France’s Most Beloved Song Isn’t Actually French

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, in France’s most famous stadium, the Stade de France, the crowd burst into song. In a stadium designed for 75,000 people, the words of “Les Champs-Élysées” rang out. It is hard to find more distinctly French words than those three. As a song, it describes a man exploring the most famous street in France — the same one as the title of the song. It has become the French equivalent of “New York, New York”: a piece of music so closely identified with a place that its origins are almost forgotten.

The man who wrote it, Joe Dassin, is one of the most famous names in French music. However, to the chagrin of Francophones around the world, the song wasn’t even written in France. It represents a broader trend of songs being adopted as a source of cultural identity in places they didn’t originally come from.

Dassin grew up with Jewish-American parents — including a Hollywood director father — and was born in New York City in 1938. When his father was blacklisted from Hollywood due to communist ties, he could no longer work in the U.S. film industry. The family left America when Dassin was in his teenage years. They lived in France, Italy, and Switzerland. He eventually became fluent in six languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Greek.

Returning to America for college, he played guitar in cafés and recorded his debut single, “Bip-Bip.” He utilized his language skills by recording in French, Italian, and English. Dassin did not initially find major success. Things began to turn when he signed with CBS Records in 1964.

Ultimately, a major turning point came in 1966 in Paris. The French music businessman Jacques Plait arranged an introduction between Dassin and Jacques Souplet. Knowing that Dassin needed an intelligent producer and advisor to guide his career, he connected him to Souplet, who was then the new director of CBS France. The two instantly clicked. Souplet mentored and produced Dassin throughout his career. Similar to the final line of Casablanca, it could be described as “the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

Dassin achieved success with a series of chart-topping songs, including “Salut les amoureux” (originally “City of New Orleans”), “L’Été indien,” “Et si tu n’existais pas,” “À toi,” and his quintessential hit “Les Champs-Élysées.”

“Les Champs-Élysées” was originally a cover of the American song “Waterloo Road” by Jason Crest. The lyrics were adapted into French, focusing on Dassin’s experience of France’s most famous street in Paris. While “Waterloo Road” did not achieve commercial success, Dassin’s version became a staple of French culture. It has been endlessly covered and is regularly featured in French films and television.

Most French speakers do not know that the song was originally written outside of France. It represents a broader trend of music becoming a source of cultural identity in places it did not originate. On the other hand, most Americans do not know that “My Way,” Frank Sinatra’s classic, was a cover of the French song “Comme d’habitude” by Claude François. Although they share the same melody, the songs are thematically very different. Sinatra’s version is about a man reflecting on a life lived on his own terms, while François’s original is about the monotony of daily life. Ironically, the song also found great success in the Spanish-speaking world with Vicente Fernández’s cover “A Mi Manera,” which has more views on YouTube (390 million) than Sinatra’s version.

Dassin described himself as an “American on paper but French at heart.” If an American like him could manage to find his way into the hearts of millions of French speakers, it shows how music can transcend nationality and create belonging where borders do not.

Sources

• Financial Times — Waterloo Road / Les Champs-Élysées (Life of a Song) https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/waterloo-road.html
• The New York Times — Jules Dassin coverage (Hollywood blacklist era and exile) https://www.nytimes.com/ (insert your specific article link here)
• The New York Times — coverage referencing Joe Dassin and French pop music legacy https://www.nytimes.com/ (insert your specific article link here)
• Songfacts — Les Champs-Élysées song origin and adaptation from “Waterloo Road” https://www.songfacts.com/facts/joe-dassin/les-champs-elysees
• Songfacts — My Way / Comme d’habitude adaptation history (Claude François → Sinatra) https://www.songfacts.com/facts/frank-sinatra/my-way
• Discogs — Joe Dassin discography, releases, and multilingual recordings https://www.discogs.com/artist/256522-Joe-Dassin