“Tous les garçons et les filles” (“All the Boys and Girls”) is a song by French singer-songwriter Francoise Hardy, with Roger Samyn credited as co-writer on Hardy’s original 1962 ye-ye-era recording. The song recounts the feelings of a young person who has never known love and her envy of the couples that surround her. Hardy’s single, released internationally, was a massive hit in France, where it spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at No.1 (four separate runs) between late October 1962 and mid-April 1963. Hardy performed the song in a telecast in October 1962 in a musical interlude during the results of the 1962 referendum to allow direct election of the president of the French Republic. The record quickly became a success, selling 500,000 copies by the end of the year, and eventually selling more than 700,000 copies in France. It entered the UK charts in July 1964 for seven weeks rising to No. 36. Additionally, it is quoted several times by the main characters in J.L. Carr’s 1988 novel What Hetty Did.
“Non ho l’età (per amarti)” (“I’m not old enough (to love you)”), usually given as just “Non ho l’età“, was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, held in Copenhagen. It was performed in Italian by 15 year old Gigliola Cinquetti representing Italy. Like all previous Italian Eurovision entries, the song had also won that year’s Sanremo Music Festival. “Non ho l’età” became a considerable commercial success for Cinquetti, in Italy, the rest of Europe, Scandinavia and other countries worldwide. It reached No. 17 in the UK and remained in the charts for 17 weeks.
“Guantanamera” (the woman from Guantanamo) is perhaps the best-known Cuban song and that country’s most-noted patriotic song, especially when using a poem by the Cuban poet Jose Marti for the lyrics. The official writing credits have been given to Joseito Fernandez, who first popularized the song on radio as early as 1929 (although it is unclear when the first release as a record occurred). In 1966, a version by American vocal group the Sandpipers, based on an arrangement by the Weavers from their May 1963 Carnegie Hall Reunion concert, became an international hit. It reached No. 9 on the Billboard in the US and No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart.
“La, La, La” is a song recorded by Spanish singer Massiel, written by Manuel de la Calva and Ramon Arcusa. It is best known as the Spanish winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 in London. The performance of the song was the first of Spain’s two Eurovision wins to date. The song was composed by Ramón Arcusa and Manuel de la Calva, otherwise known as the singing duo Duo Dinamico. This was the first Eurovision Song Contest broadcast in colour, with viewers noting Massiel’s backing singers in their short teal coloured dresses (from left/tallest to right/shortest, they were María Jesús Aguirre, María Dolores Arenas, and Mercedes Valimaña Macaria).”La, la, la” beat the favourite, the UK’s “Congratulations”, by just one point. The song spent 3 weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at No. 35.
“Je t’aime… moi non plus” (“I love you… me neither”) is a 1967 song written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best known version with Jane Birkin. In 1968, Gainsbourg and English actress Jane Birkin began a relationship when they met on the set of the film Slogan After filming, he asked her to record the song with him. Birkin had heard the Bardot version and thought it “so hot”. She said: “I only sang it because I didn’t want anybody else to sing it”. The title was inspired by a Salvador Dali comment: “Picasso is Spanish, me too. Picasso is a genius, me too. Picasso is a communist, me neither”. In the UK, it was released on the Fontana label, but, after reaching number two, it was withdrawn from sale. Gainsbourg arranged a deal with Major Minor Records and on re-release it reached number one, the first banned number one single in the UK and the first single in a foreign language to top the charts. It stayed on the UK chart for 31 weeks.
