THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

922-Lil Louis-French Kiss.

1989-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 7.03. The poor girl sounds like she is completely exhausted from dancing to this song. I think she needs a lay down.

Lil Louis was born Marvin Burns on May 13th, 1962, in Chicago, Illinois, United States, he has also worked under the stage names ‘Li’l Louis & the World,’ and ‘Li’l Louis & the Party.’ He is one of the many musicians name checked on the track ‘Teachers,’ on Daft Punk’s (see also best songs 140) 1997 Album ‘Homework.’ In January 2015, he suffered permanent sound-induced hearing loss in his left ear during a soundcheck in Manchester, England, when a compressed air horn was let off in close proximity to him. He is songwriter and producer of ‘House Music,’ (see also best songs 981) with his discography including two studio Albums released in 1989 and 1992. He has also released 11 singles between 1987-2001, with his only entry on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in America being ‘French Kiss,’ which reached a peak of Number 50, although three of his songs have made the Number 1 spot on the Billboard ‘Dance Club Songs’ chart. In the UK, Lil Louis has reached the top 40 on three occasions, with ‘I Called U (But You Weren’t There,’) reaching Number 16 in 1990, and ‘How’s Your Evening So Far?,’ with Josh Wink, making Number 23 in 2000.

‘French Kiss’ was co-written by Lil Louis and Kariana Johnson, with the production being by Lil Louis, and is track 4 on Lil Louis’ debut studio Album ‘From the Mind of Lil Louis,’ from 1989. Kariana Johnson receives songwriting credit for the ‘moaning vocals’ on the track, which she also performed. Initially ‘French Kiss’ wasn’t banned by radio stations, with many having their knuckles wrapped for playing it. In the UK, the ‘Home Secretary’ at that time ‘Jack Straw’ told the ‘Times’ newspaper that his nine year old son could not understand ‘Why so many people should buy a record of a woman panting, then groaning, interspersed with the occasional mumbled phrase.’

‘French Kiss’ has been critically acclaimed on many occasions, with the American ‘Electronic Dance Music’ producer Armand van Helden (see also best songs 645 and 138) saying,’This song is my first introduction to ‘Trance’ because, to me, it’s a serious ‘House’ track. It was for real House enthusiasts at the time. It’s a simple track which builds, it’s very Electronic. It’s full of Soul. It’s very sexual. It’s the first dance track I’ve known to date to change BPM’s drastically. I’ve never heard of an Electronic track that had the balls to do that.’ The British DJ and music producer Pete Tong has said,’It is one of the most important riffs ever written in House Music, and frequently imitated, but never bettered. You can hear its influence in almost 50% of House music that comes out in Europe.’ In 2015 the global magazine ‘Time Out’ included ‘French Kiss’ in it’s list of ‘The 20 Best House Tracks Ever,’ writing,’This number from Chicago’s Lil’ Louis was one of the first House tracks to enjoy both considerable commercial success and heavy club airplay on its release. Even one listen to its infectious, unrelenting groove and orgasmic tempo shifts is enough to understand why it got everyone so excited.

‘French Kiss’ was originally written as an instrumental, (apart from the moaning bit) but once the song took off in the clubs and in the charts, lyrics were written. There are many unreleased versions of the track, in the United States there are re-makes of the song with vocals provided by the American singer Shawn Christopher, while in Europe the vocals were provided by a female singer going by the name of ‘Pasquale.’