The song rushes towards gold

As prices of the precious metal reach all-time highs, let’s hear how our popular culture can be ambivalent about the love of gold.

Uncle Cristobal returns from South America with bars and pesos. In 1967, when he recorded this song, Pierre Perret touched on a myth that the oldest of our listeners can explain to their grandchildren: we are talking about the 50 Mexican peso gold coin, minted from 1921, and which was for a long time very important for French savers who did not believe in banks or who rather believed more in gold – a belief which is returning, if we are to believe the historical records for the price of the precious metal broken these days.

And this Mexican peso was, in the range of products, less expensive than the ingot, and more prestigious than the napoleon – napoleon whose adventures we listened to every day on the radio, like here in 1967, at the time of Uncle Christobal .

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

Pierre Perret, Uncle Cristobal, 1967

Robert Pouille in Inter news at 7 o’clock, January 11, 1967

The Jacques Brothers, The money, 1973

Yves Montand in Megalomania by Gérard Oury, 1971

Christian Dauriac in Inter news at 7:30 a.m., February 1, 1983

Daniel Balavoine, I want gold, 1982

Michel Sardou, Depending on whether you will be etc, etc, 2003

Enrico Macias, For all the gold in the world, 1966

MC Solaar, Currency, 1991

Benjamin Epps, Ingots Pt. 2, 2021

Booba, The Duke, 2007

Lacrim, I dance, 2013

MC Solaar, New Western, 1994

Francis Lemarque, Soon the sun, 1956

Arthur H, The Gold Digger, 2005

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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.