"Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (; "A Bench, a Tree, a Street") is a song recorded by French singer Séverine, with music composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and French lyrics written by . It in the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest held in

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, resulting in the country's only win in the contest.

Background

Conception

"Un banc, un arbre, une rue" was composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre with French lyrics by . It is a classic French

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

, with lyrics focusing on the loss of childhood innocence and people following their dreams. The opening lines of 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". Séverine recorded the song in four languages: French, English (as "Chance in Time"), German ("Mach' die Augen zu (und wünsch dir einen Traum)"), and Italian ("Il posto").

Eurovision

(TMC) internally selected "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" as for the of the Eurovision Song Contest. A promotional video was released showing Séverine singing the song in the empty square of

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...

. It depicts her walking to a bench, sitting while performing the middle verses, and then walking away out of focus at the end. On 3 April 1971, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre in

, hosted by RTÉ and broadcast live throughout the continent. Séverine performed "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" third on the evening, accompanied by four teenage male backing singers. She followed 's " Marija l-Maltija" by Joe Grech and preceded 's " Les Illusions de nos vingt ans" by Peter, Sue & Marc. Jean-Claude Petit conducted the event's live orchestra for the Monegasque entry. By the close of voting, the song had received 128 points, placing it first out of eighteen entries and winning the contest. It received the then maximum score of 10 points from six voting nations. The song holds the record for receiving the most 10-point scores from this voting era. It was succeeded as contest winner in by " Après toi" by Vicky Leandros for . It was succeeded as the Monegasque representative the following year by " Comme on s'aime" by Peter McLane and Anne-Marie Godart.

After 1971

Séverine performed the song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show '' Songs of Europe'' held on 22 August 1981 in Mysen.

Chart performance

Despite an English version existing, the original French version reached the UK Top 10, a rare non-Anglophone hit in that market.

Weekly charts

Legacy

Paul Mauriat released an instrumental version of the song on his 1971 LP of the same title. His version was adapted in 1973 by Television Broadcasts Limited as the theme tune for their '' Miss Hong Kong Pageant'', and has since been familiar to generations of Hong Kong residents.Eurovision Song Contest 1970-79
Also in 1971, Carola Standertskjöld recorded a Finnish version, "Penkki, puu ja puistotie". Siw Malmkvist recorded a Swedish version, "På en gammal bänk" ("On an old bench"). Kirsti Sparboe recorded a Norwegian version as "På en gammel benk" (On an old bench), and Heli Lääts and Liilia Vahtramäe recorded an Estonian version "Tänav, pink ja puu" ("A Street, a Bench and a Tree").

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banc, un arbre, une rue Songs about childhood Eurovision songs of Monaco Eurovision songs of 1971 Eurovision Song Contest-winning songs Songs in French 1971 songs Philips Records singles 1971 singles Songs written by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles