I was a young girl when I first heard Edith Piaf on the radio and her voice touched me to the core.
When we started touring with Vaya Con Dios we only had a few songs we had written ourselves which is why we brought covers of a Billie Holiday song, a Marilyn Monroe song and two songs of Edith Piaf’s repertoire. ‘Johnny’ was one of them. The original version was written and performed by Les Paul & Mary Ford who by the way also wrote and performed a song called Vaya Con Dios… Francis Lemarque, a great French songwriter whom I’ve had the honor to meet, had written the French version. Dirk liked that song, maybe because he identified with the bad boy Johnny, and since I was in love with Dirk who wasn’t always easy to deal with I could identify with the song too. Dirk didn’t cheat on me with other girls, his mistress was alcohol. It’s been a while since I have refused to sing that song because the lyrics are about a woman who is so in love with a man who disrespects her that she clings on to him. I’ve come to understand that love and respect go together and that love has nothing to do with addiction. This song is about addiction.
Captured live on stage, 'Johnny' is now available on YouTube: