It debuted at number 47 on 26 May 1990 and reached number two seven weeks later, but was unable to top the chart ("Zouk Machine", Ursull's former band, was then number one with "Maldòn").
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Ursull sings that "When someone talks to me about skin colour/I have the blues which sends shivers down my spine/I feel as if I'm in a tale by Edgar Allan Poe".
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Composed by Georges Ougier de Moussac with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, the song was originally titled "Black Lolita Blues", however Ursull, the first black woman to represent France at the Contest, declined to perform it due to the pejorative connotations of the word.
Joëlle Ursull left the group and proceeded to a solo career, culminating in second place in the 1990 Eurovision performing "White and Black Blues", composed by Serge Gainsbourg and Sylvain Augier.
White House | Black Sea | blues | Chicago White Sox | White | Black Forest | Black Sabbath | Snow White | Rhythm and blues | The Black Eyed Peas | The White Stripes | Blues | black | Black | White American | white | Black Death | The Black Keys | black metal | rhythm and blues | Hill Street Blues | black-and-white | Jack Black | Cilla Black | White Star Line | White Nile | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Ladysmith Black Mambazo | Jack White | House of Blues |
"Frei zu leben" was performed thirteenth on the night (following Switzerland's Egon Egemann with "Musik klingt in die Welt hinaus" and preceding France's Joëlle Ursull with "White and Black Blues").