Tu t'laisses aller

"Tu t'laisses aller" (English: "You Let Yourself Go") is a song written in 1960 by Armenian-French artist Charles Aznavour.

History
For the first time it was released as a single in 1960 by Barclay Records (with "J'ai perdu la tête" on the B-side). In 1974 a new edition was re-released as a single.

The husband drinks alcohol to have the strength to tell his wife everything he thinks about her. He says the worst possible things to her, but then he adds, that a little effort and a smiling face, and things could be just as before. In the end he calls her: "Come close to me. Let yourself go".

It was a no. 1 hit in France in 1960, a best-selling record in Belgium in 1960, and returned to the charts in 1962.

In Jean-Luc Godard's film A Woman Is a Woman, the song plays on a jukebox during a tense encounter between Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

In 1995 Aznavour recorded a version of "Tu t'laisses aller" in duet with Liza Minnelli (Paris — Palais des Congrès: Intégrale du spectacle).

Adaptations

 * German: "Du läßt dich geh'n", written by Ernst Bader
 * German: "Alkohol", a new interpretation of "Du läßt dich geh'n" (the German version of the song) by Abwärts
 * English: "You've Let Yourself Go", written by Marcel Stellman
 * English: "You've Let Yourself Go", adaptation by Fred Ebb for Liza with a Z (1972 NBC-TV)
 * Dutch: "Mijn ideaal", written by Jip Feldman, song by Corry Brokken

Cover versions

 * Annie Cordy
 * Jacques Desrosiers (parody)
 * Dieter Thomas Kuhn & Band (1998)