Spotify playlist

Started this in 2010, and kept using the wrong spelling (l’été parfait, would be right). This is the 2025 edition, with a slight Yacht Rock vibe (Veronique Sanson, Giorgio Lopez, Xavier Polycarpe) and with new names like Anna Majidson and Miki. And ol’ faves like Vanessa Paradis, Yves Simon and Fanny Bloom. There’s even a Dutch closing track! It’s all for summer loungin’, Autoroute du Soleil or wherever you may roam these coming months. Use sunscreen! And take it easy. Bam-bam.

Direct link HERE. Cover, as always, by Wilbert Leering.

If you follow this blog for a few years, you know two things: around the 21st of June, I put up Perfect Summer Song compilation (on Spotify) with just the right songs for your Autoroute du Soleil (wherever that route may lay) pleasure. And 2: The name, Parfait Eté, is a crime against the French language but I just don’t care. So, for the 2024 edition (the 15th compilation) you go HERE

This year, I chose mostly 80s inspired songs, by bands & artists like Le Couleur, Ricky Hollywood, Fishbach, Petit Nuage and Perez. Songs that, to me, sound like the music I heard in the 80s when was sitting on the backseat of my parents car, on our way down the Autoroute du Soleil. Songs French radio played to death, like Rouge et Noir by Jeanne Mas, any Princess Stephanie single, Cargo by by Axel Bauer and anything by Indochine and Niagara. Those days. But then, now.

Today is the 80th birthday of the Grande Dame of French pop music, ms Françoise Hardy. It’s a bitter sweet birthday; if you follow the news about her, you know her health is very poor. Earlier this month, she wrote a plea to president Macron about allowing euthanasia for people who suffer without relief.

That said, her music is still very much alive. She’s been a true force of French pop, and while she’s best known for her lovelorn, autumny ballads, there’s a joyous, danceable side too. That’s not getting that much attention. It’s not her best side, but songs like ‘Jukebox’, ‘VIP’, ‘Viens’ from masterpiece ‘La Question’ and the sultry big city soul of ‘J’écoute la musique saoûle’ are underrated.

Here is playlist with her bestest danceable songs, with a few remixes too.