five essential songs from the man who dreamed of “being like Sinatra”

It was thanks to a song, “La Passionata”, that France discovered him in 1965. Guy Marchand often recalled that he was above all a singer. A look back at five titles that we cannot forget from his repertoire.

“Before being an actor, being everything you want, I am a singer”confided Guy Marchand on the set of TV5 Monde, on the occasion of the release of his final album in 2020, Born in Belleville. The comedian, actor, writer and musician, who passed away “peacefully” on Friday December 15, began his artistic career with song.

In 1965, France discovered it thus interpreting The Passionata. The one who dreamed “to be like Sinatra” discovered jazz in his father’s garage. Music, then cinema, and always music: Guy Marchand has led all his careers together to the point that an actor told him one day that we didn’t know if he wasn’t going to start singing when we gave him the answer.

The artist, who died at the age of 86, is the author of nineteen albums and notably signed Destinythe soundtrack to two iconic French comedies, Santa Clause is garbage And The Under-Gifted on vacation. A look back at five emblematic tracks from Guy Marchand’s musical career.

“La Passionata” (1965)

It was written in “five minutes” while he was in the Foreign Legion, he confided in the show We are not in bed in 2008. “Additional advisor” on the set of the film The longest day, he met stuntmen who allowed him to record his first 45 with Eddy Barclay. 300,000 copies of this record are sold and Guy Marchand finds himself at the Olympia “two and a half months” after its release.

“Me, I am Tango” (1975)

Fan of Argentinian bandoneonist Astor Piazzola and Argentine music, Guy Marchand delivered the adaptation of his Libertango. He will convince him to come and record Me, I am Tango in Paris at Studio Hoche.

“Destiny” (1982)

The title is doubly emblematic because it is the soundtrack of two flagship French comedies: THE Sub-gifted on vacation (1982), a scene is devoted to the song, and Santa Clause is garbage (1982). Guy Marchand revealed in the show We are not in bed in 2008 that Claude Zidi, the director of the film THE Sub-gifted on vacation, asked them to “make a hit, but a sausage”. They thought about it with the composer Vladimir Cosma, who wrote the music for Destiny, and decide to do “something like Indian summer. We did Indian summer backwards (…) We wrote the biggest stupid thing we could write. And it was a huge success.” “It’s a gag. It was a joke. I was humiliated”, Guy Marchand concluded with a laugh.

“Hey Crooner” (1977)

The words of Hey Crooner remind us that Guy Marchand subtly handled the art of self-mockery. The title is a tribute to the crooners he admired since childhood and who made him dream. In 2012, in Songs from my youth (his 12th album), the artist had covered some French song standards in a jazz version.

“Charming singer” (2020)

“I am only a charming singer, without a regret, without a remorse”, says Guy Marchand in this song. He described this title, the last of his final album, as “will”. There will be nothing left of me/ In the distance only the echo of a voice/ Like the elevator music of an old crooner”, he sings again.

In this song, he makes a nod to his album The Man Who Whispers in Women’s Ears, which led to him being called a misogynist, something he always defended. This sentence, with “Thank you, Ladies”, is one of those that we will put on “(her) fall”, he sings. In his book Notebook of a casino singer out of seasonhe talked about his relationship with women and recalled: “I have always been chosen by women. Those I have known, I would never have dared to approach them“.