang which looks like a big joke. But wasn’t this the case for all the groups of this generation, Green Day, The Offspring or Weezer? Ah, we knew how to laugh back then. Note that the cover was one of the jubilant moments of their 2019 concert at the Elysée-Montmartre in Paris. Logic.
