Smiling Boot to Little Sparrow: a French Music Playlist

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I wrote about learning Portuguese that listening to music is important.

Find a couple songs catchy enough that you can listen them 1,000 times in a month or so. You have a real gem if it’s so powerful you can’t live without knowing what the singer is on about. Then listen to hit over and over until you can sing it. Yes, sing it. In sum:

1. Find song you like enough to hear 1,000 times.
2. Learn the words and sing it.

This is my playlist for learning French.

French is the native language of only 74 million people, compared to 484 million Spanish speakers and 390 million English speakers (or 990 million Mandarin speakers). For a comparatively small population, French-speaking world punches well above its weight in music (as does England).

Spanish-language music scene features almost no women. Celia Cruz is the only salsa singer I can name. Shakira sings in English. Karol G is a recent phenomenon. Peru is one exception where its native genres celebrate the female voice in Chabuca Grande, Eva Allyon, Susana Baca, Carmencita Lara and more. But the lack of female voices in Spanish and Portuguese music is curious. French is the opposite. French music may feature more women than music in English.

Before I get into the list, something should be said about Celine Dion. She is the bestselling French-language singer of all time and she’s a traditional Quebecois from Montreal. With that said, we won’t say anything else about Celine Dion.

El Ziguezon by La Bottine Souriante

I put a good deal of thought about the order of songs in a playlist post. I had a hard time with French, but ultimately went with La Bottine Souriante because they’re from Quebec, which we visited over the summer. I’ve been into country and folk music for years now, so this is a no-brainer. It’s unique to the Anglo ear as a call-and-repeat style. The Quebec province was like a frontier for most of its history, so this is good marching music for long treks.

This isn’t going to help much if you’re just starting out with French. But I listened to it so many times while looking at the lyrics, that I successfully memorized the chorus. And I always got a chuckle from the Quebecois I met on the trip when I busted it out, including at the entrance to Jacques Cartier National Park. Actually, I got a laugh a few times until I didn’t. Once I sang it to someone who had no idea what I was saying, I stopped.

If you want another video from the same group with traditional Quebec imagery, try Dans nos vieilles maisons, but my next favorite from this group is Un dimanche au matin. If you like the Quebecois folk sound, you can also check out Dégénérations by Mes Aïeux.

Formidable by Stromae

The Belgian rapper-artist Stromae is the experimental hip-hop choice. Raised in Brussels the son of a Rwandan man and a Belgian woman, he is the image of a tortured artist. I’d compare him to Kanye West, but without the cringe moments. I see the similarity in how he turns heavy subject matter into dance hits. Being a good European, his music is infused with the electronic sound.

This song is the best to lead with because the chorus is slow and repetitive, and Stromae speaks what I hear as very clean French. This video has 392 million views. His most popular on YouTube, with 1.1 billion views, is Papaoutai, and party song about being abandoned by his father. Followed by Alors en Dans (500 million) and Tous les memes (473 million).

La Foule by Edith Piaf

I’ve mentioned Edith Piaf on this blog before. I have told people that her (mostly) English-language hit, Autumn Leaves, is my favorite song of all time, if such a thing can exist. She should come first on this list, but she’s been showcased before.

Her entire catalog is worth a listen, and her music seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popular culture. But I only recently learned that this old favorite, La Foule, which I’ve been listening to years, is a cover of Que nadie sepa mu sufrir, a Peruvian waltz composed by Argentines Angel Cabral and Enrique Diezo.

Piaf’s cover is probably the best known, but it didn’t stop there. It’s been redone repeatedly throughout Latin America, sometimes as “Amor de mis Amores.” I was listening to this song for years before learning its South American origins!

Celine Dion may be the bestseller, but she had the fortune of being born late enough to be able to leverage modern technology, and doing it in English to mass market. We’ll see if anybody is still listening to “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” in 2070.

Les Champs-Elysees by Joe Dassin

After playing with Stromae’s “Formidable,” you’re ready to learn a chorus. Start with this anthem to the Parisian nightlife. When I met a French tourist in Montreal I would sing the chorus of this instead of “La Ziguezon” for the same effect. It’s a classic like “Beyond the Sea” or “YMCA.”

Tous les Garçons et les Filles by Francoise Hardy

Haunting disillusion from a suffering heart. Great video showcases Parisian beauty. For something more upbeat, check out La bonne du cure by Annie Cordy.

Indila – Dernière Danse

I didn’t listen to this one repeat, but it’s worthy of mention for having 1.3 billion views. Indila makes videos showcasing typical French culture, for any fellow aspiring Francophiles.

Zaz

If you dig this list and most of what I recommend, the algorithms will relentlessly push Zaz on you. I liked everything I heard from Zaz, but nothing was really addictive. After trying again and again, I settled on this one, probably because of the accordion. Another one worthy of mention is Les Passants.

Have I forgotten any artists you deem worthy? Leave a video in the comments.