"Long Is the Road (Américain)" is the name of a 1984 song recorded by the French singer and songwriter
Jean-Jacques Goldman
Jean-Jacques Goldman (; born 11 October 1951) is a French singer-songwriter and music record producer. He is hugely popular in the French-speaking world. Since the death of Johnny Hallyday in 2017 he has been the highest grossing living French p ...
. It was released in November 1984 as the third and last
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from his album ''
Positif'', on which it features as the eighth track. The song was the first hit of Goldman on the
French Singles Chart, reaching the top ten.
Lyrics and music
Lyrics are mainly in
French-language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
, but there are also many English words throughout the song.
"Long Is the Road (American)" begins with a mainly musical introduction in which Goldman chanted many "dam dam dam dam". Then the song starts and deals with the
American Dream, seen in the first verse as authentic
Eldorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
, while the second verse refers to the disappointment towards the social inequalities and the difficulty to make one's fortune in the United States.
[Elia Habib, ''Muz hit. tubes'', p. 32 ()]
The refrains are very different from the couplets : very playful, they are built in the same way as
negro spirituals. This gospel is "persevering but sometimes dull, sometimes bright of hope".
The background vocals conclude the song by repeating many "A-mérican", after a tune played on
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...
by
Supertramp saxophonist
John Helliwell
John Anthony Helliwell (born 15 February 1945) is an English musician, best known as the saxophonist, secondary keyboardist, backing vocalist, and occasional songwriter for the rock band Supertramp. He also served as an MC during the band's c ...
.
"Long Is the Road (Américain)" was performed on several of Goldman tours and was therefore included on the live albums ''En public'', ''
Traces'' and ''Tour souvenir''. It also features on the compilations ''Intégrale'' and ''Singulier''.
Cover versions
The song was covered by Jean-Félix Lalanne in 1990, by Les Fous Chantants in 2000 on their album ''1 000 Choristes rendent hommage à Jean-Jacques Goldman'', and by
Chimène Badi in 2007 for Les Enfoirés' album ''2007: La caravane des Enfoirés''.
It was performed by
Patrick Fiori and
Carole Fredericks
Carole Denise Fredericks (June 5, 1952 – June 7, 2001) was an American singer best known for her work in French music. She was the younger sister of Taj Mahal.
Between 1990 and 1996 she was in the trio Fredericks Goldman Jones alongside s ...
on May 27, 2000, on the French TV show ''Tapis rouge''.
Chart performances
Although the singer had had other hits in France, including as "Quand la musique est bonne", "Encore un matin" or "
Envole-moi
"Envole-moi" () is a French language song written, composed and recorded by Jean-Jacques Goldman taken from his 1984 album '' Positif''. The single sold over half a million copies and was certified gold. Goldman explained that the song is a "cry f ...
", "Long Is the Road (Amériain)" was Goldman's first charting single in France, as the chart was only created in November 1984. The song entered it at number 31 on 11 November 1984, i.e. one week after the first edition of the chart. It reached the top ten in its tenth week and remained in it for six weeks, peaking at number six on 6 February 1985. Then it almost dropped on the chart and fell off the top 50 after 23 weeks.
["Long Is the Road (Américain)", in French Singles Char]
Lescharts.com
(Retrieved May 9, 2008)
A version in English was also recorded by Jean-Jacques Goldman under the title "USA (Long Is the Road)" and released in Portugal and Spain.
Track listings
; 7" single
# "Long Is the Road (Américain)" — 4:46
# "P'tit blues peinard" — 3:33
; 12" maxi
# "Long Is the Road (Américain) (extended version) — 7:27
# "P'tit blues peinard" — 4:27
Charts
References
External links
("Chansons" => "En un clic" => "Long Is the Road (Américain)")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Long Is The Road (Americain)
1984 songs
1985 singles
Jean-Jacques Goldman songs
Macaronic songs
Songs written by Jean-Jacques Goldman