Poupée de cire, poupée de son

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Poupée de cire, poupée de son
Eurovision Song Contest 1965 entry
Country	Luxembourg
Artist(s)	Isabelle Gall
As	France Gall
Language	French
Composer(s)	Serge Gainsbourg
Lyricist(s)	Serge Gainsbourg
Place	1st
Points	32
Lyrics	from Diggiloo Thrush
Video Clip	YouTube video

Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Wax doll, sawdust doll) was the winning entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1965. It was performed in French by France Gall representing Luxembourg.

The song, composed by Serge Gainsbourg, was the first non-ballad to win the Contest and is generally agreed to be one of the stronger Contest entries: it was nominated as one of the fourteen best Eurovision songs of all time at the Congratulations special held in October 2005. Recently, the faux French band Les Sans Culottes released a cover of the song on their album Fixation Orale.

The lyrics, in addition to the confusion (outlined below) regarding the meaning of "son", have several double meanings in them. On one level, Gall sings about simply being the conduit for Gainsbourg's lyrics. On another, Gainsbourg himself is on record as explaining that the song is about the difficulties faced by young people in understanding love, when love songs are themselves sung by people too young to appreciate it.

1 Song title
2 At Eurovision
3 In other languages
4 Covers
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Song title

The word son in the song title has frequently been misunderstood, especially by English-speakers, as meaning "sound", and this has led to several attempts to explain poupée de son as having to do with a singing-doll toy. There is, however, no evidence that a toy of this kind (une poupée qui chante) has ever been called a "sound doll" in French.

Son in this context is an entirely different word, meaning "bran" (or sawdust, resembling bran), of the kind used to stuff children's floppy dolls ^[1]. Poupée de son is a long-standing expression in French; it is also used in the expression Syndrome du bébé "poupée de son", "floppy baby syndrome" (infantile hypotonia), and can even refer to someone too drunk to stand up. "Bran doll" as a phrase is not entirely unknown in English either: "no more brains or backbone than a bran doll" ^[2].

However, as the lyrics contain many references to singing and recording, it seems that the title plays on the different meaning of "cire" (wax) (which allude to the old shellac records, commonly know in France as "wax disks") and son (i.e. bran/sound). In this way, the suggested title "wax doll, singing doll", can be considered as a correct, but obscure translation.

[edit] At Eurovision

The song was performed sixteenth on the night (following Denmark's Birgit Brüel with For Din Skyld and preceding Finland's Viktor Klimenko with Aurinko Laskee Länteen). At the close of voting, it had received 32 points, placing first in a field of 18.

It was succeeded as Luxembourgish representative at the 1966 Contest by Michèle Torr with Ce Soir Je T'Attendais.

It was succeeded as Contest winner by Udo Jürgens with Merci Chérie.

[edit] In other languages

Versions of Poupée de cire, poupée de son in other languages include:

Czech: Voskova panenka ("Wax Doll"), sung by Eva Pilarova
Danish: Lille Dukke ("Little Doll"), sung by Gitte Hænning
English: A Lonely Singing Doll, sung by Twinkle
Estonian: Vahanukk ("Doll"), sung by Tiiu Varik
German: Das War Eine Schöne Party ("That Was a Nice Party"), sung by France Gall
Finnish: Vahanukke, Laulava Nukke ("Wax, Singing Doll"), sung by Ritva Palukka
Hebrew: בובה של קש ושעווה Buba Shel Kash Vesha'ava ("Doll of Straw and Wax")
Italian: Io Sì, Tu No ("I Do, You Don't"), sung by France Gall
Japanese: 夢みるシャンソン人形 Yume Miru Shanson Ningyō ("Dreaming Chanson Doll"), sung by France Gall
Portuguese: Boneca de Cera, Boneca de Som (note the translation - "Wax Doll, 'Doll of Sound'"), sung by Karina
Russian: Кукла Восковая, sung by Muslim Magomayev
Spanish: Muñeca de Cera ("Doll of Wax"), sung by Karina
Swedish: Det Kan Väl Inte Jag Rå För ("I Really Can't Help It, Can I?"), sung by Gitte Hænning
Vietnamese: Búp Bê Không Tình Yêu ("Doll Without Love"), sung by Ngoc Lan (as well as a dance version by Mỹ Tâm)

[edit] Covers

The Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire have been playing a cover of Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son throughout their 2007 tour in promotion of their new album, Neon Bible.

The German band Welle Erdball is performing a cover of the song on their album Chaos Total from 2006.