UNE NUIT A PARIS (One Night In Paris) 1975 by 10cc

This song witten by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme is the first song on the 10cc album, "The Original Soundtrack". It is an eight-minute, multi-part 'sound movie' that according to Wikipedia "is thought to have been an influence on Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen". However, I have not found any unambiguous proof of this.

When I first heard it, I was not sure about it, as I was not used to the departure from 10cc's offbeat three-minute pop songs. However it grew on me. Apparently during 'The Original Soundtrack' sessions, Godley and Creme were in one room writing this, and Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart were writing 'I'm Not in Love' in another. Amazing. This first incarnation of 10cc with Godley and Creme to me was special.

I could find very little documented about this track, and would love to know a bit about how it came about etc. I do know that Godley and Creme went to France on holiday before writing it. Heaven knows what happened there!

There is no film clip available, so I put together my own 'sound movie' of this track. This one's for the 10cc fans out there.

Comments are invited.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• 10cc
• godley
• creme
• stewart
• one
• night
• in
• paris
• michaelbackhouse

[AlmaQueen]

who is the girl in the minut 1.29 ??? please rsvp

[wilsonmcphert]

@AlmaQueen

Same question is answered a few questions down. It is Norma Shearer, actress.

[popomatic1970]

I too question the idea that this was an influence on Freddie Mercury writing "Bohemian Rhapsody". I would instead suggest that both Queen and 10cc had similar influences in creating the respective "operettas". I became aware of this song only recently - 10cc certainly created some wonderful tunes that are not easy to categorize. It's brilliant.

[MBC1955]

At the time I remember Godley and Creme saying in interviews that as originally written this was 20 minutes long and they cut it back. I'd have loved to hear the original version. As for 'inspiring' Bohemian Rhapsody, the timing would fit: this was about six months earlier.

[shariotoflove]

@veda1954 bye now.

[veda1954]

@shariotoflove Grow up!

[shariotoflove]

@veda1954 I've never heard of the term Queenie, maybe that's the effect of living under a rock as is whith most 10cc fans. As i said, i read somewhere that this song influenced BoRhap and, after listening to it, yes, they have an operatic bits in the. But its still chalk and cheese, BoRhap wasnt constructed to be an operetta. its basically three unfinished songs/dead-end ideas glued together. by the way, no one was dissing Queen, until i read your comments. so im dissing 10cc, it's quite easy.

[veda1954]

@shariotoflove Look, just to close this off, why are you drawn to this song? You either like it (maybe because you're a Queen fan - and if so who can blame you?) or you've been told by other Queenies that we're dissing your fave band. Whatever it is, what you or I say won't change a thing. The debate will go on. Vive la differance.

[shariotoflove]

@veda1954 Well seeing as some 10cc fans are making the idiotic links to BoRhap and even Queen by certain ones, it's quite relevant to bring up Queen dont ya think? Besides, being precious about Queen is fairly understandable, more so than being precious about boring old 10cc.

[veda1954]

Love the Gershwin ending to this.

[veda1954]

Only worth a Centime. Ah those were the days, before the Euro f***ed everything up!

[veda1954]

@MBC1955 Maybe it didn't inspire the actual writing of BoRhap, but it certainly gave Queen the confidence to go and do it. I just love the fact that the debate continues, and Queen fans get just a little tetchy on the subject.

[veda1954]

@shariotoflove Whoa there, don't become a troll. I'm not knocking Queen. They became one of the greatest rock bands of all time. But don't be so precious about them. Every band has been influenced by somebody. Even Led Zep and The Beatles. It just so happens that this bit of Youtube is dedicated to 10cc, and not Queen. Not everyone is a Queen fan, live with it.

[shariotoflove]

@veda1954 haha I never said they were untalented, youre jumping to conclusions. i just wont accept that Queen were influenced by them any more than 10cc were influenced by Queen. The members of Queen were also musically active in the 60s as well, so fucking what? So, in sorts, please don't insult their memory either.