Manureva, Alain Chamfort
Written by Serge Gainsbourg, Manureva pays tribute to Alain Colas, French sailor who disappeared at sea on November 16, 1978 on board his trimaran Manureva during the first Route du Rhum. The idea for this tribute came to the famous singer-songwriter after a dinner at the home of Eugène Riguidel, Alain Colas' competitor in the transatlantic race. His wife, Jane Birkin, was the godmother of the multihull whose name means "Oiseau de Voyage" in Tahitian.
Flo, Pierre Bachelet
Florence Arthaud had not yet won the Route du Rhum in 1989 when Pierre Bachelet invited her to participate in his new album. However, the young sailor was already a well-known personality in the world of sailing. So Pierre Bachelet and Jean-Pierre Lang wrote three songs inspired by her life and her world, the sea: Quelque part... c'est toujours ailleurs, Typhon and Flo.
Santiano, Hugues Auffray
Released in 1961, Santiano is nothing other than a French adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon sailor song Santianna. Through rhythmic lyrics, the singer talks about the three-masted schooner Bel Espoir II, built in 1944 in Denmark. First used for fishing, she was renamed in 1950 and used to transport livestock until 1954. A training ship, Bel Espoir II was then bought by Father Michel Jaouen's association in 1968, which reintegrated young people.
Amsterdam, Jacques Brel
Written and performed by Jacques Brel in 1964, Amsterdam is one of the great successes of the singer. However, he was not convinced by the song and it was never recorded in a studio. The idea came to him while he was walking in the port of Zeebrugge, a Belgian town belonging to the city of Bruges, and that he particularly likes. But finding too few rhymes with this name, he decided to replace it by Amsterdam, more sonorous.
As soon as the wind blows, Renaud
Renaud is not only a singer, he is also a lover of the sea. Like Antoine or Jacques Brel before him, he built himself a boat to travel around the world with family and friends. It is thanks to his friend Dominique Lavanant, who quotes him "C'est pas l'homme qui prend la mer, c'est la mer qui prend l'homme", a phrase of the adventurer Joseph Kessel, that he got the idea to write this song. The lyrics were born during a return transatlantic crossing from the West Indies to France on June 23, 1983. In it, he talks about his life as a sailor on board his boat with humor.
Oh! My boat, Eric Morena
It is with this song that Eric Morena is known to the general public. This first humorous title is released in 1987 and benefits from a video clip, a novelty for the time.
Cargo, Axel Bauer
Cargo is the first title of Axel Bauer, released in 1984. The musician recorded the song without the lyrics, which were written by Michel Eli. The latter are inspired both by the look of Axel Bauer and the film Querelle, adaptation of the novel Querelle de Brest by Jean Genet.
The Marquesas, Jacques Brel
Les Marquises is the title of Jacques Brel's last album, but also of his last song. He wrote it while he was living in the Marquesas Islands and suffering from lung cancer. The title was published in 1977.
Belle-Île-en-Mer, Marie-Galante, Laurent Voulzy
Belle-Île-en-Mer written by Alain Souchon was performed by Laurent Voulzy in 1985. The author deals with both the Breton island, where the singer grew up and Guadeloupe, his parents' native land. It is one of the biggest successes of Laurent Voulzy.
La Mer, Charles Trenet
This song written and performed by Charles Trenet appeared in 1946, although it was written 3 years earlier. Charles Trenet travels by train along the Mediterranean coast and observes the landscape pass before his eyes. In 20 minutes, he wrote this song which is not inspired by the Mediterranean, but by the pond of Thau that he sees from the window of his train.
