Musician Andre Manukian discovered in the episode “I Don’t Have a Friend Like You,” from a television show that reveals the secrets of songs, the surprising stories hidden behind famous friendship songs (1). Friendship is like love. It brings tears and saves lives. And not even in a dramatic context, even in everyday life, it must be guarded with all vigilance and cultivated on an ongoing basis.
Stephan Eicher, There's No Friend Like You
Many singers dream of a soulmate, an alter ego, an artistic twin, who will share the writing of the lyrics, the composing of the melody, or, sometimes, both. Stefan Escher was blessed with this precious gift. Nearly thirty years ago, Stefan Escher sang the song "There's No Friend Like You." The song brought Stefan Escher, a Swiss singer who had until then been known only to a small circle of rock fans, an overnight popular success. And all thanks to a chance meeting with the writer Philippe Dejean, author of the best-selling 37.2 degrees in the morning.
In the late 1980s, television host Antoine de Cohn asked Philippe Dejean to invite his favorite singer to his rock show Rafido. Dejean chose Stéphane Escher, but their first meeting was very ordinary and did not ignite any fire. As fate would have it, a camera malfunction forced the show's participants to start over from scratch. Then, for the second time, during the week that Philippe Dejean and Stéphane Escher spent in Biarritz to film the show again, the miracle of friendship happened. The writer and the musician discovered a deep connection between them and never parted. Stéphane Escher suggested that Philippe Dejean try his hand at songwriting.
The writer agreed to experiment in a field that was completely new to him until then and sent his new friend "There's No Friend Like You." This poem was originally intended to tell of a love relationship between a man and a woman that also has a strong dimension of friendship. Attraction and friendship, isn't this the perfect recipe for love? You're my best friend, or you're my best friend, isn't this the ultimate compliment that lovers can exchange?
Stephen Escher happily accepted the lyrics and sat down to compose a melody for it. When Philip Dejean heard the finished song, he suddenly realized that he had actually written his lyrics not for a beloved woman but for Stephen Escher. I have not found the key to the mystery of the world, the song says, but thanks to you, I understand it better. It is true that the song contains ambiguous, sensual words, appropriate to the words of a man to a maiden, but if the composer felt that he was intended from the beginning not for his beloved but for his friend, who are we, an external factor, to come and contradict him. There is love in friendship, and there is friendship in love.
The song, as mentioned, launched the singer's career, and his lyricist friend wrote him about forty more songs over the course of a thirty-year friendship that still continues with great happiness. The two artists share the same sensibility, the same perspectives, they both speak the same language. Their friendship created a third identity that reborn Stephan Asher, he says.
The hit "Eat in Silence," written by Philip Dejean for his soulmate, also contributed to Stephen Asher's fame. It is a bittersweet song about a woman who asks her partner to let her enjoy her meal for a change without telling her about all the catastrophes he read about in the morning paper. Nothing in human nature surprises her. What can the newspaper tell her anymore? And now all she wants to do is drink her coffee in peace and quiet and laugh for fun.
Georges Brassens, There's Nothing Like Friends Georges Brassens, Les Copains D'Abord
The friendship between Stephane Escher and Philippe Dejean is exclusive, there is no friend like you. But Georges Bressan, on the other hand, cultivated male friendships in a close-knit and unified group. This is also possible, as his song There are no friends proves (the title of the song can be translated differently and each of you is free to suggest and adopt your favorite translation).
And this song also came into the world by chance. In 1964, director Yves Robert (The War of the Buttons, The Blonde with the Black Shoe) was looking for a song to accompany the opening credits of his film Friends, based on the eponymous novel by Jules Romain. Yves Robert therefore turned to his good friend Georges Bressan and asked him, with great trepidation, to write the song. Bressan has a career spanning ten years and is not used to writing songs on commission. However, friends are not refused.
The lyrics were written by Bressan without any difficulty, but the melody took a little longer. The result is the singer's well-known flagship song, his most dizzying success, a classic of the French singer, There's No Friend. Would Georges Bressan have written this song, which has accompanied generations of schoolchildren, youth and scout camp participants, army soldiers and older men, if his friend Yves Robert hadn't asked him to? Not at all sure.
For Georges Bressan, who was very generous to his friends and gave them the importance they deserved, these were not just words. The singer Marcel Amont says that one day he heard his friend Bressan singing a song he had composed, Mireille's Hat. Marcel Amont admired the song and said, “Oh, this song will be a bomb.” “Do you like the song?” Bressan immediately replied, “Then take it, I’ll give it to you.” Not every singer is so generous. Just ask Jean Ferrat, who took the songs written for his first wife, the singer Christine Sevre, for himself.
Barbara, A Little Cantata Barbara, A Little Cantata
Friends are an unfailing source of inspiration for singers, and among them are also those who cannot be contacted live, who will always be missing. As Barsance says in his song, there are no friends like the ones who did not come to the meeting, the reason is death. Barbara experienced the tragic experience of losing her beloved pianist in a car accident. Liliane Benelli was the pianist of cabaret A famous quality, opened in 1951 in the Latin Quarter. The who's who of the French art world then frequented Le Cabaret L'Écluse, 15, quai des Grands-Augustins, in the 1958th arrondissement. Barbara began singing there in XNUMX, and Lillian accompanied her on the piano.
Barbara was 5 years older than Lillian, but Lillian was more experienced in playing, and the two women became very close in their love of music, of all kinds of music. Barbara sang, Lillian played, and together they talked and wrote songs. In 1963, Serge Lema began performing in the cabaret, and despite the 8 years that separated him from Lillian, the two fell in love at first sight and got engaged. Thanks to Lillian, Serge Lema began performing as a backing singer in Barbara's shows.
On August 12, 1965, Liliane, 30, Serge, 22, accompanied by the stage manager, Jean-Claude Grancia, the younger brother of Enrico Macias, the group traveled to attend the first part of Marcel Amon's show. At the entrance to the Aix-en-Provence Provence Jean-Claude Granciar, who was driving the car, crashed into a tree and lost consciousness, from which he did not recover. Liliane Benelli, who was sitting in the back, was killed on the spot. Serge Lema, the only one of the three who survived, was seriously injured and spent many months with his entire body in a cast. Doctors predicted that he would never stand on his feet again. When he opened his eyes, he had to face the news of the deaths of his two friends, the stage manager Jean-Claude and his lover Liliane.
Barbara also had to deal with the cruel separation from her beloved friend, Lillian, who had taught her so much about music. Barbara clung to a piece of music they had written together and expanded it into a song, a little cantata. This cantata that we had once played together, the two of us, I now play alone. C Mi La Re Sol Du Pe. Barbara is sharp with the names of the notes like a little girl learning to play. She will never forget what she owes to her teacher. And she continues to speak to Lillian: I see you at the piano, smiling, playing and saying: You sing and I will play. Sing to me. And Barbara continues the dialogue with her sweet little darling in song: How difficult this cantata is, without you. And it rises to you, like a prayer, and angels will play it for you.
Serge Lema lost his first, great, passionate and mysterious love, the gentle and transformed Lilian Benelli, to whom he dedicated his immortal poem From Adventure to Adventure. Although some will flirt with other women and whisper their names, he will never forget her, Lilian, and he still loves her. The wound will never heal.
Serge Lama, my friend, my teacher Serge Lama, my friend, my teacher
But the subject of the article is not love songs but friendship songs. And if Serge Lemme managed to return to life, it was thanks to his friend and mentor, Marcel Gobineau, a friend of Serge's father. If Serge had not met Marcel, he would most likely not have survived the accident. Serge Lemme was seriously injured and lay in a cast in the hospital, after a dozen operations, suffering and in pain, body and soul. Marcel Gobineau, a man-angel, when he first heard about the accident, immediately went to the hospital in Aix-en-Provence.
He was the first person Serge saw when he opened his eyes. Marcel took it upon himself to save Serge and brought him to his home. There he cared for him with devotion and repeatedly told him that he would survive the accident, come back to life and build a glorious career. And so it was. Serge Lema succeeded in both his personal and professional life. But the road was long and difficult. For two years, he lay like a mummy and felt dead in Marcel's house, who had stopped writing his bestsellers to take care of his adopted son. From time to time, he wrote down the poems that Serge dictated to him. Nothing could have been otherwise. Because it was him, because it was me.
Serge met Marcel when he was a 12-year-old boy. Marcel Gobineau was a stage manager at the Capuchin Theater, where Serge's father sang. Marcel would often come to visit Serge's parents. Serge was not attached to his father and mother and suffered greatly from this incompatibility. But Marcel and he felt like two twin souls, a substitute for a father and a substitute for a son. One day little Serge and Marcel passed by the Olympia Hall, and Serge said to Marcel: One day my name will shine here, up there, at night, in a big way, and you will sit in the hall in the front row and I will sing you my songs. And since then the boy and then the teenager and the adult used to pour out his soul to Marcel.
Marcel Gobineau later left the theater to write historical novels that were very successful at the time, inFrance And also in the US, including a series called “Emeline” and a series called “Stephanie.” Marcel was gifted with the ability to see the future, understood cards and the human soul, and served Serge as a spiritual guide and confidant. Marcel supported his young friend and gave him useful advice in life and career. Marcel Gobineau was Serge’s second father, his first father, in fact, and in every way, the person he loved more than anything in the world. Thanks to him, Serge jokes, I became a “fighting fatalist.” Marcel Gobineau died in 1994, at the age of 83, Serge Lema and his wife announced to the media, and his ashes were buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
The memory of Marcel Gobineau will remain forever in my friend's poem, My Teacher, which commemorates the work of this rare man. I knew immediately that it was him, Serge Lema sang. He was the one who taught me to be. And when I feel like shit, I come to his house and stay there for an hour or two. The air in his window is the freshest in Paris.
Adamo, I'll tell you about a friend Adamo, I'll tell you about a friend
Adamo also found a replacement for his father, but not because he couldn't find a common language with him. Quite the opposite. Adamo's father managed his young son's career and took care of it from start to finish. There was complete trust between Adamo and his father, they both thought the same way.
Antonio Adamo accompanied his son to Paris and helped him build himself as a singer. The father's hand, which was placed on the son's shoulder, always brought him back to earth. Antonio took care of everything, the son did nothing outside of singing itself. Adamo admired, loved and respected his father. And then, on August 7, 1966, the father drowned at sea at the age of 46. For three years, Adamo relied on his father, who had witnessed his son's dizzying success. The father's sudden disappearance left a gaping void and the young singer was left lost. "Friends" and professionals took advantage of his innocence, deceived him and stole money from him.
Then came Fredo. Fredo was the husband of Adamo's cousin. Fredo had worked as a miner for 15 years but had been very interested, all the while, in Adamo's career, watching his brilliant success and looking on in wonder at his glamorous life. And so Fredo came to take Antonio's place, accompanying Adamo on his tours, managing everything. From the depths of the mine, Fredo reached the most luxurious hotels in the world. Fredo replaced Adamo's father and served as his manager, handling his business with great loyalty.
For over 40 years, Fredo was, according to Adamo, the companion on the road, the babysitter, the cook, the man of secrets, the friend. The father's gaze returned to the son in Fredo's gaze, Fredo's hand on Adamo's shoulder was the father's hand. Only Fredo knew how to read Adamo's silences, according to the latter. Friend, advisor, double, opposite twin, Fredo is no longer here, fell ill and passed away 6 years ago, but Adamo dedicated a moving poem to him, I'll tell you about a friend.
Michel Berger, of course Michel Berger, Évidemment
On January 14, 1986, singer Daniel Balboaan was killed in a helicopter crash in Mali, in Raleigh. Paris-Dakar. Daniel, full of plans and ideas, was only 33 years old and his future was still ahead of him. The sudden death of the active, combative and energetic singer left Michel Berger and France Gal shocked. Daniel was Michel's twin, who saw him as his little brother. Since their acquaintance, which occurred 9 years before Daniel's death, they have not been apart.
Michel played an important role in Daniel's career when he gave him the lead role in the successful rock opera Starmania. Daniel had a powerful voice, an extraordinary range, but his albums did not sell. All of them, without exception, met with commercial failure. The meeting with Michel Berger changed Daniel's fate. Michel Berger was looking for a singer for the role of Johnny Roquefort in Starmania. When he happened to watch Daniel Balboan perform the song Lady Marlene on television with Frans Gal, the two were left speechless.
Daniel accepted the role. His songs in the show became hits. Starmania, which was a huge success, also launched the singer's personal career. Daniel became a good friend of Michel and France, who spent Christmas and summer vacations with him. Daniel fiercely defended the couple every time they were attacked in the media. According to France, the power that emanated from Daniel was also transferred to them. A particularly courageous friendship bound him to Michel, who was the first to whom Daniel played his new songs. Daniel and Michel were a kind of brotherly duo. And so Michel composed a moving song, of course, describing the abyss that opened up after the death of his friend, who was not like him.
Of course, says Serge Lema in his song From Adventure to Adventure, I knew other women, of course, of course, but I never forgot you. The song is intended, as mentioned, for his beloved Liliane, who was also killed in an accident. Of course, says Michel Berger, that we continue to dance and laugh, of course, of course, but never as before, before the death of the beloved friend. The necessity to come to terms with the absence and continue life is combined with a profound sadness and a feeling of nausea and hopelessness.
Frances Gal was unable to sing "Of course," she was so overwhelmed with emotion. But the singer found a trick. It's the only song in which she thought about something else when she sang it.
Lorie, I will be your best friend.
Laurie was not an ordinary student. Day and night she prepared for the French Figure Skating Championships. An ice dancer, that was her future. Two months before the competition, she tore her knee and her dream was shattered. Laurie was on the verge of depression and it was her friend Miami, whom she had met in elementary school, who advised her to turn to the world of singing, singing and dancing. At the age of 15, Laurie recorded her first song, and participated in a children's show where she sang the second song. At the same time, she ran for auditions and tried her luck wherever possible.
Together with a producer looking for the French Britney Spears, she records the song "Close to Me." After being rejected by record companies, the producer decides to put it online and offer it for free listening. The ploy works, the song is a huge success online and opens the door for the young singer to the giant Sony Music.
Lori, only 19 years old, has already sold millions of copies of her first albums. The teenage audience sees her as an older sister, who is a good way to express their interests and experiences. Lori becomes a revered role model, a teen idol.
The star spends a lot of time with her friend Miami, who supported her and encouraged her all the way, saved her from depression and opened the way for a new career. Why don't we release a song about your best friend, who you talk about all the time? The producer suggests to her, and thus the song "I Will Be (Your Best Friend)" was born, a gift of recognition and gratitude to Miami, and even more than that, a declaration of love. At signing events for Lori's albums, her fans come with their best friends, whom some met at Lori's concert, some at the party where the song was played.
Lori asked the producer to include Miami in the music video for the song that was to be shot in Mexico, but the crew was eager to joke and told Lori that it would not be possible to obtain the necessary permits for Miami's trip. And there she was, at the airport, just before the flight, Lori saw Miami, ready to board the plane, and the two friends fell into each other's arms. In the video, you can see Miami, who will forever remain Lori's best friend. Both of them are now 35 years old. After many more ups and downs in the teen idol's artistic career, which did not continue to soar, Lori, together with her parents, founded a branding company for related products, posters, baseball caps, watches and even clothing, and at the same time became an actress in films and television.
Patrick Bruel, Place des grands hommes Patrick Bruel, Place des grands hommes
For the meeting after 10 years, when Patrick and his friends are already 30 years old, the singer arrives with a limp and trembling, hesitating, even thinking of withdrawing. A class meeting where everyone examines their friend and tries to see if they have succeeded in fulfilling their dreams. The singer looks into the display window of an antique store, and through the mirror he sees himself and his friends in the past, when they were just starting out in life. His life was not easy. It is not easy to draw up summaries and balance sheets.
After graduation, the high school students set a meeting in 10 years, at the square. the pantheon It is where the great people who left their mark on the history of France are buried. The square is located in the Latin Quarter, the oldest district in Paris, a student stronghold, a short distance from the Sorbonne. The melody of the song was composed by Patrick Bruel for a television program in which the host, Patrick Sabatier, invited friends of a famous star whom he had not seen for a long time. The program was called Avis de recherche (Search for relatives).
Patrick Bruel commissioned the lyrics from his old friend, actor and lyricist Bruno Garsan, who is a decade older than him – a song about a reunion of friends who had not seen each other for several years. Bruno, who was immediately inspired, armed with the names of Patrick’s classmates, wrote the song within an hour. Patrick was not enthusiastic at first, but he performed the song anyway, for the first time, on Patrick Sabatier’s show, to the ears of his friends. The Masons’ Stone was the centerpiece. Everyone in France knows the song, one of the singer’s more famous hits.
Patrick Bruel's classmates knew him before he became famous, and he considers them his second family. At the reunion after Patrick Bruel's dizzying success, which made him an idol in France, his friends express excitement and joy, without any jealousy.
Patrick didn't think that the episodic song intended for his small group would become a hit. It has a personal meaning, true, each friend and girlfriend is called by their real name and characterized by defined features, but it also has a universal meaning. The singer and his friends were indeed pleasantly surprised when the song, written especially for them in 1989, became the friendship anthem of all the youth in France.
The article is based on the 9th episode, I Don't Have a Friend Like You, of the television series The Secret Life of Songs, hosted by Andrey Manukyan and directed by Chloe Chouban. The episode aired on January 19, 2018, on France 3.
La vie secrète des chansons, épisode 9, Je n'ai pas d'ami comme toi, animé par André Manoukian et réalisé par Chloé Chovin, diffused le ven. 19.01.18, à 23h10, France 3
As someone who is knowledgeable and interested in French poetry of the past and present, I would be happy to receive Dr. Orna's email and/or phone number.
David Navon
For all those interested in contacting me, you can do so through the Anonymous Francophiles Facebook or through my Facebook. Or ask Motavi Hazanov for my email.
Impressive article, good luck in the future
You revealed to us Israelis something familiar from home – friendships, in French through songs. It was fun to read and hear. Thank you Orna
I enjoy reading and learning every week.
Orna deserves to be mentioned here and an article dedicated to the singing giant.
Ms. Maya Kazabianca, who passed away on 12/31/19
Maya was one of the singing stars of those years with a powerful voice.
Beautiful, deep and amazing poetry and many songs.
Thanks
Thank you Zvi and of course thank you to Dr. Orna Lieberman. I enjoyed it very much.
Dolly Rosenberg
admin
Thank you Orna for a real anthology of friendship poems and in general, a rich, interesting and enjoyable post! I didn't know what was behind Barbara's poetry that I love very much, now a new deep layer has been added to me. Have a good week, dear!
Copying here the new opening I wrote for a re-presentation of the article for Friendship Day 2021.
French poems for Friendship Day from yesterday
On the occasion of Friendship Day, which fell yesterday, I wrote about the secrets of some famous poems dedicated to a friend, girlfriend, or friends, in a dramatic or otherwise ordinary context. Friendship is like love, it brings tears and saves lives. Friendship, a precious treasure, must be cultivated on an ongoing basis.
Singer Stephen Asher has enjoyed a lifelong friendship with writer Philip Dejean. The latter has written over forty songs for him, but the friendship is not just professional. Friends in heart and soul, the two feel like twins, or rather like a trio.
Have you heard about the story behind Brassens' hit Les Copains D'abord? Which friend did Brassens have? Did you know?
Barbara lost her beloved pianist Liliane in a car accident and immortalized her in a well-known song. Serge Lema owed his life, not to mention his career, to his friend and mentor Marcel Gobineau. The latter was like a father to him. Adamo lost his father in an accident and his cousin Fredo took his place and accompanied the singer for more than forty years until death separated them. Michel Berger never recovered from the death of Daniel Balboin, his double, his twin, his little brother. The song dedicated to him, performed by France Gal, went down in history. Life goes on but not as before.
Miami, Laurie's best friend, saved her from sinking into depression and launched a new career for her. Patrick Bruel's song, "The Square of the Great People," written for him by a friend a decade older than him and dedicated to the singer's classmates, has surprisingly become the anthem of friendship for young people in France.
Long live true friendship, rare, precious, brightening the face in every situation and at every moment, it is what gives flavor to life, it is what lends a shoulder when false friends turn their backs, it is what restores trust.
I dedicate this article to Friendship Day, which was celebrated yesterday, to Zvi Hazanov, founder of the website Francophiles Anonymous. When I get the blues, I write to Zvi privately, “We haven’t spoken on the phone in a while,” and he answers immediately, and we set up a phone meeting when it’s convenient for both of us. I call from my landline to his, I’m free, leave me with WhatsApp, it’s great, but not for long conversations, there’s no radiation and no glue with the old-school curling wire, and I feel safe talking for a long time. Zvi tries to persuade me every time to switch to WhatsApp, but I insist on the landline and wait for him to be home. And he gives in. I hear his voice talking about da and ha or ha and da, it doesn’t matter what, and the heavy stone that was sitting on my heart melts and disappears, a miracle. At the end of the conversation, I tell him that I suddenly feel light, and he tells me, “We’ll talk again whenever you want.” In short, this is the reason I dedicate this article to him, because yesterday he asked me if it was possible to post it again for Friendship Day. Of course it is possible, how fun. Knowing that these singers had and still have loyal friends for life is very encouraging and we need support and encouragement. Enjoy reading and thank you very much.