"Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (; "A Bench, a Tree, a Street") was the winning song of the

Eurovision Song Contest 1971 The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana Rosemary ...

performed in French by French singer Séverine, representing . The song is a classic French

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, with the lyric focusing on the loss of childhood innocence, and people following their dreams. The opening lines to the chorus translate as "we all have a bench, a tree, a street/Where we cherished our dreams / a childhood that has been too short". This song is used as the theme song of

Miss Hong Kong Pageant The Miss Hong Kong Pageant (), or Miss HK () for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973. The current Miss Hong Kong is Denice Lam ...

Eurovision performance

Four teenage male backup singers provided accompaniment. During Preview Week, Séverine sang the song in the empty square of

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, first walking to a bench, then sitting down while performing the middle verses, and then ending the song by walking away out of camera focus. The song received the then maximum score of 10 points (currently 12 points) from six voting nations. This song holds the record of receiving the most 10 point scores from this voting era. "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" was performed third on the night, following 's

Joe Grech Joseph "Joe" Grech, (born 9 February 1934) is a Maltese singer, who was born in Cospicua, Malta. He is best known for introducing the Maltese language to the Eurovision Song Contest 1971, the first appearance from Malta on this pan-European te ...

with "

Marija l-Maltija The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the 16th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Dublin, Ireland, following the country's victory at the with the song "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. Organised by the European ...

" and preceding 's

Peter, Sue & Marc Peter, Sue and Marc were a Swiss music group from Bern. The members were Peter Reber (born 1949, vocals / piano / guitar), Sue Schell (born 1950 in New York, vocals), and Marc Dietrich (born 1948, vocals / guitar). They represented Switzerland ...

with " Les illusions de nos vingt ans". By the close of voting, it had received 128 points, placing it first in a field of 18. The song was succeeded as contest winner in by

Vicky Leandros Vasiliki Papathanasiou ( el, Βασιλική Παπαθανασίου; born 23 August 1949), generally known as Vicky Leandros ( el, Βίκυ Λέανδρος, links=no), is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, music ...

singing " Après toi" for . It was succeeded as the Monegasque representative that year by

Peter McLane Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Anne-Marie Godart Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's " Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm", "Ciao Adios", "Friends", "2002 ...

with " Comme on s'aime".

Recordings

Séverine recorded the song in four languages; French,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(as "Chance in Time"),

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("Mach' die Augen zu (und wünsch dir einen Traum)") and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

("Il posto"). Despite the existence of an Anglophone version, however, it was the original French version which reached the UK Top 10, a rare non-Anglophone hit in that market.

Paul Mauriat Paul Julien André Mauriat ( or ; 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his mill ...

recorded an instrumental version of the song in his 1971 LP of the same title. His version was adapted in 1973 by

Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

as the theme tune for their ''

'', and has since then been highly familiar among generations of Hong Kong people.Eurovision Song Contest 1970-79
In that same year, Finnish singer

Carola Standertskjöld Carola Christina Standertskjöld-Liemola (23 March 1941 – 12 November 1997), professionally known as Carola, was a Finnish jazz and pop singer. Her style was partially inspired by American singers of the 1950s. Simultaneously, it was in the spi ...

recorded her version in Finnish, "Penkki, puu ja puistotie".

Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany. She had a number one hit in West Germany in 1964 with "''Liebeskummer lohnt sich nicht''" (''"Lovesickness ...

recorded a Swedish version 1971, "På en gammal bänk" ("On an old bench"). Kirsti Sparboe recorded it in Norwegian as "På en gammel benk" (On an old bench).

Heli Lääts Heli Lääts (24 June 1932 – 16 February 2018) was an Estonian singer (mezzo-soprano) whose career began in the mid-1950s. Lääts predominantly performed estrada, chamber, pop, polka, and jazz music. Early life and education Heli Lääts wa ...

and Liilia Vahtramäe recorded an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

version "Tänav, pink ja puu" ("A Street, a Bench and a Tree").

Charts

References

External links

Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1971

Detailed info and lyrics, The Diggiloo Thrush, "Un banc, un arbre, une rue".
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banc, un arbre, une rue Songs about childhood Eurovision songs of Monaco Eurovision songs of 1971 Eurovision Song Contest winning songs 1971 songs Philips Records singles 1971 singles Songs written by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles