Today, 11th May, is the birthday of one of our greatest French singers, called Renaud. Renaud is his real first name, his full name being Renaud Séchan.
Renaud is 70 years old today, and has been singing since 1975.
Renaud is extremely popular in France, where he is loved not only for his great songs, but also for his personality.
He is an oversensitive, very humane and sincere, discreet and even shy person, very much revolted against war, injustice, inequality and poverty in the world. This is why some of his songs are a bit melancholic and some others quite political. He is also, in a way, a dreamer.
From the beginning of his career, Renaud presented himself as a sort of spokesman for all the people excluded and rejected from society.
He also sang about Paris, and was, at the beginning of his career, compared to a sort of adult Gavroche. The jacket of his first record plays with this image. He actually was on the barricades in May 1968 when he was 16.
Renaud had to stop singing for a few years due to a serious problem with alcohol, and eventually started writing songs again. I hope the love that the French people feel for him has contributed to supporting him a little bit. He has just released a new album this month (May 2022).
Here are some of his best songs
from the 70s and 80s
Clic on the images to open a new page with a video and the English translation.
I have corrected in green the translations I found.
(I could not translate the songs myself due to a lack of time, sorry about that) .
1) From his first album. 1975.
Amoureux de Paname
("In love with Paname", Paname being the nickname given to Paris.)
4) From the album "Mistral Gagnant". 1985.
