This weekend, I lived a teenage dream: I went to the very first Vans Warped Tour in Mexico. I don’t have the energy for the mosh pit (a space in front of the scene where Music fans turn themselves into joyful, bouncing pinballs) anymore, and I didn’t stay in the rain until the last band. But I had a great time with my wife, who kindly agreed to come with me. One less thing on my bucket list (in French, la liste des choses à faire avant de mourir, which sounds a lot more dramatic), and a memory I’ll keep for a long time.
During the concerts, though, I noticed something. After more than 20 years of listening to the same songs, I couldn’t sing along. I didn’t know the lyrics. The reason is simple: as a guitarist, I always paid more attention to the instruments and the melody than to the words. And that’s a shame, because my English would be much better today if I had taken the time to read and learn them.
The same goes for French. A lot of learners look down on French music and don’t see it as a learning tool. That’s a mistake. When you learn French, you get access to a huge musical repertoire, and there’s so much variety that you will find artists you like. Guaranteed.
So, where do you start? I wrote a post about this a few months ago (A Beginner’s Guide to French Music), feel free to read it.
And today, I’m giving you 10 songs in different styles, with lyrics, to help you take the first step. But my real advice is this: explore, be curious, and build your own sing-along playlist. YouTube works well if you like the visual side. If you have a Spotify account, you can also create a playlist and see the lyrics directly in the app, on your computer, tablet or phone.
And if you’re interested in studying the lyrics more closely, check out a site like Genius. You’ll find explanations of the lyrics, and you can even add your own.
How to create your playlist
On YouTube
Search for the song with the word paroles (for example: La grenade Clara Luciani paroles). You’ll find lyric videos with the words on screen.
Under the video, click Save (on your phone, it can be hidden behind the three dots ⋮).
Choose New playlist, give it a name (Ma playlist sing-along, for example) and pick who can see it: public, unlisted or private.
Next time, click Save and tick your playlist.
A small warning: YouTube’s automatic subtitles are often wrong with songs. A lyric video is more reliable.
On Spotify
On your computer: click the + next to Your Library, then Playlist. On your phone: go to Your Library, tap +, then Playlist.
Give it a name.
To add a song: click or tap the three dots … next to the song, then Add to playlist.
To see the lyrics: open the song you’re playing. On your computer, click the microphone icon at the bottom of the screen. On your phone, scroll down under the player.
The lyrics scroll in real time with the music, like karaoke. Not every song has lyrics available, but most well-known songs do.
10 French songs to sing along to
I picked songs from different decades and different styles. I left out the usual suspects (you already know La Vie en rose). All of them have a chorus you can learn quickly.
1. Georges Brassens – Les Copains d’abord (1964) Style: chanson. Brassens wrote this song for the film Les Copains. It’s about friendship, told through the image of a small boat. His voice is calm, his pronunciation is very clear and the rhythm never rushes. The vocabulary is a bit old-fashioned in places, which is perfect for a first trip to Genius.
2. Jacques Dutronc – Et moi, et moi, et moi (1966) Style: 60s rock. Great for practicing big numbers. Dutronc lists millions of people around the world, and after each line comes the same question: et moi ? It’s ironic, it’s catchy, and the chorus is three words long. Hard to fail.
3. Téléphone – Un autre monde (1984) Style: French rock. My guitarist pick. Téléphone was one of the biggest rock bands in France, and this song is probably their most famous. If you’re going to a French wedding, this is the song you need to know.
4. Clara Luciani – La grenade (2018) Style: pop. Clara Luciani has a low voice and sings slowly, which makes every word easy to hear. The song talks about women’s strength, with a chorus built around one strong image. It’s short and repetitive: one of the easiest songs on this list.
5. MC Solaar – Caroline (1991) Style: rap. If French rap scares you, start here. MC Solaar raps slowly, with a very clear flow, and he loves wordplay. It’s a sad story about a lost love, with a lot of vocabulary about feelings. The perfect song to study line by line.
6. Louise Attaque – J’t’emmène au vent (1997) Style: folk rock. Look at the title: J’t’emmène instead of Je t’emmène. This is spoken French, the way people really talk. The tempo is fast, so start with the chorus, then add the verses one by one. A violin, an acoustic guitar, and a whole generation singing along.
7. Tryo – L’hymne de nos campagnes (1998) Style: acoustic reggae. Nature, ecology, the countryside. Tryo sings with acoustic guitars and a relaxed rhythm, so you have time to follow the lyrics. You’ll learn words about nature and a few political ideas along the way. A classic of French campfire songs.
8. Les Wampas – Manu Chao (2003) Style : punk My Warped Tour tribute. Les Wampas are a French punk band, and in this song the singer dreams of having the success (and the bank account) of the singer Manu Chao. It’s funny, a bit silly, and the chorus is easy to remember. You’ll also practice the conditional without noticing: si j’avais…
9. Bénabar – Le dîner (2005) Style: pop / chanson. A man really, really doesn’t want to go to a dinner party, and he tries every excuse possible. It’s a small everyday scene, full of spoken French and useful phrases for when you want to cancel plans. Very useful.
10. Juliette Armanet – Le dernier jour du disco (2021) Style: disco pop. To finish on the dance floor. Piano, disco rhythm and a big chorus made for singing (badly) in the kitchen. The lyrics are a bit more poetic, so this one is good once you feel more comfortable.
One last tip
Don’t try to learn a whole song in one day. Start with the chorus. Look up the words you don’t know, then sing along with the lyrics on screen. After a few days, try without them.
And if a song on this list doesn’t speak to you, skip it. The goal is to find the songs you’ll want to listen to again and again, because those are the ones you’ll end up knowing by heart.
That’s the whole point of a playlist: all the songs you liked, in one place, easy to come back to. Without it, you’ll watch a video once and it will disappear into the depths of the internet. And the key is repetition. Twenty minutes of singing along to the same songs every now and then will help you memorize vocabulary, expressions and typical phrases. You’ll be surprised how naturally they come out in a conversation.
C’est promis, la prochaine fois j’apprendrais les paroles avant un concert ! Je commence dès aujourd’hui avec Ocean Avenue.
À bientôt,
Timo
Another huge benefit of learning song lyrics is that many songs are also cultural touchpoints.Learning the lyrics to Je Suis Malade, for instance, will show French speakers you understand the emotional register of francophonie. I also learned a lot from pop songs by Louane and Amir!
This is fabulous, thank you! I love making playlists to help with Spanish but I haven’t ever tried to find the right songs in French. (When I was at school I remember spending many hours with my cassette player and a pen trying to decipher the French lyrics in Blondie’s Sunday Girl 😊.)