Each time I hear, ra da da da da..........

'Michelle, ma belle.
Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble,
Très bien ensemble.'

These insightful words have recently earned Paul McCartney France's Legion of Honour Award.

I am not sure that when Napoleon Bonaparte first introduced this honour in 1802 that this was what he had in mind. Equally when Sir Paul penned this little ditty in 1965 I don't suppose that he expected that nearly 50 years later it would result in such an accolade.

Over the years it has not been uncommon for pop songs to throw in a little foreign language to spice things up and give them an air of sophistication. Who can forget the Swedish Britt Ekland singing seductively in French on Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's The Night'. I can only imagine with Britt that every night was in fact the night

In the 60s 'Je t'aime...moi non plus' became not only the first single in a foreign language to top the UK charts but also the first banned number one single due to it's supposed sexual content although to me if you read the Phone Book in French it would sound sexual

Anyway I present my Top 10 Songs including foreign lyrics (strangely most of them are French, so there may be more Legion of Honour Medals to follow)

1. Monsieur Dupont.....Sandie Shaw (1969)
    'I'm learning every day, a different word to say
    I know "je t'aime" and "je t'adore"
    But won't you tell me how, oh won't you tell me now
    The way to say en Francais: Give me more!'

....and she sang that without any shoes on. Why was that not banned?

2. Wooden Heart.........Elvis went all German and asked his 'schatz' to 'bleibst hier'

3. Denis, Denis....Blondie
     'Je suis si folle de toi'.....I wish Debbie Harry was 'si folle de moi'

4. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.....Ian Dury mixed his French and German and told us
    'Je t'adore, Ich liebe dich'....'Das ist gut, c'est fantastique'

5. Look What They Done To My Song, Ma......Melanie complained that 'ils ont change ma chanson et ce n'est pas bon, ma'

6. Que Sera Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be......we're going to Wembley with Doris Day

7. Games Without Frontiers....Peter Gabriel's excellent song includes the hook 'Jeux Sans Frontieres' and even quotes "It's A Knockout" which was the UK version of the game from the continent

8. Across The Universe.......The Beatles....John Lennon introduced a Sanskrit Mantra 'Jai Guru Deva, Om' which loosely translates as 'Ayr, Ayr Super Ayr'

9. Fade To Grey....Visage front man Steve Strange told us of an 'homme dans une gare desole...deux yeux fixes et froides' before he began to 'deperir a gris'

10. Hold On Tight....ELO....Jeff Lynne and the boys advised us 'accroches toi a ton reve'. Sound advice Jeff


Right I am off to sing that line in French from 'Lady Marmalade' to some poor unsuspecting female and hope that I don't get my usual slap in the face

Au Revoir, mes amis!