Major Tom Slave To The Beat Ca Plane Pour Moi Plastic Bertrand

Major Tom Album: Chat va...Et toi? (1983)
Slave to the Beat Album: Pix (1988)
Ca Plane Pour Moi Album: King of the Divan: Best of Plastic Bertrand (1977)
by Plastic Bertrand

Plastic Bertrand released a French language cover of Major Tom in 1983 from the album Chat va?...Et toi?.

"Major Tom (Coming Home)" (German: Major Tom [völlig losgelöst], 'Major Tom [completely detached]') is a new wave song written and sung by German musician Peter Schilling, released as the lead single from his album Error in the System. Featuring the story of a character unofficially related to "Major Tom", an astronaut depicted in British musician David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity" and other releases, Schilling's track describes a protagonist who leaves Earth and begins drifting out into outer space as radio contact breaks off with his ground control team.

Major Tom is one of multiple singles by various artists with a pop music related style influenced by the cultural roboticism associated with Berlin, Germany. It is specifically a part of the "Neue Deutsche Welle" (NDW), a social movement in the arts within German society, and is one of its pieces that crossed over into the popular culture of other nations. Versions in both the English language and in Schilling's native German have earned critical and commercial acclaim over multiple decades.

Major Tom describes a calm, reflective astronaut known as Major Tom that's detached from the psychological stress of his colleagues, who spend a significant amount of time engaging in certain scientific experiments about which he feels uncertain. An emotional insight breaks through his senses while he happily experiences weightlessness. The protagonist then meets his ambiguous fate after losing radio contact with other human beings. One line describes the Major as realizing that "mich führt hier ein Licht durch das All" or "a light now guides me through space". He leaves Earth and begins drifting out into outer space.

Major Tom was originally recorded in the German language and released in West Germany on 3 January 1983. It reached No. 1 in West Germany as well as in both Austria and Switzerland. The English version was first released in the United States on 24 September 1983. This version reached No. 1 in Canada, No. 4 in South Africa and peaked at No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of 24 December 1983. The English-language version of the song also reached No. 2 on the US Dance chart.

In retrospect, journalist Gavin Edwards of The New York Times has stated that "Major Tom" became a key part of "a brief-lived flowering of Kraut-pop in the [United] States" during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Schilling's work proved to be "a hit in its English-language version" alongside other commercial "successes". Those include Trio's "Da Da Da" and After the Fire's "Der Kommissar" (which was a cover of a release by Falco), with Nena's "99 Luftballons" crossing over the Atlantic Ocean to commercial praise even in an untranslated version.

In 1994, Schilling released a remixed version along with Boom-Bastic, titled "Major Tom 94". Other remixes were released in 2000, titled "Major Tom 2000", and in 2003, titled "Major Tom 2003".

On 24 March 2024, a petition was initiated to make "Major Tom" the new goal song for the Germany national football team for the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. The song was used during two previous friendly matches as individual goal songs are not allowed by UEFA. During the UEFA Championship in the summer 2024, the original version of "Major Tom" re-entered the top ten of the German singles chart after more than 40 years. Schilling stated publicly that he felt emotionally overwhelmed by the support and praised his fans.

Plastic Bertrand is a Belgian recording artist and television presenter whose real name is Roger Jouret. He also takes part in Scrabble tournaments at international level.

"Ca Plane Pour Moi" roughly translates as "This Life's for Me." However it appears the lyrics have no particular meaning, just sounding vaguely "Rock 'N Roll."

Besides the original French, there is also an English version, "Jet Boy Jet Girl," by Elton Motello, which was released around the same time. Captain Sensible of the Damned also recorded this English version.

Ca Plane Pour Moi was co-written and produced by producer/songwriter Lou Deprijck. Later Deprijck took Plastic Bertrand to a Brussels court saying that he wanted to be recognized as the performing artist as well. He allegedly performed the vocals on the hit because Plastic Bertrand didn't make it to the studio the day they were recording it. However Deprijck had little evidence in support of his claim, while Bertrand had a signed contract and his name on the record-label. The judge fined him for what he described as a "groundless and vexatious" suit.

Plastic Bertrand sang "Amour Amour" for Luxembourg in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest in 1987 but only gained second-last place. The Final was held in his home country of Belgium.

In a 2010 interview with Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Roger Jouret finally admitted that Lou Deprijck performed the song's vocals. "I don't mind saying it wasn't my voice," he said. "I wanted to sing but he wouldn't let me into the studio."
Bertrand added that Deprijck had asked him to "keep his mouth shut in exchange for 0.5% of the royalties, promising that he'd let me use my voice on another version, which, of course, he never did." He went on to say: "I'm the victim. I wanted to sing but he wouldn't let me into the studio. This is going to dog me till my dying days. I'm really fed up."

Jouret's admission came a day after a linguist commissioned by a judge during a long-standing legal saga concerning whose vocals appear on the track, concluded that the Brussels-born Jouret's accent did not match the distinctive twang on the record.

The song was used in these movies:

A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018)
We'll Never Have Paris (2014)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Ruby Sparks (2012)
127 Hours (2010)
EuroTrip (2004)
Me Myself I (1999)
National Lampoon's European Vacation (1995)

And these TV shows:

Gold Diggers "The Baron And The Nun" – 2023)
Ozark ("Ace Deuce" – 2022)
Hitmen ("Birthday" - 2020)
Wimbledon (Day 4, Part 1" – 2017)
Imposters (Frog-Bikini-Eiffel Tower" – 2017)
What's New, Scooby-Doo? ("Ready to Scare" 2005)
Fastlane ("Wet" - 2002)
The Lone Gunmen ("Eine Kleine Frohike" - 2001)
The Swedish singer and former rapper Leila K covered "Ça Plane Pour Moi" in 1993. Released as a single, it reached the Top 20 in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland. Other artists that have covered the song include Sonic Youth and Presidents Of The United States of America.

Major Tom

Les rétro-fusées sont allumées
Vérification : tout va bien !
Attention, départ: dix secondes
Le compte à rebours est enclenché
Ça va planer !

L'équipage est fier de sa mission
Il connait par cœur les instructions
Les nerfs sont tendus
Mais Major Tom sait créer l'ambiance
Plus d'appréhension
Ils ont confiance

Attention départ !
S'en aller de la Terre
Plus de pesanteur
Il y a dans l'univers des mondes meilleurs

La navette spatiale sillone l'espace
L'attraction terrestre est vaincue
Major Tom alors se pose des questions :
Toutes ces experiences, dans le fond, à quoi bon ?

Centre de contrôle en panique
Car la trajectoire est deviée
«Allo Major Tom, entendez vous ? »
Capsule en folie ne repond plus
Tout est perdu

Attention départ !
S'en aller de la Terre
Plus de pesanteur
Il y a dans l'univers des mondes meilleurs

La terre scintille au loin, noble turquoise
On dirait des yeux , c'est merveilleux
Continuez sans nous, monde égoiste
Faites vous la guerre nucléaire
Les petits hommes verts, c'est moins triste
Vision galactique, année zéro
Comme c'est beau

S'en aller de la Terre
Plus de pesanteur
Il y a dans l'univers des mondes meilleurs

~

Ca Plane Pour Moi

Wam! Bam! Mon chat, splatch
Gît sur mon lit a bouffé sa langue en buvant dans mon whisky
Quant à moi, peu dormi, vidé, brimé
J'ai dû dormir dans la gouttière, où j'ai eu un flash (hou-hou-oou-oou!)
En quatre couleurs

Allez hop! Un matin une louloute est v'nue chez-moi
Poupée de Cellophane, cheveux chinois
Un sparadrap, une gueule de bois
A bu ma bière dans un grand verre en caoutchouc (hou-hou-oou-oou!)
Comme un indien dans son igloo

Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, ça plane pour moi
(Hou-hou-oou-oou!) ça plane pour moi

Allez hop! La nana
Quel panard, quelle vibration de s'envoyer sur le paillasson
Limée, ruinée, vidée, comblée
"You are the king of the divan!"
Qu'elle me dit en passant (hou-hou-oou-oou!)
I am the king of the divan

Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, ça plane pour moi
(Hou-hou-oou-oou!) ça plane pour moi

Allez hop! T'occupe, t'inquiète, touche pas ma planète
It's not today que le ciel me tombera sur la tête
Et que l'alcool me manquera
(Hou-hou-oou-oou!)
Ça plane pour moi

Allez hop ma nana s'est tirée, s'est barrée
Enfin c'est marre, a tout cassé, l'évier, le bar me laissant seul
Comme un grand connard
(Hou-hou-oou-oou!)
Le pied dans l'plat

Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, ça plane pour moi
(Hou-hou-oou-oou!) ça plane pour moi

Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi
Ça plane pour moi, moi, moi, moi, moi, ça plane pour moi
Writer/s: Francis Jean Deprijck, Yves Maurice A Lacomblez