As the French in Britain deal with the blues of the aftermath of Brexit, let’s take a look back at the songs that accompany the adventure of life abroad.
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Reading time: 5 min
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For a long time, that was what expatriates were like. If you were not an embassy employee or a teacher in a French high school, you left, most often, not to return, as in this song by Jacques Debronckart, Adelaide – it’s not a first name, it’s the name of a town in Australia.
The Jacques Brothers continue the song with the definitive uprooting of the French from Australia. Now, you have heard it on our channel, or read in the press in recent weeks: the French in London and almost everywhere in Great Britain are increasingly tempted to return home, driven away by the consequences toxic Brexit.
But, in any case, nostalgia for the native country affects all those who settle elsewhere, emigrants, expatriates, exiles – we hear it in Juliette Gréco, about a certain Rachel in Buenos Aires, or in Polnareff, in about his move to the United States.
In the second episode of These songs that make the news, broadcast this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Jacques Debronckart, Adelaide, 1965
The Jacques Brothers, Adelaide, 1964
Juliette Gréco, Rachael, 1963
Michel Polnareff, Letter to France, 1977
Charles Aznavour, Take me, 1967
Fréhel, So where are they? 1936
Jean-Jacques Goldman, Over there, 1987
Gaël Faye, Qwerty, 2012
Jacques Debronckart, Adelaide, 1965
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And you can also find the podcast on this link 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.