Boum !

Charles Trenet, the song's author, pictured in 1946

"Boum !" (French pronunciation: ​[bum], similar to the English "boom") is a popular song by the French singer/songwriter Charles Trenet which won him the Grand Prix du Disque.^[1] Its light, irreverent lyrics express a joie de vivre which suited the mood of the French public at the time of its release in 1938.^[2]

It includes depictions of the sounds made by various animals and also various onomatopoeia. The lyric to the refrain is:

Boum !	Boum !
Quand notre coeur fait Boum !	When our heart goes "Boum!"
Tout avec lui dit Boum !	Everything says "Boum!" with it,
Et c'est l'amour	And it is love
Qui s'éveille.	Which wakes up.

"Boum !" has also been recorded by other artists in an English translation. The song is also featured in Absolut Vodka's "In An Absolut World" television commercial campaign as well as a period song in the "France Falls" episode of The World At War. In that episode, the song is presented with a chorus of artillery and machine guns in the sequence on military life at the Maginot Line during the Phoney War. Additionally, it was featured in the Jack Nicholson comedy Something's Gotta Give as well as the Belgian film Toto le Heros/Toto the Hero. As of December 2015, it is used in an American television ad for the smartphone game "Blossom Blast Saga".^[3] Also recently it has been used by Renault in their latest string of advertising. In 1994 the song was covered by Belgian singer Maurane.^[4] "Boum !" featured in the film A Good Year with Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard - it was sung in open air by Adrian Chevalier with a black and white screen backdrop.

The song is featured in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, where it is played over loudspeakers on the island lair of Raoul Silva, the principal antagonist in the film.

It is also used in the computer animated film [Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible], both with its original lyric and as a parody song by Jimmy el Cachondo.^[5]

Parody

In Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin comic Land of Black Gold, Trenet's "Boum!" is transformed into a radio advertising jingle for a fictional roadside assistance company, "Simoun" ("Autocart" in the English editions).

Original French	Translation	English adaptation
Boum !	Boum!	Boom!
Quand vot' moteur fait Boum !	When your car goes "Boum!"	One day, your car goes "Boom"!
La dépanneuse Simoun	Simoun's breakdown repair	Don't just give up in gloom,
Viendra vers vous	Will be coming your way	Call Autocart
En vitesse.	Quickly.	To the rescue.

In the computer animated film [Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible], Jimmy el Cachondo sings it with an alternative lyric in spanish^[6]

Original Spanish	Translation
Mira que cosita	Look at this little thing
Click, clack, click	Click, clack, click
Toda atomiquita	All it is atomic
Tic, tac, tic	Tic, tac, tic
¿Como saber cuando va a explotar?	How can you know when it's going to explode?
Porque un pitito empieza a sonar	Because it starts a little sound
Piiiiii	Piiiii
la bomba va a hacer piiii	the bomb will sound like piiiii
Como me gusta el piii	I really love the piiii
Justo antes de hacer el Bum	Just before of doing the Boum
(¡Ay, que alegría!)	(Wow, there's a lot of happiness!)
¡Y bum!	And boum!
¡Qué cachondo es el bum!	The boum is really great!
¡Después del piii va el Bum!	After the piii comes the Boum!
cuando reviente la tía	When the TIA explodes

References

1. Yves Montand, Jeremy Leggatt, Patrick Rotman, Hervé Hamon (1992), You See, I Haven't Forgotten, New York: Knopf, p. 49, ISBN 978-0-679-41012-6
2. Larry Portis (January 2004), French Frenzies: A Social History of Pop Music in France, Virtualbookworm Publishing, p. 94, ISBN 978-1-58939-547-3
3. "Blossom Blast Saga TV Spot, 'Boum' Song by Charles Trenet". iSpot.tv. Retrieved 2016-01-02.
4. "Clip Maurane, Boum, vidĂŠo et Paroles de chanson". Jukebo.fr. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
5. "Video clip with "El bum", the song from Jimmy el Cachondo".
6. "Video clip with "El bum", the song from Jimmy el Cachondo".

External links

• Lyrics in French