Requiem pour un fou
{{Short description|1976 single by Johnny Hallyday}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Requiem pour un fou
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| language = French
| English_title = Requiem for a fool
| B-side = Les Chiens de paille
| artist = Johnny Hallyday
| album = Derrière l'amour
| released = {{Start date|1976|2|10|df=y}}{{cite web|website=hallyday.com|title=Discographie 1976|url=http://www.hallyday.com/Son/Disco/disco76.html}}
| format =
| recorded = Late 1975–Early 1976
| studio = Studio 92, Boulogne-Billancourt
| venue =
| genre = Chanson, French rock, requiem, blues rock
| length = 4:47
| label = Philips
| composer = Gérard Layani
| lyricist = Gilles Thibaut
| producer = Jacques Revaux
| prev_title = La Terre promise
| prev_year = 1975
| next_title = Derrière l'amour
| next_year = 1976
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|dkdRuWFzuL4|"Requiem pour un fou" (Live, c. 1993)}}}}
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Fool For Love (Requiem pour un fou)
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| language = {{hlist|French|English}}
| B-side = Fool For Love (English)
| artist = Michael Bolton and Johnny Hallyday
| album =
| released = {{Start date|1996|8}}
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Rock
| writer = Gérard Layani, Gilles Thibaut, Don Black
| length = 4:47
| label = Columbia
| composer =
| lyricist =
| producer = Chris Kimsey
| prev_title = Love Is the Power
| prev_year = 1996
| next_title = Go the Distance
| next_year = 1997
| chronology = Michael Bolton
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Johnny Hallyday
| type = single
| prev_title = Hymne à l'amour (Live)
| prev_year = 1996
| title = Fool For Love (Requiem pour un fou)
| year = 1996
| next_title = Tes tendres années (Live)
| next_year = 1996
}}
}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Requiem pour un fou
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| B-side = Je veux te graver dans ma vie
| artist = Johnny Hallyday and Lara Fabian
| album = Stade de France 98 Johnny allume le feu
| released = {{Start date|1999|2}}
| format =
| recorded = 11 September 1998
| studio =
| venue = Stade de France
| genre = Blues rock, orchestral
| writer = Gérard Layani, Gilles Thibaut
| length = 4:01
| label = Mercury France
| composer =
| lyricist =
| producer = Jacques Revaux
| prev_title = Seul
| prev_year = 1998
| next_title = Vivre pour le meilleur
| next_year = 1999
| chronology = Johnny Hallyday
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = Lara Fabian
| type = single
| prev_title = La Différence
| prev_year = 1999
| title = Requiem pour un fou
| year = 1999
| next_title = Adagio
| next_year = 1999
}}
}}
"Requiem pour un fou" ({{IPA|fr|ʁekɥijɛm puʁ ɛ̃ fu}}) is a song by French singer Johnny Hallyday. It was released in February 1976 as the lead single off of his twenty-first studio album, "Derrière l'amour", released later that year in June. Hallyday has also re-recorded the song in Italian, Spanish, and English (with American singer Michael Bolton, English and Bilingual) and has also released duet versions with Bolton and Belgian-Italian singer Lara Fabian in 1996 and 1999 respectively, the ladder duet being a live performance at the Stade de France in September 1998.
History
Gilles Thibaut wrote the lyrics for this blues rock requiem on the theme of the love story, romantic drama and extreme tragedy of a “fanatic suicidal madman of love” who is abandoned by the woman he loves and, crazy for love and pain, kills her so as not to lose her; condemned to death for this feminicide, he in turn lets himself die out of love for her, “for a great love to always live it must die of love.{{Cite book |last=Thoury |first=Jean-William |title=Johnny en chanson - Dictionnaire des chansons de Johnny Hallyday |year=2002 |location=France |publisher=Editions La Mascara |pages=277 |language=French |trans-title=Johnny in song - Dictionary of Johnny Hallyday songs}} About this socially very provocative and controversial title, which embodies the rocker soul of Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Brieu considers that through its theme it is an “anti-Hallyday song par excellence” which had everything going for it. confuse the singer's audience, but who, through the grandiloquence of his interpretation, overcomes any reluctance and ultimately ignites the audience.{{Cite book |last=Brieu |first=Jean-François |title=booklet of the CD Derrière l'amour, 2000 edition |year=2000 |publication-date=2000 |pages=549984-2, p. 4, "Requiem pour un fou anti-Hallyday song par excellence, vocal song, anti-rock, anti-America, anti-Johnny fan. And yet, [...], there was, there has always been an audience for this theme which roars, which bubbles, which is carried towards the heights of the hit parade by its very excesses, by its grandiloquence which ends up sweeping away reluctance, like a cyclone." (translated) |language=French}} This title is a variation of the song "Requiem pour un con" by Serge Gainsbourg, theme music for the film Le Pacha (1968) by Georges Lautner, with Jean Gabin.
Commercial performance
The song spent four consecutive weeks at no. 1 on the singles sales chart in France (from 4 to 31 March 1976).{{cite web|url=http://hit-parade.net/titre/286/requiem-pour-un-fou|title=Requiem pour un fou - Johnny Hallyday - Hit-Parade.net|accessdate=2017-11-16}}
Charts
=Original=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:left;" |
| scope="col"|Chart (1976)
!scope="col"|Peak |
|---|
| scope="row"| France (singles sales)
|align="center"| 1 |
| scope="col"|Chart (2009)
!scope="col"|Peak |
| scope="row"| Belgium (Ultratop Back Catalogue Singles){{cite web|url=http://www.ultratop.be/fr/song/416df/Johnny-Hallyday-Requiem-pour-un-fou|title=ultratop.be - Johnny Hallyday - Requiem pour un fou|website=Ultratop |accessdate=2017-11-17}}
|align="center"| 16 |