"Cloclo" was the surname of "Claude François" a very famous French singer who died by accident in 1978 at the age of 39. He is still very popular in France even among youngsters who sing and dance on his songs. When he was on stage he was performing surrounded by nice dancing girls who were called the "Claudettes" after his first name "Claude".
After he died, one of his dancers opened a restaurant in the 13th arrondissement called "Le Kamukera" (French caribbean cuisine) which you can see on the picture today. It's located right in front of the French National Library that you can see in the reflection. Of course she's showing in the window pictures of her dancing with him .
Most of non French speaking people may not know this singer but I'm sure that most of you know a song he co-wrote in 1967 with Jacques Revaud and Gilles Thibaud. In French the song is called "Comme d'habitude" (As usual) and tells the (true) story his love breakup with a French singer named France GAll.
In 1969, after rewriting English lyrics (which are unrelated to the original) Frank Sinatra gave a cross-Atlantic version of it in under the title "My Way" and made it one of the most famous song in the world, people ignoring that it's originally French. You can watch the original French version of "Comme d'Habitude" on Youtube.
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5 comments:
Sorry I have to tell you I was one of those who thought My Way by Sinatra was the original :(.
I remember Claude Francois well. One of my classmate had seen him in concert. The following day at school she told us she would never wash her cheek where he had kissed her. She must have been heartbroken when he died in such a freak accident.
It's a great song. Thanks for reminding me, both the song and the history of it! I don't know Claude Francois, but I heard the story about the song. I'm sure the restaurant is quite popular.
I like Mireille Mathieu rendition the most. Sinatra's rendition is unbelievable, but Mireille sing beautiful.
BTW, I have a lot of rendition of this song, including a Russian one!!
marieloupe
I wish we could get more music from around the world. We are forced to listen to so much junk here that I have stopped listening to the radio.
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