Tous les garçons et les filles

"Tous les garçons et les filles" (English: "All the Boys and Girls") is a song by French singer-songwriter Françoise Hardy, with Roger Samyn credited as co-writer on Hardy's original 1962 yé-yé-era recording. The song recounts the feelings of a young person who has never known love and her envy of the couples that surround her. Hardy's single, released internationally, was a massive hit in France, where it spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at number one (four separate runs) between late October 1962 and mid-April 1963.

Contact avec Françoise Hardy
The debut on 45 rpm (1st French edition)
EP by
ReleasedJune 1962[1]
RecordedStudio Vogue, Villetaneuse, France
GenreChanson, Yé-yé
Length9:12
LabelDisques Vogue
ProducerJacques Wolfsohn
"Tous les garçons et les filles"
B-side under paper sleeve[2]
Single by Françoise Hardy
from the album Françoise Hardy
A-side"J'suis d'accord"
Released1962
GenreFrench pop
Length5:05
LabelDisques Vogue
Songwriter(s)Françoise Hardy, Roger Samyn
Music video
"Tous les garçons et les filles" (French TV, 1964) on YouTube

Background

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Hardy performed the song in a telecast on the evening of Sunday 28 October 1962 in a musical interlude during the results of the 1962 referendum to allow direct election of the president of the French Republic.[3] The record quickly became a success, selling 500,000 copies by the end of the year. In Italy the Italian version sold 255,000 while French version sold 140,000 copies.[4]

Françoise Hardy also recorded the song in English ("Find Me a Boy", 1964), Italian ("Quelli della mia età", 1962; collected in Françoise Hardy canta per voi in italiano, 1963), and German ("Peter und Lou", 1963; collected in In Deutschland, 1965.)

Jimmy Page participated in the recording session as a session musician.[5]

The song is quoted several times by the main characters in J.L. Carr's 1988 novel What Hetty Did.

Charts

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Weekly chart performance for “Tous le garçons et les filles”
Chart (1962–64) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] 11
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[6] 1
France (IFOP)[7] 1
Italy (Musica e dischi)[8] 2
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[6] 4
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 36
West Germany (Media Control)[6] 20

EP track list

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Side A
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Oh oh chéri" (original title "Uh Oh")Bobby Lee Trammell, ad. by Jil and Jan.[10]Bobby Lee Trammell2:20
2."Il est parti un jour"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn1:47
Side B
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."J’suis d’accord"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn2:00
2."Tous les garçons et les filles"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn3:05

SP track listing

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Side A
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."J’suis d’accord"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn2:00
Side B
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Tous les garçons et les filles"Françoise HardyFrançoise Hardy – Roger Samyn3:05

Cover versions

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The song has been covered by many artists in many languages, including:

Movie soundtracks

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"Tous les garçons et les filles"

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"Find Me a Boy"

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-All These Sleepless Nights-

References

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  1. ^ 45 rpm presented on French television (RTF) on June 5th, 1962, few days before its setting on sale in the record stores [1]
  2. ^ In the Sixties the singles were not marketed in France. These discs were exclusively intended to the owners of bar and Café having a jukebox and for promotion near the media.
  3. ^ Françoise Hardy, Le Désespoir des singes… et autres bagatelles, éd. Robert Laffont, Paris, 2008, p. 49.
  4. ^ Ruscitto, Germano (7 October 1967). "Vogue 20th Anniversary Special". Billboard. p. 48. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 28 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Christophe Le Pabic, Benoît Pascal, Led Zeppelin and related : hexagonal experiences, p. 60-61, 1997 ISBN 2-9512068-0-1, notice BnF No. 370660648
  6. ^ a b c d "Françoise Hardy – Tous les garçons et les filles". hitparade.ch.
  7. ^ Archives on "InfoDisc" site Archived 2010-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Top Annuali Singoli 1963". Hit Parade Italia.
  9. ^ "TOUS LES GARCONS ET LES FILLES by FRANCOISE HARDY". Official Charts Company.
  10. ^ Pseudonyms of Gilbert Guenet and Jean Setti, cousins of Jacques Wolfsohn; they wrote some successful songs for Johnny Hallyday.
  11. ^ Partial source: site officiel de Françoise Hardy Archived 2007-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Video on YouTube
  13. ^ Video on YouTube
  14. ^ CD, The Misadventures of Saint Etienne, released only in Japan, 1999, it served as the soundtrack