Vicky Leandros – “Après Toi” and “Come What May”

by Paul

And now for something completely different… In 1972 Vicky Leandros had a European hit with “Après Toi” (After You), and I went on my first overseas trip from New Zealand, to the French Pacific colony of New Caledonia.

All the time we were in Nouméa, its capital, we heard the song “Après Toi” again and again, and it came to be the theme song of our two week visit – and always reminds me of that time.

Of course I bought the single (see above), although unlike New Zealand singles it had a huge hole in the middle, so I had to find an adapter to be able to play it!

The reason the song was so big in Europe was she had just won the Eurovision song contest with it, on behalf of Luxembourg.

This is “Après Toi”, in French:

And here are the French lyrics:

Tu t’en vas, l’amour a pour toi le sourire d’une autre,
Je voudrais, mais ne peux t’en vouloir
Désormais, tu vas m’oublier
Ce n’est pas de ta faute, et pourtant tu dois savoir

Qu’après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie

Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi

Même un jour, si je fais ma vie
Si je tiens la promesse qui unit deux êtres pour toujours
Àpres toi, je pourrai peut-être donner de ma tendresse
Mais plus rien de mon amour

Après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie

Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi

Vicky Leandros is actually Greek, and having spent much of her early life in Germany with her musician father (Leandros is actually his first name), Vicky Leandros sings in numerous languages and apparently she sang “Après Toi” in seven languages.

The English version, which reached No. 2 in the UK, is called “Come What May”:

Think I prefer the French version… for the words and the memories…

Paul

P.S. Vicky Leandros earlier came 4th at Eurovision in 1967 with “L’amour est bleu”, also known as “Love is blue”, which became very popular in the late Sixties in the version by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.