Françoise Hardy, a legacy

A few days after the singer’s death, let’s look at how, little by little, she freed herself from her first yé-yé glory to conquer posterity.

Obviously, it’s not easy to choose the opening song for a column dedicated to what Françoise Hardy leaves us – author, composer, performer – who left us this week. And here You’re like everyone who’s ever had heartbreaka song from the album Sun in 1970, the second title of the second side (arrangements by Jean-Pierre Sabar). A song that can sum up the poetry and life of Françoise Hardy: the mad love and melancholy, the barely concealed autobiography, the extreme sophistication of its melodic and textual simplicity.

These were not Françoise Hardy’s most commercially successful years and, at the time, she had not yet reached the immense stature to which the tributes heard this week bear witness. To put it bluntly, she goes through these now classic years of Françoise Hardy in the ever-vivid memory of her yé-yé glory. Let’s remember how, in 1964, Chouchou, the mascot of the show Salut les amis, celebrated Françoise.

In the first episode of These songs that make the news this weekend you hear excerpts from:

Francoise Hardy, You are like everyone who has suffered sorrow, 1970

Pet, Johnny, Françoise and Sylvie, 1964

Mouloudji, Hit panade, 1967

Elvis Presley, Anything that’s part of you, 1962

Francoise Hardy, In the whole world, 1965

Francoise Hardy, All over the world, 1965

Francoise Hardy, And if I leave before you, 1972

Etienne Daho, And if I leave before you, 1984

Francoise Hardy, Let me dream, 1988

Françoise Hardy sings You are like everyone who grieves on Swiss television (1971):

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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.