Tous les garçons et les filles

"Tous les garçons et les filles" (English: "All the Boys and Girls") is a song by French singer-songwriter Françoise Hardy, with Roger Samyn credited as co-writer on Hardy's original 1962 yé-yé-era recording. The song recounts the feelings of a young person who has never known love and her envy of the couples that surround her. Hardy's single, released internationally, was a massive hit in France, where it spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at number one (four separate runs) between late October 1962 and mid-April 1963.

Contact avec Françoise Hardy
The debut on 45 rpm (1st French edition)
EP by
ReleasedJune 1962[1]
RecordedStudio Vogue, Villetaneuse, France
GenreChanson, Yé-yé
Length3:07
LabelDisques Vogue
ProducerJacques Wolfsohn
"Tous les garçons et les filles"
B-side under paper sleeve[2]
Single by Françoise Hardy
from the album Françoise Hardy
A-side"J'suis d'accord"
Released1962
GenreFrench pop
Length5:05
LabelDisques Vogue
Songwriter(s)Françoise Hardy, Roger Samyn
Music video
"Tous les garçons et les filles" (French TV, 1964) on YouTube

Background

edit

Hardy performed the song in a telecast on the evening of Sunday 28 October 1962 in a musical interlude during the results of the 1962 referendum to allow direct election of the president of the French Republic.[3] The record quickly became a success, selling 500,000 copies by the end of the year. In Italy the Italian version sold 255,000 while French version sold 140,000 copies.[4]

Françoise Hardy also recorded the song in English ("Find Me a Boy", 1964), Italian ("Quelli della mia età", 1962; collected in Françoise Hardy canta per voi in italiano, 1963), and German ("Peter und Lou", 1963; collected in In Deutschland, 1965.)

Jimmy Page participated in the recording session as a session musician.[5]

The song is quoted several times by the main characters in J.L. Carr's 1988 novel What Hetty Did.

Charts

edit
Weekly chart performance for “Tous le garçons et les filles”
Chart (1962–64) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] 11
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[6] 1
France (IFOP)[7] 1
Germany (Media Control)[6] 20
Italy (Musica e dischi)[8] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 4
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 36

EP track list

edit
Side A
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Oh oh chéri" (original title "Uh Oh")Bobby Lee Trammell, ad. by Jil and Jan.[10]Bobby Lee Trammell2:20
2."Il est parti un jour"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn1:47
Side B
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."J’suis d’accord"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn2:00
2."Tous les garçons et les filles"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn3:05

SP track listing

edit
Side A
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."J’suis d’accord"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn2:00
Side B
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Tous les garçons et les filles"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn3:05

Cover versions

edit

The song has been covered by many artists in many languages, including:

Movie soundtracks

edit

"Tous les garçons et les filles"

edit

"Find Me a Boy"

edit

-All These Sleepless Nights-

References

edit
  1. ^ 45 rpm presented on French television (RTF) on June 5th, 1962, few days before its setting on sale in the record stores [1]
  2. ^ In the Sixties the singles were not marketed in France. These discs were exclusively intended to the owners of bar and Café having a jukebox and for promotion near the media.
  3. ^ Françoise Hardy, Le Désespoir des singes… et autres bagatelles, éd. Robert Laffont, Paris, 2008, p. 49.
  4. ^ Ruscitto, Germano (7 October 1967). "Vogue 20th Anniversary Special". Billboard. p. 48. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 28 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Christophe Le Pabic, Benoît Pascal, Led Zeppelin and related : hexagonal experiences, p. 60-61, 1997 ISBN 2-9512068-0-1, notice BnF No. 370660648
  6. ^ a b c d "Françoise Hardy – Tous les garçons et les filles". hitparade.ch.
  7. ^ Archives on "InfoDisc" site Archived 2010-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Top Annuali Singoli 1963". Hit Parade Italia.
  9. ^ "TOUS LES GARCONS ET LES FILLES by FRANCOISE HARDY". Official Charts Company.
  10. ^ Pseudonyms of Gilbert Guenet and Jean Setti, cousins of Jacques Wolfsohn; they wrote some successful songs for Johnny Hallyday.
  11. ^ Partial source: site officiel de Françoise Hardy Archived 2007-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Video on YouTube
  13. ^ Video on YouTube
  14. ^ CD, The Misadventures of Saint Etienne, released only in Japan, 1999, it served as the soundtrack