À nos actes manqués

Music and lyrics

The song was written and produced by Jean-Jacques Goldman. It was described by Elia Habib, an expert of French charts, as having "a lively melody with African accents, [it] celebrates in its lyrics the small failures of the everyday life with a lot of tenderness and humor". The refrain is performed by Carole Fredericks, while the verses are sung in turn by Jean-Jacques Goldman and Michael Jones.

In interviews, Goldman explained that the music was inspired by his travel in the Antilles, where he discovered the zouk. According to him, the song had "sad lyrics with a bright music".

The song is the eighth track on the album Fredericks Goldman Jones. It also features on the trio's compilations Pluriel 90-96, (as second track), and Intégrale 1990-2000, on the live albums Sur scène, Du New Morning au Zénith and En passant Tournée 1998 (only performed as a duet Goldman / Jones on this album). It is also included on several French compilations of the 1990s, such as the 2003 album Absolument 90: tubes français.

Chart performance

The single entered the French Singles Chart on 16 March 1991 at number 24, reached the top ten three weeks later, then peaked at number two for four consecutive weeks, from 11 May to 1 June, beings unable to dislodge Mylène Farmer's "Désenchantée" which topped the chart then. The single totaled 13 weeks in the top ten, dropped quickly and remained on the chart (top 50) until the 19th week. As the previous single, "Nuit", it was certified Silver disc by the SNEP, the French certifier, and sold around 171,000 units.

Formats and track listings

1. "À nos actes manqués" — 4:22
2. "Chanson d'amour" — 4:08

1. "À nos actes manqués" — 4:22
2. "Chanson d'amour" — 4:08

1. "À nos actes manqués" (maxi version)
2. "Chanson d'amour"

Cover versions

The song was covered by Exotic Girls in 1998, by the Collège de l'Esterel, by La Compagnie Créole and by Jacky Rapon in 2002, and by 3nity in 2004.

In 2009, the song was covered by Ensemble pour AVVO, in a Kahiléo Records/AVVO release as a charity song with revenues going to Association Village de la Veuve et de l'Orphélin (AVVO). The artists taking part included Mathieu Boldron, Léah Vincent, energyworld, Céline Languedoc, Valérie Louri, Jee-L, Rorisang Kgwathe, Théodora Valente, Sandy Louis, Phindile Nyandeni, Linda Rheretyane, Mélina, Thierry Picaut, Portia Talpot, Andrew Isar, Zamo, Olivier Breitman, Zama Magudulela. There were also a number of children in the video including Inès, Intissar, Johana, Marvin, Michaël, Sofiane, Yonas, Alyson, Emma, Ludivine, Maëliss, Andy, Benjamin, Enzo, Cameron.

M. Pokora version

On 18 March 2011, M. Pokora revealed that he had just recorded a cover version of "À nos actes manqués" that was scheduled to be released as single. The song was only available on the second edition of his album Mise à Jour. Pokora said that before the release of the single, he sent a copy of his cover to Goldman through his son. Goldman sent Pokora an email two days later to say he considered the cover faithful to the original one, but updated.

On 9 April, Pokora performed the song in the French TV show Le Grand Quizz du Cerveau, broadcast on TF1.

A teaser of the music video was published on the Internet on 22 April 2011, and Thierry Cadet of Charts in France qualified the video as "festive and sunny". Filmed in Cuba, it began to be broadcast in early May 2011. In it, Pokora performed a choreographied dance and ends with a message of thanks to his fans.

This version achieved success in France, where it debuted at number 99, then peaked at number 8 on the chart edition of 11 June 2011. It also reached number two on the Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratip Chart and number 16 on the main chart of the country.

1. "À nos actes manqués" — 3:46
2. "Comme un soldat" — 2:42

1. "À nos actes manqués" — 3:46