How a 1960s Eurovision Winner Was Revived as an Anthem Against Hate
Love is love. But discrimination against the LGBTQ+ runs rampant across the globe, even today. That’s why the French government is taking a stand for equal rights, pushing back against hatred with their National Action Plan. And as part of this, on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Santé Publique France, in collaboration with Agence Babel, released their brand new campaign, ‘We, The Lovers’.
It’s a moving film, full of stunning visuals that highlights the beauty of LGBTQ+ relationships while denouncing the violence and discrimination faced by the communities. But beyond the evocative visuals, the success of the piece hinges on a musical choice that’s drenched in history and that takes the campaign to new emotional highs.
And the track? It’s Jean-Claude Pascal’s 1961 Eurovision winner, ‘Nous Les Amoureux’ - or ‘We, The Lovers’.
The campaign was supervised by creative director Jean-Laurent Py of Agence Babel. When the agency was in talks with Santé Publique France, they pitched this haunting track, which had been uncovered by music agency Circonflex Montreal.
“Right off the bat, we KNEW that this was a pure gem,” says Circonflex CEO Paul-Étienne Côté. “Not only did the lyrics and the orchestration work perfectly for the project, but the backstory of the song itself was absolutely mind boggling.”
Paul-Étienne refers to the fact that Jean-Claude Pascal himself was gay. However, due to the attitudes prevalent at the time, the lyrics were intentionally written to be ambiguous about the gender of the lover in question, while still remaining hopeful of future social change:
- “So, the loveless, the unloved. We will have to acquit ourselves. You, who have never been condemned. We, the lovers. We will live without you all. Because heaven watches over us.”
- “We, the lovers. They would like to separate us. They would like to prevent us. To be happy.”
- “But the hour will strike. Less difficult nights. And I could love you. Without talking about it in town. I promise. It's written.”
While with context, it might seem like the most obvious thing in the world - hindsight is always 20/20. It was only many years later that the hidden meaning of these lyrics was discovered.
“It is an hymn to the repressed love of homosexual couples,” Paul-Étienne adds. “It is therefore natural that the song ‘We, The Lovers’ was chosen [for this campaign]. With the beauty of its melody, its lyrics and its story, it was a perfect match for the musical theme of the campaign against discrimination and all forms of LGBT-phobia.”
But, a song being perfect does not guarantee that it will be easy to use. Often, licensing a song can be an arduous process, requiring diplomacy, tact and above all, time. This project was no exception. While the song choice was excellent, there was no guaranteeing that using it would even be affordable.
“We had approached the copyright owners first to make sure that the song was within budget,” says Paul-Étienne. “We had a very dense excel spreadsheet with all potential and possible usage options, with and without exclusivity before airdate, during airdate, archival usage after airdate, etc. When dealing with the French Government, one has to be very patient. But patience paid off! Look, we’re writing an article about this project!”
According to Paul-Étienne, while other options were considered (Gall/Berger - Déclaration d’Amour and Jean Lenoir - Parlez-moi d’amour (interprétation Lucienne Boye)), ‘Nous Les Amoureux’ [‘We, The Lovers’] was unbeatable. Agence Babel loved it. The French government loved it. And it was for this reason that the team secured the rights to ‘We, The Lovers’ were successfully and exclusively secured for a full 18 months before the first spot aired, ensuring nobody else could use it during that time.
“The record label thought we were crazy, but we knew we needed to protect this perfect opportunity to synchronise this gem of a song for the very first time,” Paul-Étienne adds.
Protecting the opportunity proved well worth it. After two years of tremendous work, passion and a lot of learning, the team at Circonflex helped create a romantic, moving and meaningful result. To boot, the campaign was received extremely positively, winning golds from The One Club for Creativity and the PHNX Awards, and a shortlist placement at the New York Advertising Awards.
For Paul-Étienne, he’s just grateful for the opportunity to have worked with such an incredible group of people. As he puts it, “Working with Babel Paris was great! Jean-Laurent Py is one of the most intelligent/creative/rigourous (and picky!) creative directors we work with. He knows music - he understands music - he speaks music! It was a pleasure/challenge to work with him and the Babel team on this.”
But more than that, he adds that working on a universal cause such as this proved to be genuinely inspiring.
“It makes you feel that advertising has a purpose. Wait? Does it?” Paul-Étienne jokes. “In seriousness, we are proud that ‘Nous Les Amoureux’ has come alive again 50 years later, to support a positive and important cause. And, we’d like to think that Jean-Claude Pascal would be as well.”
