Boum !

"Boum !" (French pronunciation: [bum], onomatopoeia similar to "boom" in English) is a popular 1938 song by the French singer/songwriter Charles Trenet which won him the Grand Prix du Disque.[1] Its light, irreverent lyrics express a joie de vivre typical in French popular music produced during the late 1930s.[2] According to historian Charles Rearick, Trenet's songs of the period represented escapism at a time dominated by political unrest and economic uncertainty.[3]

Charles Trenet, the song's author, pictured in 1946

It includes depictions of the sounds made by various animals and also various onomatopoeia. The lyric to the refrain is:

Boum !Boom!
Quand notre coeur fait Boum !     When our heart goes "Boom!"
Tout avec lui dit Boum !Everything goes "Boom!" with it,
Et c'est l'amourAnd it is love
Qui s'éveille.Which awakes.

"Boum !" has been recorded by other artists and in English translation. In 1994 the song was covered by Belgian singer Maurane.[4]

The song has featured in a variety of films and documentaries, including The World at War, Something's Gotta Give, Toto the Hero, Skyfall, and A Good Year. In the BBC TV-series 'Allo, 'Allo, Edith Artois often sings it, saying that it is one of her favourites. It has also been used in commercial advertising.

Parody

In Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin comic Land of Black Gold, Trenet's "Boum!" is transformed into a radio advertising jingle for a fictional roadside assistance company, "Simoun" ("Autocart" in the English editions). In the computer animated film Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible, Jimmy el Cachondo sings it with an alternative lyric in Spanish.

gollark: It isn't boring, it's a *void* ore miner.
gollark: Or GTech™ ominous beacon beams™.
gollark: We do have those.
gollark: Ah, the rationalisation causer activated. Cool.
gollark: The one with the ominous magenta beam.

References

  1. Yves Montand; Jeremy Leggatt; Patrick Rotman; Hervé Hamon (1992), You See, I Haven't Forgotten, New York: Knopf, p. 49, ISBN 978-0-679-41012-6
  2. Rearick, Charles (1997). The French in Love and War: Popular Culture in the Era of the World Wars. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 212-4. ISBN 978-0300064339.
  3. Rearick, Charles (1997). The French in Love and War: Popular Culture in the Era of the World Wars. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 212. ISBN 978-0300064339.
  4. "Clip Maurane, Boum, vidĂŠo et Paroles de chanson". Jukebo.fr. Archived from the original on 2013-01-26. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
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