Country Luxembourg Language French | Artist(s) Vicky Leandros Conductor Klaus Munro | |
Composer(s) Mario Panas, Klaus Munro Lyricist(s) Yves Dessca, Klaus Munro | ||
"Après toi" (French for "After you") was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros, representing Luxembourg. The song was co-written by Leandros' father Leandros Papathanasiou, also known as Leo Leandros, under his pseudonym Mario Panas. This was Vicky Leandros' second entry in the Contest. In 1967 she had finished 4th with "L'amour est bleu" (better known under its English title "Love is Blue") which subsequently went on to become a worldwide hit when covered by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.
"Après toi" is a dramatic ballad, with the singer telling her lover what will happen to her once he has finally left her for someone else; "After you I will be nothing but the shadow of your shadow".
The song was performed seventeenth on the night (following Belgium's Serge & Christine Ghisoland with "À la folie ou pas du tout" and preceding the Netherlands' Sandra & Andres with "Als het om de liefde gaat"). By the close of voting, it had received 128 points, placing it first in a field of 18.
Vicky Leandros also recorded the song in an English language version, released in Britain, Ireland and Australia as "Come What May", which reached no. 2 in both the UK and Irish singles charts. Leandros also recorded the song in Italian ("Dopo Te"), German ("Dann kamst du"), Spanish ("Y Despues"), Greek ("Mono Esi") and Japanese ("Omoide Ni Ikiru ").
"Après toi" was succeeded as Contest winner in 1973 by Anne-Marie David singing "Tu te reconnaîtras", also for Luxembourg.
As with "L'amour est bleu", "Après toi" has been afforded a number of translated cover versions including "Jak Mám Spát" (Czech) recorded by Helena Vondráčková, "Keď Si Sám" (Slovak) recorded by Eva Kostolányiová, "Tulethan – rakastan" (Finnish) recorded by Carola Standertskjöld, "Posle Tebe" (Serbian) recorded by Lola Novaković, "Si te vas" (Spanish) recorded by Paloma San Basilio, "Vad än sker" (Swedish) recorded by Ann-Louise Hanson and "След теб" (Bulgarian, "Sled teb"), recorded by Lili Ivanova.
The English version "Come What May" was covered by Filipina singer Pilita Corrales on her 1976 album Live At The Riveira With Pilita Amado Vol. 2.