He was bor… Read Full Bio ↴Michel Sardou (born January 26, 1947) is a French singer.
He was born in Paris, the son of Fernand Sardou and Jackie Rollin (Jackie Sardou). Contrary to what has been written at the beginning of his career, he is not the grandson of the dramatist Victorien Sardou.
He is known for songs dealing with various social and political issues, such as the rights of women in Islamic countries, clerical celibacy and colonialism. Another sometimes controversial theme found in some of his songs ("Les Ricains," for example) is respect and support for the culture and foreign policies of the United States. Another notable fact about his career is that he has focused his full attention on his homeland, ignoring the prospect of an international audience, although his 1981 single "Les lacs du Connemara" did manage to become a big international hit. A number of his hit songs were written in collaboration with Jacques Revaux, a few others (most notably "En chantant") with Italian singer Toto Cutugno.
Even in the 21st century, Michel Sardou remains immensely popular in France, selling out 18 consecutive dates at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in 2001, while his 2004 album "Du plaisir" went straight to the no. 1 spot on the French album charts.
He has been married three times, first to a French dancer, then to Babette (the mother of his children) and lastly to an lifelong friend who edits the French version of Vogue.
He is currently (2023) at the center of a controversy over a song he wrote fifty years ago: the lakes of Connemara. Juliette Armanet, a French pop starlet answering a question about a song that would made her leave a party and it was LES LACS DU CONNEMARA. Sardou, an idol of the French right, in spite of himself, is stuck between the left which finds him corny and the right which does not support that one attacks its institutions. Music is a strong force and nobody fights harder than those who LOVE certain songs. Amazingly this song has nothing to do with politics.
Le France
Michel Sardou Lyrics
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Qu'on appelait le "Queen Mary"
Echouée si loin de ses falaises
Sur un quai de Californie
Quand je pense à la vieille anglaise
J'envie les épaves englouties
Longs courriers qui cherchaient un rêve
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
La France elle m'a laissé tomber
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
C'est ma dernière volonté
J'étais un bateau gigantesque
Capable de croiser mille ans
J'étais un géant j'étais presque
Presqu'aussi fort que l'océan
J'étais un bateau gigantesque
J'emportais des milliers d'amants
J'étais la France qu'est-ce qu'il en reste
Un corps mort pour des cormorans
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
La France elle m'a laissé tomber
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
C'est ma dernière volonté
Quand je pense à la vieille anglaise
Qu'on appelait le "Queen Mary"
Je ne voudrais pas finir comme elle
Sur un quai de Californie
Que le plus grand navire de guerre
Ait le courage de me couler
Le cul tourné à Saint-Nazaire
Pays breton d'où je suis né
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
La France elle m'a laissé tomber
Ne m'appelez plus jamais "France"
C'est ma dernière volonté
The song "Le France" by Michel Sardou is a mournful reflection on the decline of France’s standing in the world. The song is dedicated to the French ocean liner "France", a symbol of French technical and creative expertise in the 1970s, which was retired prematurely due to financial losses. Sardou uses the ocean liner as a metaphor to express his disillusionment with modern-day France. He compares the "Queen Mary", an English ocean liner, to the "France", highlighting the contrast between the illustrious past of France and the current state of decline.
Sardou starts by describing the stranded "Queen Mary" so far from home, abandoned on a Californian dock. He identifies with the ship, empathizing with the other vessels lost to time and circumstance, unable to find their way back home. Then, he laments his own loss of pride in his country, declaring that he no longer wishes to be called "France". Sardou explains that “France” no longer means what it used to; it has abandoned him and left him bereft of any sense of identity.
The chorus echoes the verse, stating “Don't ever call me France again; it's my dying wish", which is reflective of the theme of loss, not just of the ship, but of the cultural and artistic details that made French society unique. Sardou’s hopelessness is manifest in his demand that the "France" be sunk with its back turned towards St. Nazaire, the birthplace of the ship. It is a powerful metaphor for his belief that the glory days of France are gone and that he only wishes to be remembered as a nation of the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Quand je pense à la vieille anglaise
When I think about the old English ship
Qu'on appelait le 'Queen Mary'
That was called the 'Queen Mary'
Echouée si loin de ses falaises
Stranded so far from its cliffs
Sur un quai de Californie
On a dock in California
J'envie les épaves englouties
I envy the sunken wrecks
Longs courriers qui cherchaient un rêve
Great liners searching for a dream
Et n'ont pas revu leur pays
And never saw their homeland again
Ne m'appelez plus jamais 'France'
Don't ever call me 'France' again
La France elle m'a laissé tomber
France has let me down
J'étais un bateau gigantesque
I was a gigantic ship
Capable de croiser mille ans
Capable of sailing for a thousand years
J'étais un géant j'étais presque
I was a giant, almost
Presqu'aussi fort que l'océan
Almost as strong as the ocean
J'emportais des milliers d'amants
I carried thousands of lovers
J'étais la France qu'est-ce qu'il en reste
I was France - what is there left?
Un corps mort pour des cormorans
A dead body for cormorants
Que le plus grand navire de guerre
Let the greatest warship
Ait le courage de me couler
Have the courage to sink me
Le cul tourné à Saint-Nazaire
Ass facing Saint-Nazaire
Pays breton d'où je suis né
Breton country where I was born
C'est ma dernière volonté
This is my last wish
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Pierre Delanoe, Jacques Abel Jules Revaud, Michel Charles Sardou
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind