"D'amour ou d'amitié" (meaning "Of Love or Friendship") is a song by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, recorded for her French-language album, '' Tellement j'ai d'amour...'' (1982). It was written by lyricist

Eddy Marnay Edmond Bacri known by the professional name Eddy Marnay (Algiers, 18 December 1920 – 3 January 2003), was a French songwriter. In his career, he wrote more than 4000 songs, including works for Édith Piaf, Frida Boccara and Céline Dion. He ...

and French composers Jean Pierre Lang and Roland Vincent. "D'amour ou d'amitié" was released as a single in France in December 1982 and in Quebec, Canada in April 1983. The song became a commercial success, topping the chart in Quebec and reaching top ten in France. It was also certified Gold in both countries, making Dion the first Canadian artist to receive a Gold certification in France. In 2005, "D'amour ou d'amitié" was included on Dion's greatest hits album, ''

On ne change pas ''On ne change pas'' (meaning ''We do not change'' or ''One does not change'') is the first comprehensive French-language greatest hits album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released by Columbia Records on 30 September 2005. It features songs rec ...

''.

Background and release

In 1982,

discovered a melody written by Jean Pierre Lang and Roland Vincent and wrote lyrics for it, creating "D'amour ou d'amitié". He wrote about awakening to love and crossing the barrier from friendship to romance. The song was recorded at the Family Sound Studio in Paris in July 1982 and produced by Marnay, assisted by Rudi Pascal. Pathé-Marconi released it as a

7" single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

in France in December 1982, with "Visa pour les beaux jours" on the B-side. In January 1983, Dion represented Canada as revelation of the year at

Midem Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

in Cannes. She performed "D'amour ou d'amitié" in front of 3,500 music professionals. After that, RTL radio station decided to make "D'amour ou d'amitié" their favorite song and played it several times a day. Soon, other radio stations in France followed suit. Few days later, Dion performed "D'amour ou d'amitié" on

Michel Drucker Michel Drucker, CQ (born 12 September 1942 in Vire) is a popular French journalist and TV host. He has been on screen for so long on various shows and different networks, both public and private, that he once said that some people joked that h ...

's popular TV show, ''Champs-Élysées''. In April 1983, Pathé-Marconi also released "D'amour ou d'amitié" as a 12" maxi-single with two more songs. The same month, a 7" single was issued in Quebec, Canada by Saisons. It was the second single from '' Tellement j'ai d'amour...'', after " Tellement j'ai d'amour pour toi". In early 1984 in Germany, Dion also released a German-language version of "D'amour ou d'amitié" titled "Was bedeute ich dir". The B-side included "Mon ami, geh nicht fort", a German version of "

Mon ami m'a quittée "Mon ami m'a quittée" (meaning "My Friend Left Me") is the first single from Celine Dion's album '' Les chemins de ma maison''. It was released in October 1983 in Quebec, Canada and in November 1983 in France. The song was very successful in Que ...

Commercial performance

"D'amour ou d'amitié" became Dion's first commercially successful single. In France, it reached number five on the chart in the summer of 1983 and was certified Gold on 1 September 1983 for selling 500,000 units. By the end of 1983, the single has sold over 700,000 copies in France. Dion also became the first Canadian artist to receive a Gold certification in France. Following this success, she released her first album in France in September 1983, '' Du soleil au cœur'', which featured songs taken from Dion's two albums previously issued in Quebec, Canada. The song also became a hit in Quebec, where it entered the chart on 7 May 1983 and topped it for four consecutive weeks in July and August 1983. It spent forty weeks on the chart in total and was certified Gold in April 1985 for selling over 50,000 copies in Canada.

Accolades

Thanks to "D'amour ou d'amitié", Dion won the

Félix Award The Félix Award (french: Trophée Félix or Prix Félix) is an award, given by the ''Association du disque, de l'industrie du spectacle québécois'' ( ADISQ) on an annual basis to artists working in the music and humor industry in the Canadian ...

for Artist of the Year Achieving the Most Success Outside Quebec.

Track listings and formats

*Canadian 7" single #"D'amour ou d'amitié" – 3:59 #"Le vieux monsieur de la rue Royale" – 4:10 *French 7" single #"D'amour ou d'amitié" – 3:55 #"Visa pour les beaux jours" – 3:22 *French 12" maxi-single #"D'amour ou d'amitié" – 3:55 #"Visa pour les beaux jours" – 3:22 #" Ce n'était qu'un rêve" – 3:47 #"L'amour viendra" – 4:20 *German 7" single #"Was bedeute ich dir" – 3:55 #" Mon ami, geh nicht fort" – 2:58

Charts

Weekly charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D'amour ou d'amitie 1982 singles 1982 songs Celine Dion songs Corneille (singer) songs French-language songs Song recordings produced by Eddy Marnay Songs written by Eddy Marnay