"White and Black Blues" is a song recorded by French singer

Joëlle Ursull Joëlle Ursull (born 9 November 1960) is a French singer. She performed " White and Black Blues", composed by Georges Augier de Moussac with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 of 5 May 1990. She scored 132 points a ...

, with music composed by and French lyrics (with some words in English) written by

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1990 The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 5 May 1990 in the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia. Organised by the European Broadcast ...

held in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, placing second. It is the first single from her album ''Black French'' and has become something of a fan favourite.

Background

Conception

Composed by with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, "White and Black Blues" was originally titled "Black Lolita Blues", however

declined to perform it due to the

pejorative A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hosti ...

connotations of the word "

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

". The rewritten version met with her approval. Gainsbourg, had previously composed

France Gall Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947 – 7 January 2018), known professionally as France Gall, was a French ''yé-yé'' singer. In 1965, at the age of 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, tenth edition of the Eurov ...

's winning entry for in , "

Poupée de cire, poupée de son "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" (; English: "Wax doll, rag doll") recorded by French singer France Gall with music composed and French lyrics written by Serge Gainsbourg. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 held in Naples, winning the ...

", as well as the entry " Boum-Badaboum" for

Minouche Barelli Minouche Barelli (13 December 1947 – 20 February 2004), born Mary-Pierre Barelli, was a French singer, best known internationally for her participation in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. Barelli was born in Paris, the daughter of singer Lu ...

in , which had finished fifth (and he had also composed "Comme un boomerang" for Dani to enter the 1975 Eurovision, but the song was rejected as some of its lyrics were deemed too violent; that song was released by Dani in 2001, 26 years later, as a duet with

Étienne Daho Étienne Daho (; ; born 14 January 1956) is a French singer-songwriter. He has released a number of synth-driven and rock- surf influenced pop hit singles since 1981. Career Daho was born in Oran, French Algeria. He sings in a low, whispery vo ...

, and was a major success in France that year). "White and Black Blues" itself deals with the need to overcome the prejudices of

skin colour Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation, which is largely the result of genetics (inherited from one's biological parents), and in ...

. Ursull sings, "when someone talks to me about skin colour / I have the blues which sends shivers down my spine / I feel as if I'm in a tale by

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

". That said, she does not believe in relinquishing her connection to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

entirely ("Africa, my love, I have you in my skin"), but admits that she faces difficulties in a white society ("we, the blacks / we're a few millions, a dime a dozen"). Musically, it features an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

as well as the

synthesiser A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

effects starting to appear in the early 1990s. The song is in

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , a ...

, with the verses following an unusual phrasing of seven triplets per

phrase In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...

, and the chorus with a more conventional eight triplets per phrase.

Eurovision

Antenne 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

internally selected "White and Black Blues" as for the of the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. Ursull became the first black woman to represent France at Eurovision. On 5 May 1990, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the

Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall () is a large concert hall and convention center in Zagreb, Croatia. It is named after Vatroslav Lisinski, a 19th-century Croatian composer. The building has a big hall with 1,841 seats and a small hall with 305 s ...

hosted by on behalf of (JRT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Ursull performed "White and Black Blues" fourteenth on the evening. Régis Dupré conducted the event's orchestra in the performance of the French entry. At the close of voting, the song had received 132 points, tying for second place with "Somewhere in Europe" by

Liam Reilly Liam Reilly (29 January 1955 – 1 January 2021) was an Irish singer-songwriter and a member of the group Bagatelle, formed in 1978 by drummer Walter (Wally) McConville along with bass player Ken Doyle and guitarist John O’Brien. Career In 1 ...

that , in a field of twenty-two. It was succeeded as French representative at the 1991 contest by

Amina Amina (or Aminah) is the loose transcription of two different Arabic female given names: * ʾĀmina (Arabic: آمنة, also anglicized as ''Aaminah'' or ''Amna'') meaning "safe one, protected" * ʾAmīna (Arabic: أمينة, also anglicized as ''Am ...

with " Le Dernier qui a parlé...".

Chart performance

"White and Black Blues" had a great success in France and was one of the summer hits of 1990. It debuted at number 47 on 26 May 1990 and reached number two seven weeks later, but was unable to top the chart, as

Zouk Machine Zouk Machine is an all-female Zouk (musical movement), zouk group from Guadeloupe which had several hits, particularly in France, such as the summer number-one single on French SNEP, SNEP Singles Chart "Maldòn (la musique dans la peau)", in 1990 ...

, Ursull's former band, was then number one with "

Maldòn "Maldòn" is a 1989 song recorded by the Guadeloupean band Zouk Machine. Written and produced by Guy Houllier and Yves Honoré, the song is the first single from the album of the same name, and was released in May 1990. In France, it achieved a h ...

". The single remained in the top ten for 18 weeks and left the top 50 after 26 weeks of presence, and was certified

Gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

. In Sweden and Germany, the single achieved a minor success, peaking respectively at number 19 and number 86. It was also a top ten hit in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, "White and Black Blues" debuted at number 76 on 16 June 1990, peaked at number nine in its seventh week, and totalled ten weeks in the top twenty and 23 weeks on the chart. It ranked number 30 on the European year-end chart. It was also much aired on radio, spending 12 weeks on the European Airplay Top 50 Chart with a peak at number 11 in its fourth week, and was number two on French both AM and PM airplay charts on 28 July 1990.

Track listings

* CD single # "White and Black Blues" — 3:00 # "White and Black Blues" (instrumental) — 3:00 * 7" single # "White and Black Blues" — 3:00 # "White and Black Blues" (instrumental) — 3:00

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1990 singles Joëlle Ursull songs CBS Records singles Eurovision songs of 1990 Eurovision songs of France Songs written by Serge Gainsbourg 1990 songs Songs about racism and xenophobia