Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille

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Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille (Eng. It's five o'clock, Paris awakens ) is a chanson by the French singer Jacques Dutronc from 1968. The song was a number one hit in France in March 1968 ; In 1999 it was voted “Chanson of the Century” there.

History of origin

After a joint dinner with Jacques Wolfsohn , the head of the music label Disques Vogue at the time , Jacques Dutronc and his friend Jacques Lanzmann , a well-known writer and journalist, suggested that they write a song about “Paris in the morning”.

Together with Lanzmann and his wife Anne Ségalen, Dutronc immediately got to work, and it was ready in the early hours of the following day. The text was inspired by the song “Tableau de Paris à cinq heures du matin” (Eng. Picture of Paris at five o'clock in the morning ) by the writer Marc-Antoine-Madeleine Désaugiers from 1802.

The recording in the recording studio followed on the same day , but neither Dutronc nor Lanzmann were satisfied with the musical result. The rehearsals continued until late at night, but the result was unsatisfactory - until the then well-known classical flautist Roger Bourdin , who was rehearsing in the studio next door, happened to drop by. He improvised a solo on his flute and thus helped to create the final version.

content

The chanson describes various scenes that an observer strolling through the city in the early morning comments on. In addition to different groups of people ( street sweepers , transvestites , striptease dancers , commuters , bakers, workers), the following places are mentioned in this order:

The refrain Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille is an Alexandrian .

There are several direct or indirect sexual allusions in the text: “Les traversins sont écrasés, les amoureux sont fatigués” (The slumber rolls are crushed, the lovers are tired) and “L'Obélisque est bien dressé entre la nuit et la journée” (The Obelisk stands at attention at dawn).

In the course of the student protests of May 1968 in France , the song became a quasi-unofficial anthem , with changed text .

Cover versions

A German version of Berlin wakes up by pop singer Bob Telden dates from 1969 . Unlike the original, the German text dispenses with any sexual suggestion (exception: "From the last kiss in a bar ...") and has no reference to the 1968s.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fabien Lecœuvre: 1001 histoires secrètes de chansons. Ed. du Rocher, Monaco 2017, ISBN 978-2-2680-9672-8 , p. 159
  2. ^ Tableau de Paris à cinq heures du matin. by Marc-Antoine-Madeleine Désaugiers on Wikisource
  3. ↑ a b c d Le Soir: "Il est cinq heures, Paris s'éveille"

Web links