"High" is a 1988 song recorded by French artist

David Hallyday David Hallyday (born David Michael Benjamin Smet; 14 August 1966) is a French singer, songwriter and amateur sports car racer. Early life Hallyday was born in Boulogne-Billancourt and is the son of the French singers Johnny Hallyday and Sylvie ...

. It was the second of the four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

from his debut studio album ''True Cool''. Released in November 1988, the song was a hit in France, becoming David Hallyday's first number-one single.

Writing and video

The song was composed by Lisa Catherine Cohen and the music composed by Hallyday. As for the other tracks of the album, lyrics are in

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

. The music video was shot in a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

, Hallyday playing the organ, while a chorus composed of women chanted 'high' during the refrains. Elia Habib, an expert of the French charts, deemed that with this vigorous song, Hallyday presented "a musical style at the joint of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

n rock and pop".

Chart performance

In France, "High" debuted on the singles chart at number 45 on 19 November 1988, climbed quickly and entered the top ten in its fourth week. It topped the chart for five consecutive weeks, dislodging

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...

's "

Pourvu qu'elles soient douces "" (English: "As Long as They're Soft/Gentle/or Sweet") is a 1988 synthpop song by the French artist Mylène Farmer. Third single from her second studio album '' Ainsi soit je...'', it was released on 12 September 1988. The long music video ver ...

"; then it almost did not stop to drop on the chart and totaled 15 weeks in the top ten and 23 weeks in the top 50. It was the most successful from the album ''True Cool'' and the second one in Hallyday's career, behind "

Tu ne m'as pas laissé le temps "Tu ne m'as pas laissé le temps" is a 1999 song recorded by French artist David Hallyday. It was the lead single from his album ''Un Paradis / Un Enfer'', released about two weeks after the single, in June 1999. It was a hit in France (a number- ...

". "High" was also released in UK with another cover single, but failed to reach the chart. On the

European Hot 100 Singles The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and '' Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, it debuted at number 90 on 10 December 1988, peaked at number five in its seventh week, and fell off the chart after 19 weeks. It charted for three weeks on the European Airplay 50, with a peak at number 40.

Track listings

* 7" single # "High" — 4:05 # "True Cool" — 3:29 * 12" maxi # "High" — 4:05 # "True Cool" — 3:29 # "Vertigo" — 4:08

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:High (David Hallyday Song) 1988 singles David Hallyday songs Songs written by David Hallyday SNEP Top Singles number-one singles 1988 songs