"C'est si bon": История создания французской песни

French popular song composed in 1947 by Henri Betti with the lyrics by André Hornez

"C'est si bon" (sɛ si bɔ̃; ) is a French popular song composed in 1947 by Henri Betti with the lyrics by André Hornez. The English lyrics were written in 1949 by Jerry Seelen. The song has been adapted in several languages.

In July 1947, Henri Betti was in Nice and on his way to join his father in the center of town to play a game of bridge. Passing under the arcades of the [[avenue Jean Médecin he stopped in front of the window of a Scandale lingerie shop and it was there that the first nine musical notes of the song came into his head: F, E, E, F, G, A, G, F, D. He wrote the notes on a sheet of music paper so that he would remember them. Once back home at 52 rue des Ponchettes, he composed the melody in less than ten minutes. He then went up to Paris and made an appointment with the lyricist André Hornez at the Hôtel Grand Powers at 52 rue François Ier to find a title for his song. André Hornez said that the title should be three syllables, sung to the first three notes of the song. The next day the lyricist showed Henri Betti a list of ten three syllable titles, the last of which was C'est si bon. Henri Betti told him that that was the one he wanted but André Hornez pointed out that there had been a song by Charles Trenet written for the movie Frederica named "C'est bon" a few years previously. Henri Betti told him that si made all the difference. The song was registered at the SACEM on 18 August 1947. On the advice of Roger Seiller at SACEM's publisher, Paul Beuscher, he proposed the song to Yves Montand at the same time as "[[What Can I Do? (Édith Piaf song)" which he had composed with lyrics from Édith Piaf and deposited at SACEM the same day. On 9 October 1947, at the Théâtre de l'Étoile, Yves Montand sang "Mais qu'est ce que j'ai ?" but didn't sing "C'est si bon" because he thought that it was not in his style. While waiting for the song editor to offer him another performer, Henri Betti sang it himself at the restaurant La Réserve in Nice in the evening with opening and closing music. In January 1948, the publisher Paul Beuscher told Henri Betti that he would first try out the song with Jacques Hélian and his Orchestra for the radio. The disc was recorded the following month and sung by Jean Marco. In February 1948 the publisher offered the song to Suzy Delair to sing during the first Nice Jazz Festival. She sang the song on February 28 at the Hotel Negresco in a jam session called La Nuit de Nice at which Louis Armstrong was present; he loved the song. On June 26, 1950, Armstrong recorded the American version of the song with Sy Oliver and his Orchestra in New York City. When the disc was released, it was a worldwide success and the song was subsequently taken up by many great international singers.

In 1949, Giacomo Mario Gili and Nino Rastelli wrote the Italian lyrics of the song for the recording of Natalino Otto with Luciano Zuccheri and his Orchestra in March 1949. The title of the song became "Tutto è bello". The same year, Jerry Seelen wrote the English lyrics for the recording of Johnny Desmond with Tony Mottola and his Orchestra in January 1950. The title of the song is not translated. In 1963, Allan Sherman wrote other English lyrics for his version, which he named "I See Bones". In 1950, Ralph Maria Siegel wrote the German lyrics for the recording of Rita Gallos with Kurt Edelhagen and his Orchestra in May 1950. In 1983, Adrian Wolf wrote other German lyrics with the pseudonym Thore Holgerson for Maren Kroymann's version. The title of the song is not translated into German. The same year, Tapio Kullervo Lahtinen wrote the Finnish lyrics for the recording of Maire Ojonen with George de Godzinsky and his Orchestra. The title of the song became "Hyvä on olla luonasi". The same year, Gösta Rybrant wrote the Swedish lyrics for the recording of Gustaf Torrestad with Thore Jederby and his Orchestra. The title of the song is not translated. In 1980, Gösta Wälivaara wrote other Swedish lyrics for the recording of Janne Carlsson and the title of his version became "Långkalsong". In 1995, Claes Eriksson wrote other Swedish lyrics for the recording of Galenskaparna och After Shave with Den ofattbara and his Orchestra and the title of his version became "Direktör". In 1951, Augusto Alguero wrote the Spanish lyrics for the recording of Ana María González. The title of the song became "Es mejor". In 1952, Henryk Rostworowski wrote the Polish lyrics for the recording of Marta Mirska with Wiesław Machan and his Orchestra. In 2000, Wojciech Młynarski wrote other Polish lyrics for the recording of Irena Santor. The title of the song is not translated into Polish. In 1958, Otto Leisner wrote the Danish lyrics for the recording of Lørdagspigerne. The title of the song is not translated into Danish. Vécsey Ernő wrote the Hungarian lyrics for the recording of Záray Márta. The title of the song became "Vártam rád". Tokiko Iwatani wrote the Japanese lyrics for the recording of Fubuki Koshiji. In 1978, Jun'ichi Nakahara wrote other Japanese lyrics for the recording of Yukihiro Takahashi. The title of the song is not translated into Japanese. In 1974, Klaane Jan wrote the Dutch lyrics for his version with Roland Thyssen and his Orchestra. The title of the song became "T'ess zu goot". In 1984, Alla Bayanova wrote the Romanian lyrics for his version. The title of the song became "Ce frumos". In 1988, Rita Lee wrote the Portuguese lyrics for her version which she named "Cecy Bom". In 2016, Izabella Rocha wrote other Portuguese lyrics for her version which she named "É Tão Bom".