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  3. Not only gentlemen of a certain age, but also a couple of my daughters, who like singing along to an FH song (“oh oh cherie, oui, j’aime tous ce que tu fais”, etc.)

    The “ye-ye” tag makes me think of this gem, from a similar era:

    • I’ve known of her for a long time but only recently got around to buying a CD after hearing Comment Te Dire Adieu used very nicely in the film A Simple Favour. Beautiful voice…

  10. We should mention that her career didn’t stop after those swinging Yé-Yé years – Françoise Hardy has one of the most consistently good runs of albums I can think of. Especially good is »Message Personnel« from 1973, plus more recent highlights like her 2000 album »Clair Obscur« and (her best in my opinion) »Tant De Belle Choses« from 2004.

    Here she is with husband & »man of my life« Jacques Dutronc:

    …on French Top Of The Pops:

    And covering the Everly Brothers:

  11. She was in one of my favourite films; Frankenheimer’s absolutely awful ‘Grand Prix’. She drifts in as the girlfriend of the young Ferrari driver who isn’t Yves Montand, and drifts away towards the end on the back of a Lambretta, ennui-laden at the sheer futility of motor racing.

      • I’ve written about it here before. It is wonderfully atmospheric, with all the actors and F1 drivers of the time – the first 3-litre year – all mixed together. James Garner apparently drove his not-an-F1 prop car spectacularly well. Yves Montand less so.

        And the theme tune to the film is fantastic. Someone should have snaffled it up as a National Anthem.

  13. An interesting titbit from the Guardian obituary. I

    n 1971 Francoise made an album together with a Brazilian woman, Tuca, who she encountered singing in a Paris bar. Like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil who had moved to London, Tuca had left Brazil to escape the military regime.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuca_(musician)

    Here’s the excellent title track of the album they worked on together.

    Tuca died in 1978, only 33 years old.

    But this clip of her performing is excellent.

  16. Here’s a comment by my pal Neil on Facebook which amused me enormously.

    “What a great question for “Post-World War 2 European Society: Level 3 – The Summer of Love: Compare and contrast the work and careers of Francoise Hardy and Nico.”

    Well to start with, both of them had movie cameos. Here’s Nico in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.

  18. Ooops! A major factual correction. I thought Francoise had written Comment te dire adieu. Wrong!

    It was a cover of a Vera Lynn hit from the previous year: It hurts to say goodbye.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_te_dire_adieu

    Those witty French lyrics were by the Je t’aime ….moi non plus Hitmaker, Serge Gainsbourg,

    Wikipedia is invaluable!

    “”It Hurts to Say Goodbye” was written by Arnold Goland, probably best known for his co-operation with Phil Spector, and the American producer and songwriter Jacob “Jack” Gold (1921–1992). In 1966 it was recorded by Margaret Whiting on her album The Wheel of Hurt.[3] In 1967 a release by Vera Lynn reached No. 7 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart.”

    So it’s dunce’s hat for me this morning. Or “un bonnet d’âne” as they’d say in France.

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