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.
Le Jouet Extraordinaire
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Un jour que j'étais très gentil, mon père me rapporta
Un jouet extraordinaire, avec de gros yeux verts
Je l'ai pris dans mes bras mais quand je l'ai posé par terre
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
Tout étonné la première fois, quand je l'ai retourné
J'ai vu qu'il avait sur le ventre deux gros boutons dorés
J'ai poussé l'un et l'autre après, puis les ai tirés tous les deux
Mais quand je l'ai reposé par terre, j'ai ouvert de grands yeux
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
Il marcha comme un militaire, tout à coup il s'assit
Il passa sous une chaise et puis, soudain disparut sous le lit
J'ai pleuré tandis que mon père, lui, riait aux éclats
Car en me retournant, je vis le jouet qui était derrière moi
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
Les années ont passé trop vite, et justement hier
Dans le grenier j'ai retrouvé ce jouet extraordinaire
J'ai appelé mon petit garçon, et le lui ai offert
Il était vieux et tout rouillé, mais quand on l'a posé par terre
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
The song "Le Jouet Extraordinaire" by Claude François is about a young boy who is given an extraordinary toy by his father. The toy makes strange sounds like "Zip" when it rolls, "Bap" when it turns, and "Brrr" when it walks. Despite the boy's attempts to discover what it is and how it works, he is never able to figure it out. Eventually, the boy loses the toy, but many years later, he finds it in the attic and gives it to his own son, who also finds it to be an extraordinary toy.
The song can be interpreted as a metaphor for childhood innocence and wonder. The toy represents the magic and mystery that children often experience in the world around them. The fact that the boy is never able to figure out what the toy is can be seen as a symbol for the fact that some things in life cannot be fully understood and remain mysterious and wondrous.
In addition to its lyrical meaning, "Le Jouet Extraordinaire" is notable for being one of Claude François's most famous songs. It was released in 1978 and became an instant hit in France and throughout the Francophone world. The song has been covered by many artists over the years, and it remains a beloved classic of French pop music.
Line by Line Meaning
Quand j'étais un petit garçon, plein de vie et de joie
When I was a young boy, full of life and joy
Un jour que j'étais très gentil, mon père me rapporta
One day when I was very kind, my father brought me
Un jouet extraordinaire, avec de gros yeux verts
An extraordinary toy, with big green eyes
Je l'ai pris dans mes bras mais quand je l'ai posé par terre
I held it in my arms but when I put it down
Il faisait 'Zip' quand il roulait,
It made a 'Zip' sound when it rolled,
'Bap' quand il tournait
'Bap' when it turned
'Brrr' quand il marchait
'Brrr' when it walked
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
I don't know what it was
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
And I believe I will never know
Tout étonné la première fois, quand je l'ai retourné
Completely surprised the first time, when I turned it over
J'ai vu qu'il avait sur le ventre deux gros boutons dorés
I saw that it had two big golden buttons on its belly
J'ai poussé l'un et l'autre après, puis les ai tirés tous les deux
I pushed one and then the other, then pulled them both
Mais quand je l'ai reposé par terre, j'ai ouvert de grands yeux
But when I put it back down, I opened my eyes wide
Il marcha comme un militaire, tout à coup il s'assit
It marched like a soldier, then suddenly sat down
Il passa sous une chaise et puis, soudain disparut sous le lit
It went under a chair and suddenly disappeared under the bed
J'ai pleuré tandis que mon père, lui, riait aux éclats
I cried while my father laughed loudly
Car en me retournant, je vis le jouet qui était derrière moi
Because when I turned around, I saw the toy behind me
Les années ont passé trop vite, et justement hier
The years passed too quickly, and just yesterday
Dans le grenier j'ai retrouvé ce jouet extraordinaire
I found this extraordinary toy in the attic
J'ai appelé mon petit garçon, et le lui ai offert
I called my little boy and gave it to him
Il était vieux et tout rouillé, mais quand on l'a posé par terre
It was old and rusty, but when we put it down
Il faisait 'Zip' quand il roulait,
It made a 'Zip' sound when it rolled,
'Bap' quand il tournait
'Bap' when it turned
'Brrr' quand il marchait
'Brrr' when it walked
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
I don't know what it was
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
And I believe I will never know
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@lukehopps780
Couplet 1
Quand j'étais un petit garçon, plein de vie et de joie
Un jour que j'étais très gentil, mon père me rapporta
Un jouet extraordinaire, avec de gros yeux verts
Je l'ai pris dans mes bras mais quand je l'ai posé par terre
Refrain
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
Couplet 2
Tout étonné la première fois, quand je l'ai retourné
J'ai vu qu'il avait sur le ventre deux gros boutons dorés
J'ai poussé l'un et l'autre après, puis les ai tirés tous les deux
Mais quand je l'ai reposé par terre, j'ai ouvert de grands yeux
Refrain : ...........
Couplet 3
Il marcha comme un militaire, tout à coup il s'assit
Il passa sous une chaise et puis, soudain disparut sous le lit
J'ai pleuré tandis que mon père, lui, riait aux éclats
Car en me retournant, je vis le jouet qui était derrière moi
Refrain : ...........
Couplet 4
Les années ont passé trop vite, et justement hier
Dans le grenier j'ai retrouvé ce jouet extraordinaire
J'ai appelé mon petit garçon, et le lui ai offert
Il était vieux et tout rouillé, mais quand on l'a posé par terre
Refrain
Il faisait "Zip" quand il roulait,
"Bap" quand il tournait
"Brrr" quand il marchait
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
Je ne sais pas ce que c'était
Et je crois que je ne le saurai jamais
@rodolphetuveri8923
Né en 94, j ai découvert cette chanson dans les petites cassettes qu on mettait en voiture. Je l ai adorée 😄
J en écoutais plein. Ptet que je la ferai écouter dans ma classe de maternelle 🤔😄
@nadegesimon5721
Je le chantait avec mon pere et ma mère super souvenirs
@dagostinoification
Merci !
@albertgrosjean2305
Quel beau cadeau pour Noël
😊🎉🎉🎉
@user-rr4df3ny1b
Et oui mon papa son âme est. Monter au cieux et magique j ai. Eu mon. Fils❤
@annickrouthier4437
Superbe chanson bravo cloclo
@nicolasdecaro7923
Très belle chanson
@sandrinelaunay3819
Nous allons la chenter a la fête de l'ecole🎉
@danielbeyssac6748
une merveille
@felicia9158
Cette chanson est pour les enfants
C'est logique il y a des enfants dériere
Jolie chanson