"Un jour, un enfant" ("A Day, a Child") is a song recorded by French singer Frida Boccara, with music composed by Emil Stern and lyrics by Eddy Marnay. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 held in Madrid, and became one of the four winning songs. Boccara recorded the song in five languages: French, English, German, Spanish, and Italian.

Background

Conception

"Un jour, un enfant" was written by composer Emil Stern and lyricist Eddy Marnay. The song is a classical ballad, describing the wonders of the world as seen by a child. Boccara recorded the song in five languages: French, English –as "Through the Eyes of a Child"–, German –"Es schlägt ein Herz für dich", translated: "A Heart Beats for You"–, Spanish –"Un día, un niño", translated: "A Day, a Child"–, and Italian –"Canzone di un amore perduto", translated: "Song of a Lost Love"–.

Eurovision

The Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF) internally selected the song as for the of the Eurovision Song Contest. On 29 March 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Teatro Real in Madrid hosted by Televisión Española (TVE), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Boccara performed "Un jour, un enfant" fourteenth on the night, following 's "Primaballerina" by Siw Malmkvist and preceding 's "Desfolhada portuguesa" by Simone de Oliveira. Franck Pourcel conducted the live orchestra in the performance of the French entry. At the close of voting, the song had received 18 points, the same number of points as 's "Vivo cantando" by Salomé, the 's "Boom Bang-a-Bang" by Lulu, and the 's "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr. As there was no tiebreaker rule in place at the time, all four countries were declared joint winners. The song was succeeded as (joint) contest winner in by 's "All Kinds of Everything" by Dana. It was succeeded as French representative that year by "Marie-Blanche" by Guy Bonnet.

Aftermath

"Un jour, un enfant" was included in Boccara's first studio album of the same name. Boccara performed her song in the Eurovision twenty-fifth anniversary show Songs of Europe held on 22 August 1981 in Mysen.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Legacy

Cover versions