"Tomber la chemise" (literally "Taking Off Shirt" but the meaning is "Get ready to play hard") is a 1998 song by the Toulousian collective Zebda. The song was released on 7 June 1999 as part of the first single from Zebda's third album Essence ordinaire and received a successful reception in France, where it reached number-one on the singles chart and won two awards. This summer 1999 hit song "Tomber la chemise" was part of a sudden popularity trend by rappers of immigrant origins in France at that time.
Structure and lyrics Although "Tomber la chemise" appeared to be an outsider in the race to the top of the charts that summer, this highly political song became the hit that finally brought Zebda national recognition after eleven years of existence.Elia Habib, Muz hit. tubes, p. 467 () : "Après onze ans d'existence sur les scènes locales toulousaines, le groupe Zebda accède à la renommée nationale en marquant un tube en or dans son répertoire". ("After eleven years of existence in the local Toulouse music scene, the group Zebda came into national renown when they added a golden hit to their repertoire.") According to an expert of French charts, this song "devotes an expression of the spoken language, becoming inseparable from this song, and bases its originality on the regional savour that the accent of the Midi conveys". The melody is similar to those of Regg'Lyss songs.
Chart performance In France, "Tomber la chemise" debuted on the chart at number 11 on 12 June 1999, entered the top ten the next week where it stayed for 20 weeks, three of them spen atop, then it kept on dropping and fell off the top 100 after 30 weeks, achieving diamond certification status. In addition to being a commercial success, the song went on to be named the best French song of 2000 at both the Victoires de la musique awards and the NRJ Music Awards. In Belgium (Wallonia), "Tomber la chemise" remained on the Ultratop 40 for 19 weeks, starting at number 22 on 7 August 1999, climbed and peaked at number three in its seventh week, and totaled ten weeks in the top 10.
Covers and parodies In 1999, "Tomber la chemise" was parodied by Le Festival Roblès under the title "Solder la Chemise" ("Sell Off Your Shirt")."Paroles #1 du titre Solder la chemise (Tomber la chemise)" English: 'Lyrics to Solder la chemise (Tomber la chemise).' chansons-paroles.com. Retrieved on 18 December 2008.Le Meilleur : Best of, track listing Amazon.com (Retrieved 12 December 2008) Les Fatals Picards, a French band which participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, also parodied the song under the name "Monter le pantalon" ("Pull Up Your Pants") on its album Pamplemousse mécanique (A Clockwork Grapefruit).Ivan: On a juste parodié le nom, c'est pas une chanson sur eux. Paul: C'est sur une chanson de Zebda « Tomber la chemise ». (Ivan: "We just parodied the name, it's not a song about them [Zebda]." Paul: "It's about a Zebda song, 'Tomber la chemise.'")
In 2002, the song was covered by Yannick Noah, Michèle Laroque and Francis Cabrel on the album Tous dans le même bateau (All in the Same Boat),Tous dans le même bateau, track listing and charts Ultratop.be (Retrieved 12 December 2008) also available on Les Enfoirés's the best of La compil' (vol. 3), released in 2005.
Track listings CD single "Tomber la chemise" — 4:25 "Quinze ans" — 4:50 "Le pont du carrousel" — 4:06
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1999)Peakposition
Year-end charts Chart (1999)PositionBelgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)1999 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 12 December 2008)18Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)33France (SNEP)1999 French Singles Chart Ifop.com (Retrieved 20 December 2008)5
Certifications
References
External links