"T'en va pas" (Eng. "Don't Go Away") is a 1986 song recorded by the French artist

Elsa Lunghini Elsa Lunghini, stage name Elsa (born 20 May 1973), is a French singer and actress. She was a teenage pop-star in the late-1980s. In 1986, she was the youngest singer to reach number one in the French charts, with the single " T'en va pas", and sh ...

. Released as a single on 12 October 1986, this song, her debut single, was the soundtrack of the 1986 movie '' La Femme de ma vie''. It was a smash hit in France.

Background

In the movie, Elsa portrayed Jane Birkin's daughter and played the piano in a short scene. Finally, a whole song had been composed by Romano Musumarra, who decided to release it as a single. Musumarra had already worked and helped produce hits for two famous French artists of the 80s— Jeanne Mas ("

En Rouge et Noir "En Rouge et Noir" is a 1986 French single recorded by Jeanne Mas, from her album '' Femmes d'aujourd'hui''. It achieved a great success in France, topping the chart during 1986 summer. At present, it is undoubtedly the most known song of this ar ...

") and Princess Stephanie of Monaco (" Ouragan"). "T'en va pas" was a huge hit in France, and managed to export itself across Europe with an English recording : "Papa, Please Don't Go". It became well known in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

because it was used for Jeans' TV commercial there. Also in Japan, Tite Kubo used the song as the image song for the character

Orihime Inoue is a Character (arts), fictional character and in the ''Bleach (manga), Bleach'' manga series and its anime adaptations created by Tite Kubo. She is one of Ichigo Kurosaki's friends, and later his wife. Like the many other characters in the ser ...

from ''

Bleach Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove color (whitening) from a fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically, to ...

''. It also was used as the image song for the character Yumisuka Satsuki from '' Tsukihime''. In 2008 the song was used in television commercials for Impulse brand deodorant, in Argentina. The song was available in the French and English languages on the best of ''Elsa, l'essentiel 1986-1993''. The music video shows images from the movie alternating with Elsa performing the song. In the mid-2000s, the song was covered in a live version by Priscilla on the TV show ''Absolument 80'' broadcast on M6.

Chart performance

"T'en va pas" had a huge success in France. It debuted at number 26 on the chart edition of 6 December 1986 and reached the top ten the week after. In the fifth week, it topped the chart and there stayed for eight consecutive weeks, blocking at number two Desireless' hit " Voyage, Voyage". Certified Gold disc by the

Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique The National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (french: Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique; SNEP) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym ...

for over 500,000 copies sold, the single remained for 18 weeks in the top ten and for 25 weeks on the chart. Elsa, who was 13 years old at the time, became the youngest artist to reach number one on the French Singles Chart and thus appeared on the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

; however, her record was beaten in 1993 by

Jordy Lemoine Jordy Claude Daniel Lemoine (born 14 January 1988), known as Jordy, is a French singer and musician. He was known for his hit single " Dur dur d'être bébé!" when he was four years old. He was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines. He is the ...

. In other European countries, it reached the top three in the Walloon region of Belgium, and was a top 50 hit in the Netherlands. On the ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

''s

Eurochart Hot 100 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 70 on 20 December 1986, reached a peak of number 17 and spent a total of 22 weeks on the chart. It also appeared for four weeks on the Eurochart Airplay Top 50 with a peak at number 37. Worldwide, the single's sales were about 1,3 million copies.

Track listings

* 7" single # "T'en va pas" (single version) – 3:50 # "T'en va pas" (instrumental) – 4:45 * 12" maxi # "T'en va pas" (remix) – 5:32 # "T'en va pas" (instrumental) – 5:32 * 7" single - English version # "Papa Please Don't Go" (single version) – 4:00 # "T'en va pas" (instrumental) – 3:50 * 12" maxi - English version # "Papa Please Don't Go" (remix) – 5:25 # "Papa Please Don't Go" (instrumental) – 5:25

Production

Arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

: Romano Musumarra *

Engineered Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specializ ...

by Gianpaolo Bresciani at Titania Studios, Rome

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1986 debut singles Elsa Lunghini songs SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Songs written for films Songs written by Romano Musumarra