Voyage, Voyage

This year marks the 40th anniversary of ‘Voyage Voyage’, one of the ultimate French 80s hits, by Desireless. From this blog: ‘A beautiful number about travelling the world. Literally translated to ‘Travel Travel‘, the lyrics encourage eternal travel to beautiful, wonderful, breathtaking places and sacred destinations around the world. Written by Dominique Albert Dubois and Jean-Michel Rivat, and recorded by Claudie Fritsch-Mentrop who went by the stage name ‘Desireless’ and released it in 1986 as the first single from her album ‘François‘, the song became a huge hit all over the globe. Despite being sung entirely in French, it broke through language barriers on music charts and featured in the top slots internationally between 1986 and 1988. (Ironically it missed the number one spot in France, peaking at second position for four weeks, behind Elsa Lunghini’s ‘T’en Vas Pas‘.) The music video was directed by Bettina Rheims, and premiered in France in December 1986.’

As you’d expect, the song was covered many times. Recently, by former Eurovision Songcontest staple Barbara Pravi, for a movie soundtrack, the song gets a pop flamenco make over:

Thanks to reader Victor, I got hold of this sulty piano version by ESTL:

Also on piano, but with a totally different vibe, this wailing version by Libanese duo Soap & Skin:

Among the more odd versions, is this Russian metal make over, this Spanish translation, and this Hungarian take. And of course, links to the covers by Bananarama and Kate Ryan need to be in this blog.

There are more piano-covers, and dance-remixes. This Spanish rework is something different, classical:

And of course, this must include the gentle, angelic version by FS-regular Meimuna:

A slightly different live version by Meimuna:

Speaking of regulars, La Bronze added her vocals to this danceable duet:

A spacey indiepop version by Puzzle:

There are more, but did I miss a really really good version? Drop a comment.