Genre Pop Label EMI "Don't Wanna Do It"
(1981) "Comment ça va"
(1983) | Length 3:27 Writer(s) Eddy de Heer | |
Released February 1983 (1983-02) | ||
"Comment ça va" (French for "How is it going?") is a 1983 pop song by Dutch boy band The Shorts.
The song deals about a boy who meets a French girl, but they can not understand each other because they speak different languages.
It was originally written in English by Dutch composer and producer Eddy de Heer, but EMI insisted on a Dutch version. The Dutch version was released as a single, but was neglected by the official Dutch radio stations. After 10,000 singles were sold, with only airplay on pirate radio, the official radio stations started playing the song and it went to the number one spot in the Dutch Top 40. It quickly became an international hit, selling about 4 million singles, with versions in English, German, French and Spanish.
Ingela "Pling" Forsman wrote lyrics in Swedish, also named "Comment ça va", which was recorded by Kikki Danielsson and released on the album Singles Bar in 1983, and as a single with "Du skriver dina kärlekssånger" as B-side. With her recording, Kikki Danielsson scored a hit in the Nordic region in mid 1983, peaking at #3 on the Norwegian singles chart. Norwegian singer Bente Lind also recorded a Norwegian version of the song in 1983.
It was first performed in Hungary in the mid 1980s by the Fáraó Band (in Hungarian, only keeping in French the refrain: Comment ça va; Comme ci, comme ci, comme ça), then, after its high popularity, by other artists, for example György Korda and Klári Balázs.