How was the song “The Lady in the Heat” born?

The song “The Lady in the Heat” is one of the most famous chansons ever written. It is known in Israel not only for its original performance by Barbara and Georges Moustaki but also for its Hebrew performance by the late Yossi Banai and Ilana Rubina (May the Lord bless you with a long life). However, few know the story of how this song was created. Until now…

Dr. Aviv Amit, a linguist and researcher of French culture at Tel Aviv University, who normally also teaches courses to the general public in museums and universities across the country, was forced, like the rest of us, to stay home. Therefore, he decided to use this time to record the following video in which he tells the story of the beloved song. You are invited to watch the video, which is about five minutes long, and then listen to both the original and the Israeli rendition.

The chanson written despite Barbara's television set

Both Georges Moustaki and Barbara were two Jewish singers who met in Paris in the 1960s. Moustaki, born in Alexandria, owed his first success to the song Milord, which he wrote forEdith Piaf And which catapulted him to the top of the French music world.

However, after this success, Moustaki reaches a creative impasse and finds it difficult to write new songs. In his distress, he turns to Barbara, who is called by many as “La grande dame de la chanson” (The Great Lady of Chanson), and she suggests that he come visit her. Who knows, maybe there he will find his lost muse?

Georges Moustaki was delighted with the offer and arrived at Barbara's luxurious apartment in16th District. However, there the duo of singers encountered quite a challenge to their attempts to create a new chanson. Since Barbara was already a famous singer who had earned quite a bit of money, she could afford to buy a television set. Georges Moustaki did not have such a set in his home and he sat down in front of the box and could not stop staring at it.

Barbara didn’t like it very much, she had invited him to write a song, and she threatened to turn off the TV. In response, Moustaki took a guitar and asked Barbara what she would like him to write his song about. “Write a song about me,” was her reply. “Absolutely fine,” said Moustaki, I’ll write a song about the Big Brown Lady (La grande dame brune).

Barbara didn’t really like being called “the big lady” so instead Moustaki suggested calling her La longue dame, or “the long lady” in Hebrew. Barbara liked that better and Moustaki began writing the song. This situation made him think of the famous song Au Claire de la Lune in which the boy Pierrot wrote songs to his lover all night.

Indeed, Pierrot, who in the original song writes songs for his lover Columbine, “lent” Moustaki his quill and this time he writes a love song for the lady in heat. In the song, Moustaki tells us how the lady in heat slowly comes to him and indeed, in the clip below, you can see how Barbara gets up from the piano, which was always associated with her, and walks towards Moustaki, who plays the guitar, until they meet in the last stanza.

The song, released in 1967 on one of Barbara's albums, was very successful and helped Moustaki restart his career. This song was followed by quite a few other famous songs written by Moustaki, including "My Freedom" (Ma liberté), which he wrote for Serge Reggiani.

Some time later, the song was translated into Hebrew as “You Are My Freedom” and was given an unforgettable performance by Hava Alberstein.

But let's get back to the song “The Lady in the Heat.” Following its success, it was translated into Hebrew by Yaakov Shabtai and performed by Yossi Banai and Ilana Rubina. As you can hear, the translation is even more romantic than the original…

And by the way, a few years ago, Yossi Banai's son, Yuval Banai, renewed the song with Talia Eliav, and you are invited to listen and decide which performance you like better.

Want to read more articles about Barbara?

• Avital Inbar, summed up her life in a wonderful article  Barbara – the singer with a sad character.
• If you liked Barbara's poem "Gettnigen", you are invited to read about it in the article Making peace with enemies, by Gaia Folat.
• Another article that does not deal exclusively with Barbara, but does have a chapter dealing with the poem “Little Cantata,” is Chansons for a friend By Dr. Orna Lieberman.