Need suggestions for French songs

[Mike K]

Have a job coming up . Four 2 hour sets at a French restaurant. I have some French songs but looking for suggestions for others and links to the music if you have them. Here is what I have now:

La Vie En Rose
Sous Le Ciel De Paris
Love is Blue
Style Musette
Domino Waltz Musette
C'Est Se Bon
Retour Des hirondelles
If you love me
La Foule
Accordion Noir
Une Valse Musette
Que Reste T Il De Nos Amours?
Indifference

At least I think these are French.

 

[Dingo40]

La mer??

 

[lordzedd]

La mere??

Better known in the US as "Beyond the Sea."

 

[olivigus]

@Mike K I wouldn't feel right giving away someone else's content, but Ronen Segall over at accordionlove.com has a lesson section on French songs, including a great lesson on how to improvise French-sounding melodies with just two major 7th chords. You can do a free 3-day trial to check out lessons and even download the sheet music for songs. It's a pretty cool site though, worth checking out, and very reasonably priced if you do sign up. Son Histoire by Alexis HK is one of the songs he does and it's just beautiful. Also, Lucy Riddett is an accordionist from Melbourne who plays a lot of French songs and has free tutorials on her YouTube channel, including some of the popular songs from Amelie. Here's an example:

Good luck with the gig. Sounds like fun.

 

[Mike K]

Some others I found music to but have never played but have some music on my computer


I love Paris

La Valse D'Amelie​

Valse Pour Valerie
Boum Musette
Bluesette
Flight of the Angels
la Sorciere
c'est L'accordeon
l'infidel
Le Blues De Musette
Le Tango Select

 

[Mike K]

Better known in the US as "Beyond the Sea."

Got that music somewhere.....will dig it out.

 

[saundersbp]

Yann tiersen stuff might be good option. Simple, fashionable and repetative and most use same one trick pony.

 

[dunlustin]

Buy Knobby's book.

 

[JeffJetton]

What Now My Love (Et Mainenant)
Under the Bridges of Paris
My Way (Comme d'Habitude)
I Will Wait for You and/or What What Happens (both from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg")
Fascination (co-written by a Frenchman and used in the movie "Afternoon in Paris", so it counts!)
L'Accordeon (Serge Gainsbourg)
L'Accordeoniste (Edith Piaf)
Un Homme et une Femme

 

[Dingo40]

La vie en rose.
??

 

[Dingo40]

Just a thought:
My cousin hired an authentic French accordion trio with vocalist for his wedding .
Only problem, they played nothing but French music.
After an hour, the guests would cheerfully have guillotined all three.
So, don't be afraid to mix in a generous non French element.
Remember: variety is the spice of life !?

 

[Mike K]

What Now My Love (Et Mainenant)
Under the Bridges of Paris
My Way (Comme d'Habitude)
I Will Wait for You and/or What What Happens (both from "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg")
Fascination (co-written by a Frenchman and used in the movie "Afternoon in Paris", so it counts!)
L'Accordeon (Serge Gainsbourg)
L'Accordeoniste (Edith Piaf)
Un Homme et une Femme

Did not know MY Way was French. Nor What Now My Love.

 

[RobertKennedy]

La Foule is not a French song but everybody thinks it is (and the French version was a big hit) so you're good with that one. Just remember to be pedantic about the fact that it isn't French.

 

[Glug]

Shelia Lee has some playlists, the first one is French (musette):

Play Lists

Play Lists Welcome to the Play Lists page. I am creating CATEGORIES on this page that will either have the linked songs or will link to the blog page. There are SOOOO many songs that can fall into …

shelialee.wordpress.com

 

[wirralaccordion]

I assume French Toast is a French piece. It has a lovely section where it goes from G minor to G major. Frank Marocco plays it.

 

[JeffJetton]

Did not know My Way was French. Nor What Now My Love.

Yeah, there are quite a few English-language "hits" that are really just French songs with new lyrics.

There's a whole Wiki page on them.

 

[JeffJetton]

I assume French Toast is a French piece. It has a lovely section where it goes from G minor to G major. Frank Marocco plays it.

That's a good one. It's not strictly from France, but rather a Frank Marocco original that he composed in the style of the classic French Musette tunes such as Brise Napolitaine and Flambée Montalbanaise.

(It also shares a suspicious amount of musical DNA with Frosini's "Olive Blossoms")

 

[Giovanni]

add to the list :-
She
Dance in the old fashion way
Maigret Theme by Ron Grainer
Can Can
love story theme
under the bridges of Paris
there are some musette accordion books .........available for sale

I take the point someone made if the audience are not strictly french people, they will loose interest in hearing just french music .....all the time best to mix it up if you can .........

 

[Chrisrayner]

Better known in the US as "Beyond the Sea."

In France La mere is the mother. I think you mean La Mer.

 

[Chrisrayner]

Le petit bal de La marine.