In recent years, the atomic bomb made us rather smile. This song by Mathieu Boogaerts dates from 2008 and it transposes into a comedy tone what strategists called, a few decades ago, the balance of terror. Each side has so many nuclear warheads that no one will ever dare to use an atomic bomb. A balance such that we ended up not being afraid at all – and especially since the collapse of the USSR, some thirty years ago.
Now here is Vladimir Putin brandishing the threat of nuclear weapons in spectacular declarations which we told you about this week on France Info. And the oldest among us remember a certain anguish with which they lived for a few decades, and which the song echoed.
A small tour in 1966 and 1969 with a song very commented at the time – and very little diffused on the public antennas. First the original version of Stéphane Varègues, then that of the Francs Garçons.
In the first episode of These songs that make the news this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Mathieu Boogaerts, The bomb2008
Stephane Varègues, The bomb1966
The Franks Boys, The bomb1969
Henry Decker, Ah the atomic dance, 1947
Blonde Blonde, Atomic bomb1947
Claude Nougaro, There was a town1964
Jacques Dutronc, The pre-war is now1980
Guy Beart, In the morning I wake up singing1961
The Franks Boys, The bomb1969
You can also follow the news of this column on Twitter.
Our series of summer 2022 chronicles, behind our voicescan still be listened to by scrolling down this page.
And you can also find on this link the podcast Behind our voices, with the writing and composition secrets of eight major artists of the French scene, Laurent Voulzy, Julien Clerc, Bénabar, Dominique A, Carla Bruni, Emily Loizeau, Juliette and Gaëtan Roussel.