The best Francoise Hardy song, according to Francoise Hardy
In a list of Françoise Hardy’s all-time favourite songs, why should she count her own? Given the amount of time, love and care that goes into the creation of a song, more artists should celebrate their own work as some of the most important compositions in the list of the most important songs in their life.
Hardy had every right to. All too often brushed off as simply a style icon, she was an all-around it-girl and French pop pioneer. Hardy’s talent and allure were a vital bridge, connecting the French music world, which had forever been somewhat isolated in its own sounds and standards, to the countercultural music scene. The Rolling Stones loved Hardy, Bob Dylan loved Hardy, and as she moved through her career with those powerful fans, she brought the remembered energy of the 1960s and ‘70s to the world of French chansons.
Many of them make her list of her all-time favourite songs, as she picked for Pitchfork. Dylan’s ‘Just Like A Woman’ stood out to her, telling the publication, “Dylan has composed and recorded a lot of marvelous songs, but this one is really moving.” Elvis Presley played an important role to her, as it did for so many musical forces as she celebrated the track ‘Where Do You Come From?’ and said, “Elvis Presley was an important influence, and we all love him very, very, very much.” Even David Bowie pops up with Hardy saying of his later song ‘I’m Deranged’ and the album it sits on, “Outside is not as famous as it should be.”
But amongst all these formative tracks, from countercultural hits to classic symphonies, she includes her own. When so many songwriters draw from personal experiences and use their music to mark important moments in their life, it feels right that on a list of the most essential songs, her own comes into play – especially when the story behind the song is such a deeply emotional and personal one as the story of ‘Tant de belles choses’
“‘Tant de belles choses’ means ‘so many beautiful things’”, she translated for the publication. In a moment of fear and uncertainty, that phrase became important to Hardy as a calming and courage-building reminder that the world around her was special.
In the midst of a tragic and upsetting experience, writing about beauty was grounding as she recalled, “It’s a very special song for me, because I had the diagnosis of lymphoma at the beginning of January [2004], and my birthday is on the 17th of January. We had dinner, and suddenly my son went away, and it took time for him to come back. A friend of his told me, ‘He doesn’t want you to see him cry.’ I was so upset.”
Reminding her of her son and of this moment in her life when everything seemed fragile and worry, ‘Tant de belles choses’ became a song that represented this tender period of worry and fear, but a message that there was still beauty around her.
