Bo le lavabo

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“Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)”
“Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)” cover
Single by Lagaf'
from the album Le Lavabo
Released March 1990
Format CD Single
7" maxi
12" maxi
Recorded 1989
Genre House
Length 3:50
Writer(s) Lil Louis
B. Bayle
Lagaf'
Certification Gold France, 1990
Lagaf' singles chronology
"Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)"
(1990)		 "La Zoubida"
(1991)

"Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" is a 1990 novelty song recorded by the French TV presenter and humorist Lagaf'.

Contents

[edit] Background and writing

In one of his variety sketches, the humorist Vincent Lagaf' (Vincent Rouil), who featured on several TV programs in the 1980s and 1990s, commented on the easiness of "producing" a hit during the house period, in which the music, yet repetitive, manages to make forget the words, reduced to a bare and trivial content. The sketche meeting a great success, a vinyl record was finally released. And against all odds, this unpretentious and ironic single managed to reach number one on French Singles Chart[1] !

Lyrics are very poor. In it, Lagaf' explains that, for producing a hit every year, changing the words is enough : the first year, we can sing "il est beau le lavabo" ("the sink is beautiful"), the second year, "il est laid le bidet" ("the bidet is ugly"), and the third year, we made a words mix.

The music uses a sample recorded by Lil Louis for its song "French Kiss", released in 1989.

After this amazing success, Lagaf' released a new single, the following year, "La Zoubida", which was even more successful than "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (number one for 11 weeks)[2].

[edit] Chart performances

In France, the single debuted at the bottom of the chart on March 24, 1990. It progressed steadily in the chart, even if sometimes lost a few places, and eventually reached #1, on June 16. It remained only a single week at the top of the chart but stabilized in the top 10 for a total of 18 weeks. It left the Top 50 on September 29, after its 28th week. The single was certified Gold disc by the SNEP, the French certificator, for more than 400,000 copies sold[3].

According to the Infodisc website, 444,000 copies of the single were sold[4], and "Bo le lavabo (wc kiss)" is the 718th best-selling single of all time in France[5].

[edit] Formats and track listings

CD-Single
  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (3:50)
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (Bonus) (1:00)
  3. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (Forbidden Version) (5:00)
12"-Single
  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (3:50)
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (Forbidden Version) (5:00)
12"-Maxi

A-side :

  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (3:50)

B-side :

  1. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (Bonus) (1:00)
  2. "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)" (Forbidden Version) (5:00)

[edit] Chart

Chart (1990) Peak
position
French Singles Chart[6] 1
Country Certification Sales
France Gold[3] 444,000[4]
Preceded by
"Sacrifice" by Elton John		 French (SNEP) number one single
June 16, 1990		 Succeeded by
"Maldòn (la musique dans la peau)" by Zouk Machine

[edit] References

  1. ^ Elia Habib, Muz hit. tubes, 2002, p. 185,6 (ISBN 2-9518832-0-X)
  2. ^ "La Zoubida", French Singles Charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  3. ^ a b Certifications of Lagaf's singles Chartsinfrance.net (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  4. ^ a b Certifications of Lagaf's singles Infodisc.fr (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  5. ^ Infodisc.fr (Retrieved December 26, 2007)
  6. ^ "Bo le lavabo (WC Kiss)", French Singles Chart Lescharts.com (Retrieved December 26, 2007)