These party songs. “I Love Paris”, a declaration of love for a city

This winter break, we explore love – all forms of love. Today, a classic of American song, signed by Cole Porter and created in 1953 for a French singer and actress, Lilo.

You may not know this voice. This singer’s name is Lilo and, in 1953 on Broadway, when there is only this nickname on the program, well-informed people whisper in the most expensive seats that she is called Lilo de la Passardière. Everyone knows the story: she sang the first female role in the operetta in Paris The Singer of Mexicoalongside Luis Mariano when one evening Cole Porter entered his dressing room in person.

One of the greatest American composers of the 20th century came to offer him the role of La Môme Pistache in Can Can, his next creation in New York. And in the setting of Montmartre at the end of the 19th century, Lilo also created That’s wonderful.

In this episode of These party songsyou hear excerpts from:

Lilo, I Love Paris, 1953

Lilo, That’s wonderful, 1953

Frank Sinatra and Maurice Chevalier, I Love Paris, 1960

Charles Aznavour, presentation of Frank Sinatra at the Olympia, in public in 1962

Frank Sinatra, I Love Paris, in public in 1962

Vanessa Paradis, I Love Paris, 2009

Zaz, I Love Paris, 2014

Dionne Warwick, I Love Paris, 1966

Ella Fitzgerald, I Love Paris, 1956

Kiri Te Kanawa, I Love Paris, 1994

Dean Martin, I Love Paris, 1962

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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.