White and Black Blues
# White and Black Blues

"White and Black Blues" was the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, performed in French (with some words in English) by Joëlle Ursull, from her album Black French. The song was performed fourteenth on the night of the competition. At the close of voting, it had received 132 points, tying for second place in a field of 22. "White and Black Blues" was co-written by French pop provocateur Serge Gainsbourg, who had previously composed France Gall's winning entry for Luxembourg in 1965, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", as well as the Monegasque entry "Boum-Badaboum" for Minouche Barelli in 1967, which had finished fifth (and he had also composed "Comme un boomerang" for Dani to enter the 1975 Eurovision, but the song was rejected as some of its lyrics were deemed too violent; that song was released by Dani in 2001, 26 years later, as a duet with Étienne Daho, and was a major success in France that year).

## Background and writing

Composed by Georges Augier de Moussac [fr] with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, the song was originally titled "Black Lolita Blues", however Ursull, the first black woman to represent France at the Eurovision, declined to perform it due to the pejorative connotations of the word "Lolita". The rewritten version met with her approval and has become something of a fan favourite.

The song itself deals with the need to overcome the prejudices of skin colour. Ursull sings, "when someone talks to me about skin colour / I have the blues which sends shivers down my spine / I feel as if I'm in a tale by Edgar Allan Poe". That said, she does not believe in relinquishing her connection to Africa entirely ("Africa, my love, I have you in my skin"), but admits that she faces difficulties in a white society ("we, the blacks / we're a few millions, a dime a dozen").

Musically, the song features an accordion as well as the synthesiser effects starting to appear at the contest in the early 1990s. The song is in triple metre, with the verses following an unusual phrasing of seven triplets per phrase, and the chorus with a more conventional eight triplets per phrase.

It was succeeded as French representative at the 1991 contest by Amina with "Le Dernier qui a parlé...".

## Chart performance

"White and Black Blues" had a great success in France and was one of the summer hits of 1990. It debuted at number 47 on 26 May 1990 and reached number two seven weeks later, but was unable to top the chart, as Zouk Machine, Ursull's former band, was then number one with "Maldòn". The single remained in the top ten for 18 weeks and left the top 50 after 26 weeks of presence, and was certified Gold disc by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. In Sweden and Germany, the single achieved a minor success, peaking respectively at number 19 and number 86. It was also a top ten hit in Austria.

On the Eurochart Hot 100, "White and Black Blues" debuted at number 76 on 16 June 1990, peaked at number nine in its seventh week, and totalled ten weeks in the top twenty and 23 weeks on the chart. It ranked number 30 on the European year-end chart. It was also much aired on radio, spending 12 weeks on the European Airplay Top 50 Chart with a peak at number 11 in its fourth week, and was number two on French both AM and PM airplay charts on 28 July 1990.

## Track listings

* CD single
* "White and Black Blues" — 3:00
* "White and Black Blues" (instrumental) — 3:00
* 7" single
* "White and Black Blues" — 3:00
* "White and Black Blues" (instrumental) — 3:00
