Soundtrack to the South of France: Joe Dassin's “Les Champs Ellyses”

At Rock Turtleneck we rock hard, blog hard and play hard. And this year that meant a family vacation to the truly awe-inspiring South of France. It was a whirlwind of baguettes avec jamon, crisp, cool rose at the local vineyard, beaches full of smoking frenchmen and women, over-the-top yachts docked in St. Tropez and mirth and merriment with friends and family.

The unofficial soundtrack to the trip consisted of one song: “Les Champs-Elysees,” a 1969 French Pop classic by a cat named Joe Dassin. From what I can tell it is more or less the “Sweet Caroline” of France - the guaranteed, all-ages-welcome singalong.

And though the song celebrates the Parisian equivalent of Fifth Avenue, one need not be near it to be seduced by its charms.


I first heard the tune when my friend Ivan's son was singing it to himself repeatedly. That night, Ivan and I caught a set by a Spanish guitar playing vagabond at a campsite/nightclub. The show was relatively docile until he pulled le trumpe carde: "Les Champs-Elysees."

I am hardly the first American to fall under the spell of "Les Champs-Elysees" - the song was also featured in the Wes Anderson film The Darjeeling Express. And a glance around YouTube shows it's been covered more times than "All Along the Watchtower."

Let us bid au revoir with Dassin doing his signature tune in a tres bon live TV version in 1979. Cheers.


Get Joe Dassin's Les Champs-Elysees on iTunes here