Dear Francois Hardy, You left last Tuesday to join the clouds of your friends, and since then a shower of testimonies has fallen upon your memory. We dedicate the yé-yé icon to you. Icon you were, but yé-yé, there is room to doubt it.
You were part of the generation The sixties, that’s why we associate you with the trend of the time, but you were more Saint-Germain-des-Prés than Saint-Tropez. Your songs are not twists, they are sad. We should classify you as Gréco, Brel and Ferré, not Johnny, Sheila and Eddie.
You were 17 when you wrote your DNA-filled jingle. All men and women. Your record company trusted the title so little, against the wave of yé-yé, that it banked first, at the end of your first Super 45 rpm. Oh, dear, the French version of the American country rock hit. Fortunately, we can always count on the audience to find hidden treasures, and they turned to Page B.
All boys and girls my age
Walking down the street, two by two
All boys and girls my age
Know better what it means to be happy
And eye to eye and hand in hand
They leave in love without fear of tomorrow
Yes, but I walk alone, through the streets, with a broken soul
Yes, but I go alone because no one loves me.
Anthem of the Forsaken. Anthem of Solitude. Anthem of the Unpunched. If Johnny was the idol of youth, if Sylvie was too pretty to dance, then François, you were on the other side, the side of lost souls.
You understand the bewilderment of the only rejected person, seemingly alone in the world, chosen by no one.
If we believe that all men and women walk in pairs on the street, it is because we do not see people walking alone. Loneliness makes you invisible.
Millions of us thought this song was written for us. She helped us come out, name our reality, and live our pain. And hang on the verses at the end. It is not one Happy ending. it is a Maybe it will end.
I wonder when that day will come
Where eye to eye, where hand in hand
I will be happy without fear of tomorrow…
The song promises nothing. She doesn’t say it will happen, but mentioning it helps comfort her. We don’t laugh yet, but we stop crying.
Photo by Georges Penrihem, Agence France-Presse Archives
François Hardy during the recording of the show good life In Paris, 1985
This job will always be there. When asked, “All the men and women my age walking down the street, two for two…” That day, we thought of a boy with a girl, but it could be a boy with a boy or a girl with a girl. And a solo traveler might be looking for someone.
In the 1960s, no one was taking lost souls to a late-night slow dance. Today, they’re the ones getting “swiped” on Tinder, but the indifference still hurts.
Françoise, you’ve written a song that many people won’t stop thinking aloud to themselves.
My personal message is to thank you for coming with me. If not two, I had your voice with me.
My global message is that you are more than a Ye-Ye icon, you are one of the icons of great French singing. All men and women First there was the pearl, then a whole necklace: Time of love, First good time of the day, My friend Roja, News staff, How to say goodbye to you, The house I grew up in, What’s the point?, question, So many beautiful things, Leave me a place…
Of course, you are the unforgettable artist of the most beautiful song about friendship ever heard by Jean-Max Riviere and Gerard Bourgeois.
I hope you will smile again on many more faces as you return to the depths of the clouds.
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