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.
Quand Un Bateau Passe
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quand un train siffle
Quand un avion s'envole dans le ciel
Moi j'imagine tous ces départs
Tous ces gens qui doivent partir
Qui se séparent
Qui se déchirent
Quand un train siffle
Quand un avion s'envole dans le ciel
Moi je revois ce matin triste
Où en partant tu disais
L'été prochain je reviendrai
Et depuis ce jour sous le soleil brûlant
Lamentablement moi je t'attends
Trois été déjà sont revenus
Je suis là comme je t'avais promis
Mais où es-tu?
Mais où es-tu?
Mais où es-tu?
Quand un bateau passe
Quand un train siffle
Quand un avion s'envole dans le ciel
Amèrement moi je me dis
Que si ils n'existaient pas
Peut-être alors
Serais-tu là
Quand un bateau passe
Quand un train siffle
Quand un avion s'envole dans le ciel
J'espère encore
J'espère toujours
Que bateaux, trains et avions
Qui t'emmenaient
Te ramèneront
Quand
"Quand Un Bateau Passe" is a French song by Claude François that was released in 1971. The song talks about the pain of separation and the longing to reunite with a loved one. The lyrics describe how every time a boat passes, a train whistle blows, or a plane takes off, the singer imagines all the people who are leaving and separating from their loved ones. The chorus repeats the phrase "Mais où es-tu?" (But where are you?), which shows the singer's desperation and confusion about the whereabouts of their partner.
The second verse of the song describes the singer's personal experience of separation. They remember the sad morning when their loved one left, promising to return the following summer. However, three summers have passed since then, and the singer is still waiting for their return under the scorching sun. The repetition of "Mais où es-tu?" in the chorus becomes even more poignant, highlighting the singer's sense of loneliness and abandonment.
The last verse reveals the singer's hope that the same boats, planes, and trains that took their loved one away will bring them back home. The song ends on a note of ambiguity, leaving it up to the listener to decide whether the reunion will happen or not.
Overall, "Quand Un Bateau Passe" is a poignant and reflective song that captures the pain of separation and the hope for a happy reunion with a loved one.
Line by Line Meaning
Quand un bateau passe
When a boat passes by
Quand un train siffle
When a train whistles
Quand un avion s'envole dans le ciel
When a plane flies off into the sky
Moi j'imagine tous ces départs
I imagine all these departures
Tous ces gens qui doivent partir
All these people who must leave
Qui se séparent
Who are separating
Qui se déchirent
Who are tearing apart
Moi je revois ce matin triste
I see again this sad morning
Où en partant tu disais
Where, when leaving, you said
L'été prochain je reviendrai
Next summer, I will come back
Et depuis ce jour sous le soleil brûlant
And since that day under the scorching sun
Lamentablement moi je t'attends
Lamentably, I am waiting for you
Trois été déjà sont revenus
Three summers have already passed
Je suis là comme je t'avais promis
I am here as I promised
Mais où es-tu?
But where are you?
Amèrement moi je me dis
Bitterly, I tell myself
Que si ils n'existaient pas
That if they didn't exist
Peut-être alors
Maybe then
Serais-tu là
You would be here
J'espère encore
I still hope
J'espère toujours
I always hope
Que bateaux, trains et avions
That boats, trains, and planes
Qui t'emmenaient
That took you away
Te ramèneront
Will bring you back
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: BURT BACHARACH, HAL DAVID, BURT F. BACHARACH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@christianebonnaves5783
Merci pour le souvenir de mes départs en colonie de vacances en 1963/64 , douce nostalgie merci du fond du cœur 💓
@abassoubottbassabibonfoh9632
Cette triste et douce chanson me rappelle mon adolescence au collège moderne de sokode en 1962 sous un Principal Français de Carcaconne.
@thierryvillette753
Une de mes préférées du grand Claude
@babettebeaumont7877
J'adore cette chanson, elle me fait penser à mon frère qui me manque éperdument. Il aurait u 71 ans an mars ,il a rejoint les anges beaucoup beaucoup trop tôt
@frouzine1
Merci pour cette magnifique vidéo qui comme toutes les chansons de CLAUDE fait remonter tant de souvenirs !!!
@theresevirag1582
Merveilleuse chanson mais triste tellement triste, il a fait passer toute ses émotions... 👌🥰🥰🥰
@jeanineb2536
Merveilleuse chanson
@akeliandembet5637
Même en 2018 je continue de l'écouter
@mireillestaron8745
Bravo Claude ! Merci pour ces instants magiques qui m'on permis de voyager bercée par la voix de Claude ... Amitiés
@2005Moonflower
Ce sont exactement mes sentiments❤merci encore une mille fois