There is the idealized Paris of the songs of Charles Trénet, Mistinguett or Aznavour and then the Paris of the reprobates, excluded from eternal salvation. This is the case of the American singer and host Valli in the role of a prostitute and Grégory Ken, in the role of the customer and who sings “everyone does what he pleases”.
“Everyone does what he pleases” shakes up all the codes of political correctness. The cover of the album, signed by the American photographer Richard Avedone is in line with the text of Philippe Bourguoin, the picture shows the duo “Chagrin d’amour” in the simplest device, well not quite. Valli explains.
In “Everyone does what he likes”, the guy runs out of whiskey, has run out of cigarettes, he is all alone, all alone, all alone in a seedy apartment in Boulogne Billancourt. “While Boulogne is in despair”, in need of escape, of a little carnal love, he takes his car and drives through Paris, until he drifts into a rotten harbor, where there he comes across a “comacing” blonde. “. For 50 francs, the deal is done.
1981, all the radio stations broadcast Chagrin d’Amour. The duo will never recover from such success. Grégory Ken sensed it.
More than 40 years on the clock, no one forgot this mega hit, stamped first French rap, a slightly crazy song that attracts crazy people, repeated many times, by Philippe Katerine, Catherine Ringer and parodied by the Charlots. Heartbreak, always copied, never equalled.