"Le Téléphone Pleure" was a 1974 hit single by French artist
Claude François. It was released on Disques Flèche/Phonogram. The song was re-recorded in English as "Tears on the Telephone" and was a hit in the British charts
Official Charts
/ref> in 1976.
Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...
recorded an Italian version of the song, " Piange... il telefono", in 1975. This version was so successful that a film was made based on its lyrics, '' Piange... il telefono''. It was directed by Lucio De Caro
Lucio De Caro (born 15 January 1922) is an Italian retired screenwriter and film director.Bondanella p.186 He also worked as a journalist.
Selected filmography
* ''Tragic Night'' (1942)
* ''The Twentieth Duke'' (1945)
* '' Processo per direttiss ...
and starred Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...
, Francesca Guadagno, Marie Yvonne Danaud, Claudio Lippi
Claudio Lippi (born 3 June 1945) is an Italian television presenter, actor and singer.
Life and career
Born in Milan, Lippi started his career in 1964 as a singer, obtaining his mayor success with the song "Per ognuno c'è qualcuno". He later ...
and János Koós.
Argentine singer King Clave recorded a Spanish version of the song titled "Mi corazón lloró" ("My heart cried"), which topped the Mexican charts in 1975 and was also a hit throughout Latin America. The cast of the musical Belles belles belles also covered Claude François' song.
The song is built on a melodramatic story, in which a man calls his five-year-old daughter on the phone, but without her realizing that the heartbroken caller is actually her father—as he is the estranged husband of the child's mother, who left him before their daughter was born, six years earlier. At the end of the story, the man, faced with the final rejection of his wife (which the child has told him), says: "Je serais demain au fond d'un train" (literally: "I'll be at the bottom of a train tomorrow"), which means that the man is going to move out permanently.
Track list
; 7-inch single (October 1974 France)
*With Jean-Claude Petit
Jean-Claude Petit (born 14 November 1943) is a French composer and arranger, born in Vaires-sur-Marne. After accompanying jazzmen in his childhood, Petit went to the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied harmony and counterpoint. He did the st ...
and his orchestra
; 7-inch single (1974 Canada)
*With Jean-Claude Petit and his orchestra
Foreign versions
; 7-inch single (1975 Spain)
; 7-inch single (1975 UK)
; 7-inch single (1975 Italy)
; 7-inch single (1975 Brazil)
See also
* List of best-selling singles in France
References
French songs
1974 songs
Songs with music by Claude François
Songs about telephone calls
Songs written by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre
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