Friday Flashback: ‘Ces Soirées-là ’ by Yannick
December 9th, 2011After the fantastic French rap number at the beginning of JERSEY BOYS, Tommy DeVito tells the audience, “That’s our song. ‘Oh, what a night.’ ‘Ces soirées-là .’ French. Number One in Paris, 2000. Ten weeks. Not bad for a song from 30 years ago.’
Here’s a little info about the artist and the big international hit: Yannick is a French hip-hop/chanson musician. He is best known for his internationally successful song “Ces soirées-là ” (English: “This Night”), a 2000 dance-based re-imaging of the The Four Seasons’ hit pop song “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night).”
In France, the song debuted at #13 on March 25, 2000, then climbed and topped the chart three weeks later. It remained in the top spot for 15 consecutive weeks, then dropped rather slowly. It spent 24 weeks in the Top Ten, 36 weeks in the Top 50 and 37 weeks on the chart (Top 100). Certified Diamond disc by the SNEP, it is to date the 13th best-selling single of all time in France with more than 1.5 million copies sold.
“Ces soirées-là ” was also successful in Belgium (Wallonia), debuting on the chart on 5/6/2000 at #33 and reaching number one three weeks later. The song spent a total of 24 weeks on the Top 40 chart.
The song peaked at #4 for two weeks in July 2000 in Switzerland and remained on the chart for 30 weeks, 14 of those weeks in the Top Ten.
Although I have seen “Jersey Boys” numerous times, and obviously heard this version of “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” open the show, I had never actually listened to this song by Yannick before. Thanks for making this video available on the JBB, Susie and Dale. Thanks to the two of you, I keep gaining greater insight into the show and the legacy of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
Comment by Len Gersten — December 12, 2011 @ 3:51 pm
You’re welcome, Len. This was actual a suggestion a big JB fan, Julia “Tweeted’ to us this video suggestion.
Thanks for saying you keep gaining insight–it’s like our mission!
Happy New Year!
Comment by Susie — December 30, 2011 @ 12:16 pm
And a happy and healthy new year to both you and Dale.
Comment by Len Gersten — December 31, 2011 @ 11:55 am