''Mistral gagnant'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

from

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

artist

Renaud Renaud Pierre Manuel Séchan (; born 11 May 1952 in Paris), known as Renaud, is a French singer-songwriter. With twenty-six albums to his credit, selling nearly twenty million copies, he is one of France's most popular singers. Several of h ...

on the Virgin France label, now part of

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, released in 1985. The first song, "Miss Maggie", made Renaud a controversial character in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

because the song praises women for their non-violence and honesty with the exception of PM

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

(a version of the song with the lyrics adapted in English was also recorded). The last verses read (translated from French): "In the final hour, ..if I can stay on earth, I would like to become a dog and have Margaret Thatcher as a lamp post to urinate against, daily." It was composed with Jean-Pierre Bucolo, who also helped with "La pêche à la ligne" and "Si t'es mon pote", while

Franck Langolff Franck Langolff, born Henri-Alain Langolff (1948 – 8 November 2006), was a French music composer. He was born on May 6, 1948, in Fez, Morocco, and died on September 8, 2006, in Rouen, France, at the age of 58. Langolff is known for his composi ...

co-wrote the music for "Morts les enfants" and "Fatigué". In the title song " Mistral gagnant", Renaud sings to his young daughter about his childhood and realizes that time flies as will fly away the laughs of his daughter as a child. This broad theme plus the very simple music makes this song one of the classics among Renaud's "tender" songs. A mistral gagnant was a kind of candy and a lottery. Some of them were "winning" (gagnant) and you could get another one for free. These candies were not on sale anymore when he wrote the song.

Track listing

# "Miss Maggie". # "La pêche à la ligne" oing fishing# "Si t'es mon pote" f you're my mate# " Mistral gagnant" # "Trois matelots" hree sailors# "Tu vas au bal?" re you going dancing?# "Morts les enfants" ead the children# "Baby-sitting blues" # "P'tite conne" illy fool# "Le retour de la Pépette" # "Fatigué" ed up Tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 11 are all used on the live album ''Visage pâle rencontrer public''. Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7 and 11 were included on the 2007 compilation ''The Meilleur of Renaud''. Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7 and 9 were covered for the tribute album ''

La Bande à Renaud ''La Bande à Renaud'' is a series of two tribute albums to French singer Renaud, consisting of songs of his performed by various other artists. The albums were released in June and October 2014, respectively. ''La Bande à Renaud'' The initial a ...

''.

Personnel

Source: *Renaud - vocals, backing vocals *

Jean-Philippe Goude Jean-Philippe Goude is a French composer and keyboardist, born in Paris on 27 July 1952. Early work * 1969: first compositions * 1975: composition and recording of the soundtrack for ''Frankenstein'', a play by Philippe Adrien at Théâtre de la ...

Randy Kerber Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema. Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national tour with Bette Midler in ...

- keyboards *

Neil Stubenhaus Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist. Career He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. In one of his early bands, The Neighbourhood in 1969, he played with future Kiss guitarist Vinnie V ...

- bass * Mick "Pooh" Baird - drums *Judith Chilnick,

Paulinho Da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

- percussion *Jean-Louis Roques - accordion *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and R&B saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's album '' ...

, Larry Klimas - saxophone * John Johnson - tuba *Georges Costa, Jean-Jacques Cramier, Klaus Blasquiz, Michel Adjaj, Michel Costa - backing vocals *Donn Wilkerson - string conductor

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mistral Gagnant 1985 albums Renaud albums Virgin Records albums