White and Black Blues
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White and Black Blues was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, performed in French (with some words in English) by Joëlle Ursull. The song was performed fourteenth on the night of the competition. At the close of voting, it had received 132 points, tying for 2nd place in a field of 22.
Composed by Georges Ougier de Moussac with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, the song was originally titled "Black Lolita Blues", however Ursull (the first black woman to represent France at the Contest) declined to perform it due to the pejorative connotations of the word [1]. The rewritten version met with her approval and has become something of a fan favourite.
The song itself deals with the need to overcome the prejudices of skin colour. Ursull sings that "When someone talks to me about skin colour/I have the blues which sends shivers down my spine/I feel as if I'm in a tale by Edgar Allan Poe". That said, she does not believe in relinquishing her connecton to Africa entirely ("Africa, my love, I have you in my skin"), but admits that she faces difficulties in a white society ("We, the blacks/We're a few millions, a dime a dozen").
Musically, the song features an accordion as well as the synthesiser effects starting to appear at the Contest in the early 1990s.
It was succeeded as French representative at the 1991 Contest by Amina with C'Est Le Dernier Qui A Parlé A Raison.
