French Romantic Pop: 1960s

Late last year and early this year, I featured two posts on Italian romantic pop from the 1960s (go here and here). Interestingly, France was undergoing the same phenomenon in the sixties. As the European post-war economy improved, incomes climbed and tourism surged along with moody French New Wave film and delicate French cuisine. A new romantic optimism influenced by American pop began to emerge in French music. [Cover photo above of Francoise Hardy in the 1960s]

Here are nine videos illustrating the genre:

Here's Serge Gainbourg singing L'eau à la Bouche in 1960...

Here's Mireille Mathieu and Sacha Distel singing the theme from Un Homme et une Femme (A Man and a Woman) in 1966...

Here's Francoise Hardy singing Comment Te Dire Adieu in 1968 (to read my WSJ interview with Francoise, go here)...

Here's Marie Laforet singing Ivan, Boris et Moi in 1967...

Here's Mireille Mathieu in 1967...

Here's Maria de Rossi singing Save the Last Dance for Me...

Here's Maria de Rossi and Sacha Distel singing Something Stupid...

Here's Sylvie Vartan singing La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser in 1967...

And here's Marie Laforêt singing Toi Qui Dors in 1965...