My dear Françoise Hardy, you left last Tuesday to join your friends in their cloud, and since then a shower of testimonies has fallen upon your memory. We present to you the yé-yé icon. You were an icon, but yes, there is room for doubt about that.
I was part of this generation The sixtiesThat's why we associate you with the fashion of the time, but you were more Saint-Germain-des-Prés than Saint-Tropez. Your songs weren't quirky, they were sad. We should classify you with Greco, Brill, and Veret, not with Johnny, Sheila, and Eddie.
You were 17 when you wrote a song full of your DNA, All boys and girls. Your record company believed so little in this title, so much against the tide of the yé-yé wave, that they placed it at the end of their first superfast 45 rpm, banking first and foremost on Oh my love, the French version of the American country rock song. Fortunately, we can always trust the audience to discover hidden gems, and they turned around for the B-side.
All boys and girls my age
Walking down the street, two by two
All boys and girls my age
You know very well what it means to be happy
An eye for an eye and a hand for a hand
They leave in love without fear of tomorrow
Yes, but I walk alone in the streets with a broken spirit
Yes, but I go alone because no one likes me.
A hymn to those left behind. Lonely anthem. Anthem of those who do not fight. If Johnny was the idol of youth, and if Sylvie was the most beautiful one who went dancing, then you, Françoise, were on the other side, on the side of the lost souls.
I understood the dread of the lost person who has not been chosen by anyone, who has the impression that he is alone in the world, and that he is the only one who rejects him.
If we think in the street that all boys and girls walk in pairs, it is because we do not see those who go alone. Loneliness makes you invisible.
Millions of us thought this song was written for us, just for us. She helped us step outside, name our reality, and live our pain. Comment on the verses at the end. This is not a Happy ending. its just Maybe it's over.
I wonder when the day will come
Where an eye for an eye, where hand in hand
I will have a happy heart without fear of tomorrow.
The song doesn't promise anything. She doesn't say this will happen, but just mentioning it helps calm her down. We're not smiling yet, but we've stopped crying.
Photo by Georges Pendreheim, Agence France-Presse archive
Françoise Hardy during the recording of the show A beautiful life In Paris in 1985
This work will always be up to date. When we heard “All the boys and girls my age are walking down the street, two by two…”, in the past, we thought of a boy with a girl, but it could also be a boy with a boy or a girl with a girl. A person who goes alone may look for one or the other.
In the 1960s, lost souls were the people no one went to for a late-night slow dance. Today, they're the ones being “swiped on” on Tinder, but the indifference is still just as painful.
Françoise, you've written a song that will never stop saying out loud what so many people think of themselves.
My personal message is thank you for accompanying me. If there weren't two, your vote was with me.
My universal message is that you are more than just an icon of French song, you are one of the great icons of French song. All boys and girls It was the first pearl, then there was a whole necklace: love time, Good first time of the day, My friend, the rose, personal message, How do I say goodbye to you?, The house where I grew up, what is the point ?, the question, Lots of beautiful things, Leave me a place…
And of course, you are the unforgettable performer of the most beautiful song about friendship I have ever heard, by Jean-Max Rivière and Gerard Bourgeois.
Since your return to the depths of the clouds, I hope you once again smile on many more faces.
“Amateur entrepreneur. Professional internet expert. Zombie maven. Incurable pop culture scholar.”
