Dominique

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Wikipedia:

"Dominique" is a popular song in French by Sœur Sourire (Sister Smile, born Jeanine Deckers), of Belgium, also known as The Singing Nun. It is about Saint Dominic, a Spanish-born priest and founder of the Dominican Order, of which she was a member (as Sister Luc-Gabrielle). The English version of the song was written by Noël Regney. In addition to French and English, Deckers recorded versions in Dutch, German, Hebrew and Japanese.

"Dominique" reached the top ten in eleven countries in late 1963 and early 1964, topping the hit lists in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It reached the Top 5 in Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Australia and South Africa, with the song making it into the lower reaches of the Top 10 in the Netherlands, West Germany and the United Kingdom. The song reached and stayed at #1 on both the U.S. pop chart and "easy listening chart" (since renamed the Adult Contemporary chart) for four weeks in December of 1963. It was the second foreign language song to hit #1 on the Hot 100 in 1963, the other being "Sukiyaki" by Kyu Sakamoto. After that no other purely foreign language song reached the Hot 100's top 40 until the Spanish language hit Eres tú (Touch The Wind), which entered the top 40 on 16 February 1974 and peaked at #9 on 23-30 March 1974.

Jeanine Deckers never again reached the same success and continued to lead a colourful, but tragic life. She and her long-time friend, Annie Pescher, both committed suicide in 1985, as a result of financial and tax problems stemming from the recording of the song.

"Dominique" outsold Elvis during its stay on the Billboard Pop Charts in 1963. It was the second #1 hit in the post-Kennedy assassination era and the second to last #1 hit before the advent of Beatlemania.

The song

"Dominique" became a worldwide hit in 1963 and as of 2009 is still the only Belgian number one hit single in the American Billboard charts. (Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam" reached number two in 1989).

It is remembered chiefly for its refrain, which went:

Dominique -inique -inique s'en allait tout simplement,Routier, pauvre et chantant.En tous chemins, en tous lieux,'Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu,Il ne parle que du Bon Dieu

In English:

Dominique, Dominique went about simply,a poor singing traveller.On every road, in every place,he talks only of the Good Lord,he talks only of the Good Lord.

In German:

Dominique, Dominique, der zog fröhlich in die Weltzu Fuß und ohne Geld.Und er sang an jedem Ortimmer wieder Gottes Wort,immer wieder Gottes Wort.

Charts

Cover versions and other appearances

Mary Ford recorded an English language version that was released in November 1963 by Calendar Records.Sampled by Australian band TISM in their 1998 track "I Might Be A Cunt, But I'm Not A Fucking Cunt" off their album www.tism.wanker.com.It was used in the 1990 film Mermaids with Cher.It was used in Lionel Soukaz's short film IxeThe Cuban artist La Lupe and Mexican artist Angélica María recorded Spanish language versions of this song.The Brazilian singer Giane recorded a Brazilian Portuguese version of this song.Spike Jones recorded a version in which he first gave it a jazz-like interpretation, with trumpet and banjo; then he melded it with "When the Saints Go Marching In", giving the song an entirely different sound.Sandler and Young revived the song in late 1966, a version that appeared on the Billboard easy listening chart. The performance was a medley including other religious-themed songs including "Deep River" and "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen".The song was referenced in The Simpsons episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love" (1992), where Milhouse van Houten visits his girlfriend in an all-girls convent school. A nun playing guitar and singing "Dominique" passes along, followed by several equally happy little girls. The nun was voiced by cast member Maggie Roswell, who didn't know any of the song's French lyrics and instead made up her own.The musician Poe used a sample of the song in her album Haunted, on the track "House of Leaves".In the 1987 Married With Children episode, "Thinnergy", "Dominique" is one of several songs Peg sings in an attempt to annoy Al.Also, Debbie Reynolds starred in The Singing Nun movie, which has an English version of this song.In 2009, the song was used in the third series premiere of British teen drama Skins.
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