"Un jour, un enfant" (French pronunciation: [œ̃ ʒuʁ œ̃n‿ɑ̃fɑ̃]; "A Day, a Child") is a song recorded by French singer Frida Boccara, with music composed by Emil Stern and lyrics by Eddy Marnay. It represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 held in Madrid, and became one of the four winning songs.
| "Un jour, un enfant" | |
|---|---|
 Album cover | |
| Single by Frida Boccara | |
| from the album Un jour, un enfant | |
| Language | French |
| B-side | "Belle Du Luxembourg" |
| Released | 1969 |
| Genre | Ballad |
| Length | 2:42 |
| Label | Philips |
| Composer(s) | Emil Stern |
| Lyricist(s) | Eddy Marnay |
| Eurovision Song Contest 1969 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | |
| Language | |
| Composer(s) | |
| Lyricist(s) | |
| Conductor | |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result | 1st |
| Final points | 18 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "La source" (1968) | |
| "Marie-Blanche" (1970) ► | |
| Official performance video | |
| "Un jour, un enfant" on YouTube | |
Boccara recorded the song in five languages: French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian.
Background
Conception
"Un jour, un enfant" was written by composer Emil Stern and lyricist Eddy Marnay. The song is a classical ballad, describing the wonders of the world as seen by a child.[1]
Boccara recorded the song in five languages: French, English –as "Through the Eyes of a Child"–, German –"Es schlägt ein Herz für dich", translated: "A Heart Beats for You"–, Spanish –"Un día, un niño", translated: "A Day, a Child"–, and Italian –"Canzone di un amore perduto", translated: "Song of a Lost Love"–.[1]
Eurovision
The Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF) internally selected the song as its entrant for the 14th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.[2]
On 29 March 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Teatro Real in Madrid hosted by Televisión Española (TVE), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Boccara performed "Un jour, un enfant" fourteenth on the night, following Germany's "Primaballerina" by Siw Malmkvist and preceding Portugal's "Desfolhada portuguesa" by Simone de Oliveira. Franck Pourcel conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the French entry.[3]
At the close of voting, the song had received 18 points, the same number of points as Spain's "Vivo cantando" by Salomé, the United Kingdom's "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu, and the Netherlands's "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr. As there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners.[4][5]
The song was succeeded as (joint) contest winner in 1970 by Ireland's "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. It was succeeded as French representative that year by "Marie-Blanche" by Guy Bonnet.
Aftermath
"Un jour, un enfant" was included in Boccara's first studio album of the same name.[6] Boccara performed her song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show Songs of Europe held on 22 August 1981 in Mysen.[7]
Chart history
Weekly charts
| Chart (1969) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[8] | 24 |
Legacy
Cover versions
- ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog covered the song in Swedish on her 1970 solo album Som jag är, under the title "Sov gott, min lilla vän" (translated: "Sleep Well, My Little Friend").
- An instrumental version of the song by Paul Mauriat was used as a theme for the Philippine television drama anthology Lovingly Yours, Helen in 1981.
References
External links
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