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.
Si J'Avais Un Marteau
Claude François Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Je cognerais le jour
Je cognerais la nuit
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur
Je bâtirais une ferme
Une grange et une barrière
Et j'y mettrais mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Si j'avais une cloche
Je sonnerais le jour
Je sonnerais la nuit
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur,
Pour le travail à l'aube
Et le soir pour la soupe
J'appellerais mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Si j'avais une chanson
J'la chanterais le jour
J'la chanterais la nuit
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur
En retournant la terre
Pour alléger nos peines
J'la chanterais à mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Si j'avais un marteau
Et si j'avais une cloche
Puis si j'avais une chanson à chanter
Je serais le plus heureux
Je ne voudrais rien d'autre
Qu'un marteau, une cloche et une chanson
Pour l'amour de mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
C'est le marteau du courage
C'est la cloche de la liberté
Mais la chanson c'est pour mon père
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
Oh oh, pour moi c'est le bonheur
C'est ça le vrai bonheur
Si j'avais un marteau
Si j'avais un marteau
The Claude François song "Si j'avais un marteau" is a joyful, folksy tune about the simple pleasures in life. The song begins with the idea of having a hammer, and how with it our narrator would build a farm, a barn, and a fence. He would put all his heart into this work, and everyone he loves would live there together. The chorus repeats the idea of having a hammer, but then adds in the desire for a bell as well. Our narrator would use this bell to call his family together for meals, and perhaps for work as well. The second verse brings in the idea of the power of song. If our narrator had a song to sing, he would sing it all day and all night, putting all his heart into it. He would sing while working the land, lightening their burdens. The chorus repeats itself once more, adding in the idea that our narrator would be happiest with just a hammer, a bell, and a song to share with his family.
"Si j'avais un marteau" is a song about the value of hard work and family, and how the simple things in life can be the most fulfilling. The hammer represents the physical work that the singer wants to do to create a home for his family, while the bell represents the idea of community and gathering together. The song represents a desire to connect with others, and to use our skills and talents to improve the lives of those around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Si j'avais un marteau
If I had a hammer
Je cognerais le jour
I would strike during the day
Je cognerais la nuit
I would strike during the night
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur
I would put all my heart into it
Je bâtirais une ferme
I would build a farm
Une grange et une barrière
A barn and a fence
Et j'y mettrais mon père
And I would put my father there
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Oh oh, that would be happiness
Si j'avais une cloche
If I had a bell
Je sonnerais le jour
I would ring it during the day
Je sonnerais la nuit
I would ring it during the night
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur,
I would put all my heart into it
Pour le travail à l'aube
For the work at dawn
Et le soir pour la soupe
And in the evening for supper
J'appellerais mon père
I would call my father
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Oh oh, that would be happiness
Si j'avais une chanson
If I had a song
J'la chanterais le jour
I would sing it during the day
J'la chanterais la nuit
I would sing it during the night
J'y mettrais tout mon cœur
I would put all my heart into it
En retournant la terre
While turning the earth
Pour alléger nos peines
To lighten our burdens
J'la chanterais à mon père
I would sing it to my father
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Oh oh, that would be happiness
Si j'avais un marteau
If I had a hammer
Et si j'avais une cloche
And if I had a bell
Puis si j'avais une chanson à chanter
And if I had a song to sing
Je serais le plus heureux
I would be the happiest
Je ne voudrais rien d'autre
I would want nothing else
Qu'un marteau, une cloche et une chanson
Than a hammer, a bell and a song
Pour l'amour de mon père
For the love of my father
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
Oh oh, ce serait le bonheur
Oh oh, that would be happiness
C'est le marteau du courage
It's the hammer of courage
C'est la cloche de la liberté
It's the bell of freedom
Mais la chanson c'est pour mon père
But the song is for my father
Ma mère, mes frères et mes sœurs
My mother, my brothers and my sisters
Oh oh, pour moi c'est le bonheur
Oh oh, for me that's happiness
C'est ça le vrai bonheur
That's true happiness
Si j'avais un marteau
If I had a hammer
Contributed by Elliot N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
José Da Costa e Silva
quand j'étais jeune je l'ais tellement dansé,vive la bonne epoque qui pour moi est inoubliable.
Siegfried
Il était génial cet immense artiste. Tu nous manque, Cloclo...
Roseline Courrejou
Très grand artiste. Que de souvenir ! !
Giuseppa Gentile
Rip
STRATEGIES ET DÉVELOPPEMENT
C' EST NOSTALGIQUE CA FAIT PLEURER, C' EST RIEN LA VIE
Flore Fleur
La famille était tout 🍀❤
Francesca Lamour
@Flore Fleur h
Alain Darchen
Une belle époque de Claude.
Ismail Arfaoui
Magnifique chanson merci Cloclo
Cloclo Claudeayme
"SI J'AVAIS UN MARTEAU", quel dynamisme notre Cloclo 🏆 tout le Public 😍 participe 😊ça c'était du Spectacle !! maintenant pouette pouette haricots verts 🎃 Claude Aymé