It is believed that Dalida sang this song in 1967, shortly after her lover, Luigi Tenco, committed suicide. This explains why Dalida wept during the song, which was most likely not performed live.
Dalida's cover was based on an old Country and Western/Gospel song. Porter Wagoner famously recorded the song in 1965. Can you believe that Dalida would interpret a Country and Western/Gospel song into French ?
Dalida was a supremely gifted singer. The song in its English version was about an imprisoned man singing with nostalgia about his family and his childhood home. The prisoner was reminiscing, because he was about to face execution. When Dalida sang the song, the French recomposition of lyrics had a slightly different literal meaning. The song was no longer about a death row inmate facing death, but about reaching the gates of one's home, an allusion to the Gates of Heaven, perhaps, because of Tenco's suicide. Still, it is a very powerful and emotional song.
Help us support a petition to bring the famous French singer Mylène Farmer to Carnegie Hall.
