Claude François’ mother was very musical and had her son take piano and violin lessons. On his own, the boy learned to play the drums. As a result of the 1956 Suez Crisis, the family returned to live in Monaco, where they struggled financially after Claude’s father fell ill and could not work. A young Claude found a job as a bank clerk and at night earned extra money playing drums with an orchestra at the luxury hotels along the French Riviera. With a good but untested singing voice, he was offered a chance to sing at a hotel in the fashionable Mediterranean resort town of Juan-les-Pins. His show was well received and eventually he began to perform at the glamorous night-clubs along the Côte d’Azur. While working the clubs, he met Janet Woolcoot, an English dancer whom he married in 1960.
Ambitious, Claude François moved to Paris, where there were many more opportunities to pursue his career. At the time, American Rock and Roll was taking hold in France and he took a job as part of a singing group in order to make a living. With the goal of eventually making it as a solo act, he paid the cost to record a 45rpm. Trying to capitalize on the American dance craze « The Twist », Claude François recorded a song titled « Nabout Twist » that proved a resounding failure. Undaunted, in 1962 he recorded a cover version in French of an Everly Brothers song, « Made to Love » (aka Girls Girls Girls). Written by Phil Everly, it had been only a minor hit in America, but Claude François’ rendition titled « Belles Belles Belles » rocked to the top of the French charts, selling close to two million copies and making him an overnight star.
Under a new manager, Claude François’ career continued to blossom. In 1963 he followed the first success with another French adaptation of an American song. This time, doing Trini Lopez’s « If I Had a Hammer » in French as « Si j’avais un marteau ». Claude François met Michel Bourdais who was working for the well-known French magazine “Salut les Copains” in English as « Hi Buddies ». He liked the rigor and the precision of Michel’s drawings and asked him to draw his portrait. This drawing has remained very famous until now. Capitalizing on his blond good looks, he mimicked Elvis Presley’s stage style as well as the slicked-back hair. Performing in sequined suits, François gave high-energy stage performances that had hordes of adoring teenage fans racing to the music shops to purchase his latest record or lining up to buy a ticket for his shows.
In 1964 he headlined at the Paris Olympia, a sign that he had arrived. At the end of that year Claude François created original new dance steps and Michel Bourdais drew them. For the first time, they brought up the idea of setting-up a show with female dancers. In January 1965, while returning from a trip to Las Vegas, Claude Francois fascinated by the American shows decided to take them as a model and eventually the project of performing on the stage with a female dancer band became clear in his mind.
A dedicated professional, Claude François worked hard to achieve success producing a string of massively popular hit songs and touring constantly. With the onslaught of Beatlemania, he covered their hits in French, adjusted the hair style a little and kept his success moving ahead. But his talent extended beyond copying the works others had made famous, and he wrote songs for himself and displayed a melodic voice doing romantic ballads.
In 1966, François created a complete new stage act using four female dancers as backup. Named « Les Clodettes, » the sexy girls danced in the background while François did his own energetic work center stage. In a return to the Paris Olympia he added eight musicians and a full orchestra to his backup dancers, putting on a spectacular show that filled every seat in the large theater and left fans standing in the street for lack of tickets.
Divorced from his wife, in 1967 he began a relationship with France Gall, another famous French singer. Their affair was short lived and he soon met Isabelle Forêt, with whom he had two sons in two years. Flushed with enormous success and confidence, he established his own record company. In 1968, he and Jacques Revaux wrote a song in French called Comme d’habitude, which became a hit in francophone countries. The song was inspired by his recent break-up with France Gall. Canadian singing star Paul Anka reworked it for the English-speaking public into the now legendary hit most famously sung by Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra as « My Way ». Although Claude François continued his successful formula of adapting English and American rock and roll hits for the French market, by the 1970s the market had changed and the disco craze that swept North America took root in France. For the versatile François, this was not a problem. He simply re-invented himself as the king of French disco, recording « La plus belle des choses, » a French version of a Bee Gees hit record.
He worked non-stop, touring across Europe, Africa and at major venues in Quebec in Canada. However, his workload caught up with him in 1971 when he collapsed on stage from exhaustion. After a brief period off, he returned to the recording studios, releasing several best-selling hits throughout the early 1970s. He expanded from owning his own record company to acquiring a celebrity magazine and a modeling agency. Although driven to achieve financial success, in 1974 he organized a concert to raise funds for a charity for handicapped children and the following year he participated in a Paris concert to raise funds for medical research. By the mid-1970s he was single again, dating several well-known European stars. He continued to perform while overseeing his numerous business interests. In 1975, while in London, he narrowly escaped death when an IRA bomb exploded and two years later a fan tried to shoot him. In 1977 and 1978, more than 15 years after his first hit record, he was still topping the musical charts with multi-million sales from hits such as « Alexandrie Alexandra » and performing to large audiences.
After working in Switzerland, on Saturday, March 11, 1978 he returned to his Paris apartment in order to appear the next day on « Rendez-vous du Dimanche » with TV host Michel Drucker. His demise was caused by his obsession with cleanliness and order. He was accidentally electrocuted when he tried to fix a broken light bulb while standing in a filled bathtub. At only 39 years of age, his early death brought a wave of public sympathy for a national French star.
Claude François owned a home near the village of Dannemois in the Essonne departement about 35 miles south of Paris. It was a place where he liked to escape to relax in the quiet countryside and it was there that he was interred in the local cemetery.
On March 11, 2000, on the 22nd anniversary of his death, Place Claude-François in Paris was named in his memory, right in front of the building where he died.
In 2004 the movie 'Podium' was released. It's a story about a Claude François impersonator (played by Benoît Poelvoorde).
His hits include Alexandrie, Alexandra; Cette Année-la; Je vais à Rio.
Belles Belles Belles
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
J'te vois sortir le soir
À ton âge il y a des choses
Qu'un garçon doit savoir
Les filles, tu sais, méfie-toi
C'est pas c'que tu crois
Elles sont toutes
Belles, belles, belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Plus fou d'elles, d'elles, d'elles de jour en jour
Et puis des filles de plus en plus
Tu vas en rencontrer
Peut-être même qu'un soir
Tu oublieras de rentrer
Plus t'en verras, plus t'en auras
Et plus tu comprendras
Dans ces moments, tu te souviendras
Que ton vieux père disait
Elles sont toutes
Belles, belles, belles comme le jour
Belles, belles, belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Plus fou d'elles, d'elles, d'elles de jour en jour
Un jour enfin tu la verras
Tu n'peux pas te tromper
Tu voudras lui dire "je t'aime"
Mais tu n'pourras plus parler
En un clin d'œil vous s'rez unis
Pour le pire et le meilleur
Mais tu tiendras là, le vrai bonheur
Aux yeux de ton cœur
Elle sera
Belle, belle, belle comme le jour
Belle, belle, belle comme l'amour
Comme j'ai dit à ta maman
Tu lui diras en l'embrassant
Tu es belle, belle, belle comme le jour
Belle, belle, belle comme l'amour
Belle, belle, belle comme le jour
The song "Belles belles belles" by Claude François depicts a conversation between a father and his son about girls. The father warns his son, advising him to be cautious of the opposite sex, to not fall into the trap of being obsessed with girls. Throughout the song, the father uses the phrase "elles sont toutes belles" which translates to "they are all beautiful." This is a hyperbole which the father uses to emphasize his point - that all girls, regardless of their appearance, are capable of breaking a guy's heart.
The chorus of the song - "Belles belles belles comme le jour, Belles belles belles comme l'amour" - means "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful as the day, Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful as love." This means that in spite of the warning posed by the father, Claude François believes that girls are still something to be desired, that they are just as beautiful as the idea of love itself. The song ends on an optimistic note, with the father advising his son that he will meet someone who will make him forget all other girls in the past, and he should hold onto her tight.
Overall, this song is a cautionary tale about being careful when it comes to love and relationships, but still being optimistic because love is just as beautiful as the day.
Line by Line Meaning
Un jour mon père me dit fiston
One day my father said to me, son
J'te vois sortir le soir
I see you go out at night
À ton âge il y a des choses
At your age, there are things
Qu'un garçon doit savoir
That a boy must know
Les filles, tu sais, méfie-toi
Girls, you know, be careful
C'est pas c'que tu crois
It's not what you think
Elles sont toutes
They are all
Belles, belles, belles comme le jour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like the day
Belles, belles, belles comme l'amour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like love
Elles te rendront fou de joie
They will make you crazy with joy
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Crazy with pain but believe me
Plus fou d'elles, d'elles, d'elles de jour en jour
Crazier for them, for them, day by day
Et puis des filles de plus en plus
And then more and more girls
Tu vas en rencontrer
You will meet
Peut-être même qu'un soir
Maybe even one night
Tu oublieras de rentrer
You will forget to come home
Plus t'en verras, plus t'en auras
The more you see them, the more you will have
Et plus tu comprendras
And the more you will understand
Dans ces moments, tu te souviendras
In those moments, you will remember
Que ton vieux père disait
What your old father said
Un jour enfin tu la verras
One day you will finally see her
Tu n'peux pas te tromper
You cannot be mistaken
Tu voudras lui dire "je t'aime"
You will want to tell her "I love you"
Mais tu n'pourras plus parler
But you will no longer be able to speak
En un clin d'œil vous s'rez unis
In the blink of an eye, you will be united
Pour le pire et le meilleur
For better or for worse
Mais tu tiendras là, le vrai bonheur
But there, you will hold true happiness
Aux yeux de ton cœur
In the eyes of your heart
Elle sera
She will be
Belle, belle, belle comme le jour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like the day
Belle, belle, belle comme l'amour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like love
Comme j'ai dit à ta maman
As I said to your mother
Tu lui diras en l'embrassant
You will tell her while kissing her
Tu es belle, belle, belle comme le jour
You are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like the day
Belle, belle, belle comme l'amour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like love
Belle, belle, belle comme le jour
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful like the day
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, SONY ATV MUSIC PUBLISHING FRANCE
Written by: Phil Everly, Vline Buggy
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
la chaine des media 2.0
les parole de la musique:
Un jour mon père me dit: fiston
J'te vois sortir le soir
A ton âge il y a des choses
Qu'un garçon doit savoir
Les filles, tu sais, méfie-toi
C'est pas c'que tu crois
Elles sont toutes
Belles belles belles comme le jour
Belles belles belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Mais plus fou d'elles de jour en jour
Puis des filles de plus en plus
Tu vas en rencontrer
Peut-être même qu'un soir
Tu oublieras de rentrer
Plus t'en verras, plus t'en auras
Et plus tu comprendras
Dans ces moments, tu te souviendras
Que ton vieux père disait:
Elles sont toutes
Belles belles belles comme le jour
Belles belles belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Plus fou d'elles d'elles, d'elles de jour en jour
Un jour enfin tu la verras
Tu n'peux pas te tromper
Tu voudras lui dire "je t'aime"
Mais tu n'pourras plus parler
En un clin d'œil vous s'rez unis
Pour le pire et le meilleur
Mais tu tiendras là le vrai bonheur
Aux yeux de ton cœur
Elle sera
Belle belle belle comme le jour
Belle belle belle comme l'amour
Comme j'ai dit à ta maman
Tu lui diras en l'embrassant:
Tu es, belle belle belle comme le jour
Belle belle belle comme l'amour
Belle belle belle comme le jour
Laurence Cordone Zabalza
chaque fois que j'écoute cette chanson je pense à mes parents qui avaient 20 ans quand cette chanson est sortie et qui l' écoutaient tout le temps.. à cette époque c'étaient eux les jeunes..
Florian Allard
Ils avaient de la chance vos parents ! C'était la belle époque de salut les copains aujourd'hui les jeunes écoutent des trucs pourris et complètement débiles !
Hamidou Lancelot
@Florian Allard nous les jeune n'écoutons pas des choses pourri mais d'un autre style et d'une autre génération tout aussi bien
jo le mareval
@Florian Allard
Le rap
😂
Jean-Pierre DE GIETER
@Florian Allard OUI on a eu de la chance de connaître les années 60. Cette chanson était à la mode lors de ma première surprise partIE;
la chaine des media 2.0
les parole de la musique:
Un jour mon père me dit: fiston
J'te vois sortir le soir
A ton âge il y a des choses
Qu'un garçon doit savoir
Les filles, tu sais, méfie-toi
C'est pas c'que tu crois
Elles sont toutes
Belles belles belles comme le jour
Belles belles belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Mais plus fou d'elles de jour en jour
Puis des filles de plus en plus
Tu vas en rencontrer
Peut-être même qu'un soir
Tu oublieras de rentrer
Plus t'en verras, plus t'en auras
Et plus tu comprendras
Dans ces moments, tu te souviendras
Que ton vieux père disait:
Elles sont toutes
Belles belles belles comme le jour
Belles belles belles comme l'amour
Elles te rendront fou de joie
Fou de douleur mais crois-moi
Plus fou d'elles d'elles, d'elles de jour en jour
Un jour enfin tu la verras
Tu n'peux pas te tromper
Tu voudras lui dire "je t'aime"
Mais tu n'pourras plus parler
En un clin d'œil vous s'rez unis
Pour le pire et le meilleur
Mais tu tiendras là le vrai bonheur
Aux yeux de ton cœur
Elle sera
Belle belle belle comme le jour
Belle belle belle comme l'amour
Comme j'ai dit à ta maman
Tu lui diras en l'embrassant:
Tu es, belle belle belle comme le jour
Belle belle belle comme l'amour
Belle belle belle comme le jour
Clarisse Maloisel
Ah ouais tu ma connait vraiment
amandine lonchamp
Claude François est unique et irremplaçable.
Judith B.
Ouii ❤️❤️
Les B
Y a-t-il quelqu'un qui l'écoute comme moi en 2019 et pleure parce qu'il sait que ces temps ne reviendront plus ❤😭. Pure Nostalgie ❤❣🎵🎶🎶