Françoise Hardy's German recordings

Our pick of the pops

Former German student Françoise Hardy spoke the language of Goethe with ease and enjoyed a string of successes in Germany, mostly with German versions of her domestic hits.

French singer-songwriter Françoise Hardy’s melancholy material was at odds with the relentlessly cheery music German record buyers preferred in the 1960s. Nevertheless, she became was a huge success in Germany.

Her first top 30 hit came in 1963 with Peter und Lou, a cover of her international hit Tous les garçons et les filles, which also charted in its original French version and made the top 20.

It was another year before the coolest of French chanteuses graced the German charts again, this time with an original German composition, Wer du bist.

Her biggest success came shortly afterwards,

with Frag' den Abendwind, a top ten hit in

the summer of 1965, which peaked at number

seven and spent six months in the charts.

Two further hits, Ich bin nun mal ein

Mädchen, a cover of her Pourtant tu m’aimes,

and Dann bist du verliebt, followed in 1966.

At this time, she also recorded a German

version of Dans le monde entier, one of her

biggest hits, as Ein Fenster wird hell.

She enjoyed one further top 40, in 1969, with

Souvenirs der ersten großen Liebe.