INTERVIEW
October 2007. France is on the verge of paralysis because of a strike, first railway workers, then officials, to protest against the reform of special pension schemes. That's when La Chanson du dimanche , a duet of songwriters who, as the name suggests, published a song every Sunday, knows a buzz, thanks to his song Petit cheminot . Twelve years later, the humorous ballad is still in the head, while a new strike of the SNCF is announced Tuesday.
And at each strike, The Sunday Song , which stopped publishing in 2012, remembers the good memories of its fans. "It's inevitable," smiled Alexandre Castagnetti, ex-duet of La Chanson Sunday and unexpected guest of the morning of Europe 1 Tuesday. "Because the song that really made us known, it was precisely Petit cheminot and it was for the strikes of the railwaymen, who are actually recurring each year at this period".
And the tour de force of Petit cheminot is not to have angered anyone. "She is even at the head of the processions of strike, from time to time, they diffuse it", assures the one who is today director. "It's quite funny this song, because it was well taken by everyone, by the side of those who protest, railway workers who strike, and by those who moaned," he continues.
And that was exactly the reason for The Sunday Song, according to one of its founders. "This song was able to smile again, it's a bit like what we wanted," says Alexandre Castagnetti. "We wanted to make things a little cheerful, fishing, since it was the creed.I said 'fishing' at each end of the song.