"Les Hommes qui passent" is a 1990 song recorded by the
French singer
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas (; born 5 December 1966) is a French singer. Her music is a mix of pop, cabaret, jazz, and chanson.
Since the appearance of her 1988 debut album '' Mademoiselle chante...'', Kaas has sold over 17 million records worldwide. She h ...
. It was her first single from her second studio album, ''
Scène de vie'', on which it features as sixth track, and her seventh single overall. It was released in April 1990 and became a top ten hit in France.
Song information
After the huge success of her debut album, ''
Mademoiselle chante le blues'', still well placed on the French album charts, Kaas decided to release her second studio album, ''
Scène de vie'', which was mainly written by the famous composer
Didier Barbelivien
Didier René Henri Barbelivien (born 10 March 1954 in Paris) is a French author, lyricist, songwriter and singer. Beginning in the 1970s, he wrote a number of successful songs for artists such as: Dalida, Johnny Hallyday, Michel Sardou, Daniel ...
. The lead single, "Les Hommes qui passent", was released at the same time as the album, in April 1990. Written by Barbelivien, the music was composed by François Bernheim.
The music video is in black and white. In the lyrics, the narrator, explains to her mother how men whom she dates behave and what they bring her at the material level. However, she expresses her desire to know love and keep a man only for her for a long period of time.
The song was part of Kaas's concerts tours in 1990, 1994 and 1998, and thus is available in a live version on the albums ''
Carnets de scène'', ''Tour de charme'' and ''Rendez-vous''. The song also features on the best of ''
Rien ne s'arrête'' and ''Ma Liberté contre la tienne'', and on the French compilation ''Les Plus Belles Victoires de la Musique''.
"Les Hommes qui passent" was covered at first by Oya Bora (then Grup Denk), who is a Turkish group and consists from Oya Küçümen and Bora Ebeoğlu, in
Turkish language
Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...
under the title "Şu Adamlar Anne" ("These guys mother") in ''Tiryaki'' ("Addicted") album in 1990 as 2nd track, and later by
Haris Alexiou
Haris Alexiou ( el, Χάρις Αλεξίου, ; born 27 December 1950 in Thebes, Greece as Hariklia Roupaka, el, Χαρίκλεια Ρουπάκα, ) is a Greek singer. She is considered one of the most popular singers in Greece and has been co ...
in
Greek-language under the title of "I andres pernoun mama (les hommes qui passent)". This version is available on her 2006 best of ''Anthology'' (CD 1, 18th track).
Chart performance
"Les hommes qui passent" entered the French Singles Chart at number 27 on the edition of 28 April 1990, climbed and reached the top ten in the fifth week, and remained there for five consecutive weeks including a peak at number seven, thus becoming Kaas' fourth top ten. It fell off the chart after 16 weeks of presence.
On the
European Hot 100, it debuted at number 82 on 12 May 1990, then rose to number 40 and peaked at number 35 in its seven week, and diseappered from the chart after its 14th week. It also started at number 38 on the European Airplay Top 50 on 5 May 1990, reached a peak of number 17 in its fourth week and totalled eight weeks on the chart.
Track listings
* 7" single
# "Les Hommes qui passent" — 3:46
# "Tropic Blues Bar" — 4:00
* CD single
# "Les Hommes qui passent" — 3:46
# "Tropic Blues Bar" — 4:00
* Cassette
# "Les Hommes qui passent" — 3:46
# "Tropic Blues Bar" — 4:00
* 7" single - Promo
# "Les Hommes qui passent" — 3:46
Charts
References
External links
"Les Hommes qui passent", lyrics"Les Hommes qui passent", music video
{{authority control
1990 singles
Patricia Kaas songs
Songs written by Didier Barbelivien
CBS Records singles
1990 songs