PETER SARSTEDT - “Where Do You Go To My Lovely?”
(#267, 1st March 1969)
In an NME interview, John Peel once named this record as his personal worst of all time. The man heard a really very large number of bad records so this claim made quite an impression on me. And it’s easy to imagine the young Peel, earnestly making a name for himself playing the furthest out progressive rock to - he might hope - a turned-on nation, being utterly and profoundly horrified that the British public chose this instead.
He shouldn’t have been surprised, though. British pop culture, for all that it mostly measures itself against its own past or an American present, is subject to occasional spasms of admiration for the sophisticates of Continental Europe. On a subcultural level this gave the UK mod, among other things. At the supercultural level of the singles chart it tends to manifest itself in the occasional hit by Brits rolling around in broad European stereotypes - David Whitfield, Rene and Renata, and here Peter Sarstedt. My MP3 of “Where Do You Go To My Lovely?” is genre-tagged “chanson”, which is somehow both insane and appropriate.
This is a completely, whole-heartedly, marvellously bogus record. Marvellously not because it’s good but because Sarstedt with his pseudo-French accent sells its naffness with such gusto. Its storyline - street kid becomes rich socialite but cannot escape her past - is basically an excuse for a list of high-ticket brand and celebrity names, drawn out to remarkable length. The awful eye-rolling apogee is reached when Sarstedt follows the phrase “for a laugh” with an “a-ha-ha-ha” of such well-rehearsed spontaneity I cringe.
“Where Do You Go To My Lovely?” sounds so ridiculous now it’s quite the entertaining listen: certainly there’s no way I’d agree with Peel’s assessment. The question I can’t answer is: was it ridiculous then, even to the people who bought it? Certainly there is no reason why liking a record enough to buy it need also involve “taking it seriously” - for starters, “My Lovely” is an entertainingly imitatable record. But it’s also possible that buyers in 1969 did find it moving, or mysterious, or sophisticated - reactions that seem uncanny to me now. 3
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blount on September 16th, 2006
the song’s better than the movie!*
*i have not heard the song
FT's Tom on September 16th, 2006
Re. marks: yes, the marking scheme is erm ’semi-logarithmic’ I suppose in that I’m consciously going for a normal distribution on the marks. Doing things like the Freaky Trigger Focus Group (which was modelled on Radio On, or at least on what I’d read about Radio On), I was much more free with the top and bottom and of the scale, and so “10″ would roughly equal “in the top 10 percent of songs”. Anything I’ve given a 9 to here would get a 10 there, and a lot of things I’ve given an 8. Assuming any kind of consistency, which I’m not sure anyone should.
FT's Doctor Mod on September 16th, 2006
Gerry and the Pacemakers recorded a COVER VERSION???!!!
bramble on September 16th, 2006
Apparently so, with an early 1980’s version of the Pacemakers, along with several other unlikely numbers like Imagine and Whiter Shade of Pale. Just as well that brother Freddie had long gone by then. I cant see him coping with the drumming on Whiter Shade of Pale
Lena on September 18th, 2006
For a long time I didn’t like this song, but now when I think about it, it reminds me of a certain woman. She was never poor, exactly, but her family were refugees in WWII. She eventually ended up working in advertising in London and was married and apparently happy with both her handsome husband and well-paid job, but it was not enough…and years later, she was a single mother living in Clapham, away from her sometime lover and her husband, considered herself too old (at 41) to look for a man, and who would want her anyway? All her adopted elegance and fine taste could not help her out of her predicament, her depression. I can only wonder if she heard this song before she died. Or if her sometime lover and future poet laureate heard the following #1…
FT's Doctor Mod on September 30th, 2006
And I can’t imagine Gerry Marsden coping with the vocal on either this or “Whiter Shade of Pale.” Come to think of it, I can imagine him trying anyway. The horror, the horror!
Willis on September 30th, 2006
Honestly folks, Give Msr. Sarstedt a BREAK!! The chap’s song has A-LOT more imagination than practically anything today!
It’s a wistful novel of a song. The next thing I expect from ya’ll is for ya to start rippin to pieces, Peter Yarrow & (unknown to me now) friend’s epic ballad, “Puff the Magic Dragon”, another wistful classic. Or maybe you’ll go after some of Cat Stevens story-songs?!
So lay off the poor bloke, and congratulate him on his brief but good fortune. I Thank you Peter Sarstedt, for a memorable and enjoyable ballad, the likes of which made their mark with a clean, simple, and quite lovely melody using only barebones instrumentation. I found the accordion & viola (or is it a cello?) to add to the ambiance. Not a classic rock song obviously, but all in all …. still very pleasant indeed!
paul reid on October 14th, 2006
i only clicked on the site through google to find the lyrics of this mighty beast of a song and was suprised to find out that some peoples
lifes are actualy consumed by it!(FUCK WHAT I LET MY SELF IN FOR I ?)I heard it for the first time all the way through only two nights ago and was amazed by its mind congering lyrics.Today alone i have listened to it at least ten times only hoping that i could memorise them for a future performance(brain wash the young i say).da da da da da da da da - la la la la la la la-dum diddy dee dum dee dee dum -dum dee dum dom dum dum-da .ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa
regards agnes
from manchester
Lena on October 15th, 2006
My life isn’t consumed by this song, Agnes. Quite the opposite! But to each their own.
“Puff the Magic Dragon” is wistful and sweet, and this song is pleasant, but the whole point of the commentaries here is to discuss why it went to #1 and to otherwise give our opinions and info about the artist in question. Personally I have never enjoyed this song, though I can see why others would. I’m not ‘having a go’ - I’ve felt this way for a very long time. If you care to look through some of the other commentaries here, you’ll see that some songs are more contentious than others, and there are differences between the people posting, but the comments are all sincere and personal and yes, funny at times as well. I’ve never felt that anyone is ‘having a go’ at a song, or is ‘trying it’ as someone else would say.
That said, I think songs by Cat Stevens are safe, as he (surprising to me) never got to #1!
Marcello Carlin on October 16th, 2006
I think the operative term, Lena, is “do not feed the troll”… ;-)
Also, Rod the Mod did have a contentious number one with a Cat cover…
Lena on October 16th, 2006
Oh, I had a feeling there was a cover, but by him? (shudders)
Well, I hope les trolls like what I fed them then, and I won’t do it again…;-)
FT's Admin on October 16th, 2006
(boyzone miss out by only getting to 2 with Father et Son)
Brian Timmins on October 19th, 2006
Well said Mr Willis!
“Where do you go to, my Lovely” is one of the greatest modern ballads ever written with a quite magical melody.
It has one of the strongest things going for it… when you listen to it you can understand the words, unlike 50% of the songs since 1975 and 95% since 2000.
FT's Rob Brennan on October 19th, 2006
Has BBC Talking Points started linking here or something?
markt on January 4th, 2007
i’m amazed at the bashing this song has been getting, sneering is indeed popular. A great song with comedic lyrics asking questions
take off your clothes is also comedy magic
Marcello Carlin on January 5th, 2007
And the black guy always came off best in Love Thy Neighbour, right?
FT's kyz on February 15th, 2007
Perhaps “schmaltzy” is the word you’re looking for. I was fortunate enough to be born nearly 10 years after this got to number one, so I look at it more like Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire” - an exercise in namedropping popular cultural phenomena of the time which is undoubtedly useful to cultural historians of the future.
What makes me like it is the melancholic tone of the song, from the intricate accordian intro to the string build up for the dénouement. Regardless of the singer, his imitation of chanson, the song does move me primarily because of the music - the Brodsky Quartet’s cover of Hyperballad does the same thing, even though it’s just a song about a woman throwing things off a cliff.
Fred on February 25th, 2007
Do somebody have the lyric and cords to: “Take off your clothes”??
Futte_dk@hotmail.com
kate roberts on March 26th, 2007
Peter’s brothers Richard (Eden Kane) and Clive (Robin) are great singers too. ‘Where Do You Go To…’ was a great song and is still played all over the world. Not a lot of singers can claim this much so many years later!
There’s a lot of snobbishness around about these gys (the Sarstedt brothers. They had a hard life and overcame lots of challenges that your average person would be afraid of. Clive is a great singer and pays homage to his brothers in song every Sunday at Tito’s Beach Bar in Mojacar. Now, that’s what I call good music - he sings like a dream! And he’s 63! Still looking gorgeous too! So, lay off you lot who want to knock everyone.
Marcello Carlin on March 27th, 2007
Also, knock off you lot who want to lay everyone!
Peter Stanbridge on March 27th, 2007
Well said Kate - I agree with you; it’s so easy to knock and actually, the song is very nostalgic for me. I was 10 when it came out and living in NZ and I can still remember wondering where all those fancy places were. But I find the melody pleasant and the lyrics do leave one wondering about their relationship, what about the singers position and so on. It’s slightly disturbing and not necessarily knocking of Marie-Claire; but certainly searching. I think its a very listenable song.
NZAnnette on April 3rd, 2007
As a teenager - forty years ago - Peter Sarstedt was a glimpse of Europe - of a time and place that we had not yet been beckoned to blend with. He was ‘deadly’ to us - he was amazing. We loved him in that we wanted to believe that he wanted ‘to look inside your head.’
The song was far out and groovy to me and my friends then, and now.
Peter Thompson on April 13th, 2007
At risk of riling the naysayers, I will let the others who liked Sarstedt know that I have just released a CD in Canada with WDYGTML included and PS himself singing harmony on Don’t Think Twice and Last Thing on my Mind. Samples of the 14 songs (McTell/Paxton etc.)are on my website http://www.peterthompson.ca in the Music section
p.s. I know who Marie Claire was but I’m not telling.
Rooze66 on August 28th, 2007
I really do not understand all of the people that have made desparaging remarks about this song! It is a clever and beautiful song that has stood the test of time. If the song really is as bad as some of you are saying, then why are you even bothering to spend the time to discuss it? Perhaps we have a few self proclaimed music ‘experts’ here? So, ‘experts’, when did you last write anything of any note? Will people be still talking about in 40 years? I doubt it! In the immortal words of Louis Jordan (look him up ‘experts’), ‘If you’re so smart, how come you aint rich’!
Denis-André Desjardins on September 22nd, 2007
In 1969 this song was playing on all the stations here in Montréal. This was BEFORE set programming for radio stations… Perhaps what has been called “phoney” French accent wasn’t so phoney to the francophones here because it was what was heard from those that spoke English… The song to us of that period, was real. We’ve read, heard or seen such stories from all over the world.
Many girls became famous models, actresses, playmates. And just like a shooting star, they were gone…
When commenting on things from the past, anyone that was not of THE age/social group the material touched, is commenting out of context. Think about down the road when in just a decade or so, people will wonder why we thought of Paul McCartney as a genius when they listen to a song like “Someone’s knocking at the door” or “Ivory and Ebony”…
As the Japanese say; “Even monkeys fall from trees.”
Tom Hayden on October 9th, 2007
Well, I was surprised to see that this song had generated any controversy at all, and the bile contained in some of them… I only heard this song a few times, back in 1969, and I have always loved it. As a provincial Canadian, I heard obscure references to a high-life that I despised at the time. It was, therefore, just that “Marie Claire” be unhappy “inside her head”. The “oom pah-pah” beat and that spooky, “Charles DeGaulle on accordion” accompaniment combined to make this a tempting confection for me, and revisiting it, I find I like it as much now as then.
Eric Random on October 29th, 2007
To Tom, Doctor Casino and Doctor Mod (you know “Doctor” is frequently abbreviated “Dr.”, which does save a few electrons on the InterPet) - Sarstedt is not singing with a French accent, he is using his own distinct clipped style of phrasing which actually helps his lyrics be understood. He does pronounce a few French people and place names reasonably well. The fact that you modern day phonies don’t know what a French accent is, either real or fake, and have probably never heard one because you are trapped in the slithering, self reflective cage of your feeble egos, is totally indicative of the vapidity of your thinking and the fatuity of most of what passes for “critique” on the http://WWW. Plese don’t be bullied into believing everything you read!
Steve on October 29th, 2007
These Sarstedt troopers really are a class above the foaming Floydians we usually get in here.
Eric Random on October 29th, 2007
Thanks for the compliment but I’m not a “Sarstedt trooper”. In fact, when I recently heard the song for the first time in nearly 40 years in the movie “The Darjeeling Limited” I mistakenly thought the performer was Al Stewart until the credits rolled by. What gets my goat is people who make judgments based on faulty assumptions and arrogant lack of attention to detail. Do your research and think on your own before sounding off!
Eric Random, Founder
Random Factory
Independent Critical Thought
RandomVisits@yahoo.com
stevem on October 29th, 2007
To be honest from the time I first heard it (probably only around five years ago) I’ve thought of his voice on this record as more Irish-sounding than anything else but that’s just me. I’m intrigued by it’s use in these two Wes Anderson films one of which you mentioned.
Peter Thompson on November 12th, 2007
Glad to see Peter Sarstedt getting his recognition in The Darjeeling Limited.
Canadian version is at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/peterthompson/wheredoyougoto(mylovely)?
Jeremy on November 16th, 2007
Sarstedt doesn’t use either a “phoney” or a real French accent, except for pronouncing French names correctly. I realize that could rile some Brits who hate to pronounce French words correctly, but rather anglicize foreign words (GAr-age for garAGE, BUFF-ee for bufFET, etc.). If anything, his accent leans to Indian, which is heard on his softened consonants. As to the “name-dropping” aspect, I see that as an essential feature in the description of the girl gone jet-set Europa. What purpose does it serve to read negativity into it?
Why can’t the above critics and detractors just enjoy the song for its lilting melody, unique structure, and Sarstedt’s sardonic phrasing and delivery? Instead they have done an excercise in over-analisation, and hypercriticism.
Jeremy on November 16th, 2007
PS I must admit that I had to admire the brilliance, depth, and articulateness of many of the earlier (above) detractors, if only they hadn’t directed their awesome musical knowledge and perception into totally unnecessary (and often vicious) negativity. Pity.
Eric Random on November 17th, 2007
Jeremy and I are basically saying the same thing. I agree with him that the Brits simply cannot stand hearing French pronounced correctly and refuse to do it themselves. What other race on the planet would look at the name Saint-Jean and pronounce it “Sinjin”?
Eric Random, Founder
Random Factory
Independent Critical Thinking
RandomVisits@yahoo.com
Kevin Linehan on December 24th, 2007
In 1973 I was a 19 year old student doing a liberal arts semester in Copenhagen. I met Peter Sarstedt in a bar. I had never heard of him. We talked about music for hours. He mentioned at the time that he had one hit song a few years ago. He seemed like an ordinary nice person.
Larry on December 26th, 2007
i think the song is perfectly lovely. i was very moved and Natalie Portman does it great justice.
snoddy on January 24th, 2008
brings me (male) to tears:
- tune
- two Naples orphans, one which makes big (or does she ?)
- (perhaps) heard as baby
no corny accents, etc. for me
Tom Hayden on March 4th, 2008
I had a good laugh regarding this song the other day. My youngest son is 23 years old, and a big Wes Anderson fan. “Where Do You Go To…” has always held a strong fascination for me, even though I never knew who the artist was or even the real title. I thought the song was called “Marie Claire”. Anyway, my son came home from watching The Darjeeling Limited the other day, and he was raving about this song that kept repeating throughout the film. He only had to hum a snippet, and give me a couple of lyrics before I knew what he wanted. It seems I’ve raised a sentimental slob,like myself, who, if some of the reactions on this site are credited, has the same treacly taste in music as his old man.
stevem on March 4th, 2008
“What other race on the planet”
race??
Katherine on March 5th, 2008
The best thing about The Darjeeling Limited was this song!
ray on March 13th, 2008
imitable, not imitatable
tom on March 16th, 2008
The song is correctly referred to as a classic. It got to number 1 for a very good reason: the melody and structure are memorable and fascinating, and the lyrics rather originally build something cinematic. Of course it is jam packed with cultural references: that was the point.
I love the little tastes it gives of the sixties and the riviera. It got to number 1 because it is sui generis (no other song exploits the zeitgeist as well).
It defined the times beautifully and hearing it now is like finding piles of old newspapers in a loft. It is Sophia Loren, but it is also Lady Penelope.
I loved it then. I love it now.
Linked by: Schwarzenegger « unpredictably [ under pressure ] on March 30th, 2008
[...] vai gostar, de um cara chamado Peter Sarstedt. Ele foi considerado por John Peel como um dos piores de todos os tempos. A letra é [...]
Danny on April 19th, 2008
Great song. What a load of bull about the fake ‘hahaha’ laugh - he ain’t trying to convince you it’s real.
Don’t think too much. Enjoy.
wichita lineman on May 19th, 2008
That’s my motto, too.
Claude Lavoie on July 3rd, 2008
My personal opinion is that a song becomes popular because of the melody, music, arrangements,and the beat or rhythm.
If a song as good lyrics then it’s like icing on the cake.