It is not Joe Dassin himself to blame that most people think he is “the First Voice of France” or the like, it is the listeners themselves who basically know only a couple of his songs, but very rarely go any further.
For the French, consequently, it is quite amazing to hear that “Les Champs Elysées” is, God forbid, “the spirit and the core of the French nation”. Imagine someone claiming that “Katyusha” is the spirit of Russia or Britney Spears is the spirit of America. You’ll hear a storm of protests, and for good reason.
Joe Dassin, nevertheless, has a bunch of tracks that very rarely appear on popular playlists, but that are much more exquisite and worth attention.
“Dans les yeux d’Emilie” is, for me personally, the melancholic start of this dull-grey autumn-winter period, with its dreary craving for summer.
Le Saint-Laurent est prisonnier
D’un décembre qui va bien durer six mois.
Quand les jours ressemblent aux nuits,
Sans éclaircie à espérer:
Qui peut croire que l’été nous reviendra?
(Saint-Laurent (quarter in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is the prisoner of a December that will last six months, when the days and the nights look pretty the same, with no light in sight. Who will dare believe that the summer will come back?)
English title: Joe Dassin “In Emily’s Eyes”
Original title (French): Joe Dassin “Dans les yeux d’Emilie”
First published in the Levinarium Telegram Channel (now closed and deleted)