"Belle" | ||||||||
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Single by Patrick Fiori, Daniel Lavoie and Garou | ||||||||
from the album Notre-Dame de Paris | ||||||||
B-side | "Déchiré" | |||||||
Released | 1998 | |||||||
Format | CD single | |||||||
Recorded | France, 1997 | |||||||
Genre | Pop | |||||||
Length | 4:36 | |||||||
Label | Sony Music | |||||||
Writer(s) |
Luc Plamondon (text) Richard Cocciante (music) |
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Producer(s) |
Richard Cocciante Jannick Top Serge Perathoner |
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Notre-Dame de Paris singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Belle" is a 1997 song performed by the Francophone singers Patrick Fiori, Daniel Lavoie and Garou, from the musical Notre Dame de Paris. Released as a single in 1998, it was a hit in France and Belgium, topping the charts for many months. To date, the song is one of the best-selling singles of all time in these countries.
As for the songs from the musical, the text was written by Luc Plamondon, who had also written the musical Starmania in 1987, and the music composed by Richard Cocciante. The musical arrangements were made by Richard Cocciante, Jannick Top and Serge Perathoner who also worked on the musical direction.
"Belle" is a romantic song in which the three singers, who respectively portrayed Quasimodo (Garou), Frollo (Daniel Lavoie) and Phoebus (Patrick Fiori), reveal in turn their love for the gypsy Esmeralda, before singing together the last verse.
The theme of the song is based in Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris. In chapter VI of the Eighth book "Trois coeurs d'homme faits différemment" (Three men's hearts made differently), Phoebus, Frollo et Quasimodo watch Esmeralda who is sentenced to death. Phoebus is with his fiancée and though he pales when seeing Esmerelda proving he has feelings for her, he stays with his Fleur-de-Lys. Frollo is trying once again to propose Esmeralda a salvation, but in return he wants her to become his woman. And finally Quasimodo selflessly saves Esmeralda from death, only because of his enormous love for her.
Since its debut, it has been professionally played in Belgium, Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States, and has been translated into seven languages (English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Korean, Flemish and Polish). The song has thus been officially adapted in these six languages, but several covers have been made in various languages.