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Parlez-vous franais ?
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Parlez-vous franais?
| cover =
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| type = single
| artist = Baccara
| album = Light My Fire
| B-side = Amoureux
| released = 1978
| recorded =
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| venue =
| genre =
| length =
| label = RCA Records
| writer =
* Rolf Soja
* Frank Dostal
* Peter Zentner
| producer =
| prev_title =
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}}
"'Parlez-vous franais ?'" (; "Do you speak French?") is a song recorded by Spanish disco duo Baccara, written by Rolf Soja, Frank Dostal and Peter Zentner. It is best known as the entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1978, held in Paris.
Background
The French-language version of "Parlez-vous franais?" was included on Baccara's second studio album 'Light My Fire' and an English version with the same title was also released as a single in certain markets.
The song was composed and produced by the same team who had written the duo's breakthrough single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and the follow-ups "Sorry, I'm a Lady" and "Darling", the Germans Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal, with Peter Zentner[http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=3358999 Discogs.com, composers](also lyrics).
The song is an up-tempo disco duet, with the singers describing the importance of speaking French described as "the language of love and summer". One of them at least has recently been on holiday and required a working knowledge of that language in order to have a holiday romance.
Eurovision
The song was performed seventeenth on the night, following 's Mabel with "Boom Boom" and preceding 's Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi". At the close of voting, it had received 73 points, placing 7th in a field of 20.
Despite its moderate success in the Contest "Parlez-vous franais?" proved to be one of the year's best-selling entries, reaching #8 in Sweden, #18 in Austria, #21 in West Germany and #30 on the Dutch singles charts.[http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Baccara&titel=Parlez%2Dvous+fran%E7ais%3F&cat=s Swisscharts.com, chart positions Baccara, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands] However, when the duo released their first 'greatest hits' album in late 1978, 'The Hits of Baccara', the song was surprisingly omitted. Despite this, "Parlez-vous franais?" has become a favourite among Contest fans, most recently being performed as part of a medley by Dana International during the 'Congratulations' special in late 2005.
It was succeeded as Luxembourgish representative at the 1979 contest by Jeane Manson with "J'ai dj vu a dans tes yeux". Composers Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal returned to the Contest in when they co-wrote Luxembourg's entry "L'amour de ma vie", performed by Canadian singer Sherisse Laurence.
Charts
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