Country France Language French Lyricist(s) Hubert Giraud | Artist(s) Anne-Marie David Composer(s) Eddy Marnay Conductor Guy Mattéoni | |
"Je suis l'enfant soleil" (translated: "I Am the Sun Child" or "I'm A Child of the Sun") was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979, performed in French by Anne-Marie David. David had won Eurovision six years earlier, representing Luxembourg at the 1973 Contest with "Tu te reconnaîtras".
The song was performed eleventh on the night (following Israel's Gali Atari and Milk & Honey with "Hallelujah" and preceding Belgium's Micha Marah with "Hey Nana"). At the close of voting, it had received 106 points, coming third in a field of nineteen.
The song is a dramatic blues-influenced ballad, with David describing a youthful love affair with a stranger "coming from the north" - "and me, I was a child of the sun". The stranger is welcomed by the narrator's father and given lodging and work "at the old oak tree". "He shared our bread and told me words that were stronger and more beautiful than the cotton in the sky". Passion develops between the two; "Every burning hot winter our love made the earth tremble", but one day men come for the stranger. "He tried to escape but it was too late, the trap was already closing around him" and he is taken away "with his hands above his head". "They thanked my father and then they left" and the song ends with the "sun child" calling for her lover's return.
David also recorded the song in German (as "Sonnenkind", translated: "Sun Child") and Italian ("Ragazza sole", translated: "Sun Girl").
It was succeeded as French representative at the 1980 Contest by Profil with "Hé, hé M'sieurs dames".