The despondency of French football fans, not
to say the whole French nation, recalls the lyrics of the song Stormy
Blues:

I’ve
been down so long

That
down don’t worry me.

I
just sit and wonder

Where
my man can be.

Every
time I come here

Everything
happens to me.

The
events leading up to France’s final defeat could indeed be characterized as stormy and the team’s mood as blue.  

  

 

Billie
Holiday, who made this song famous, was not referring to Nicolas Anelka when
she wondered where her man could be, but the words of her song must reflect the
thoughts going through the minds of the French soccer squad.

Frank Sinatra picks up the theme in Learning the Blues, with a prediction
for the French players.:

When you're at home
alone,
The blues will taunt you constantly.
When you're out in a crowd,
The blues will haunt your memory.

The nights when you don't sleep, the whole night you're crying.
—————-
When you feel your heart break, you're learnin' the blues.

As for the dismissed French
captain, he could be singing Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen:

The rest of the world is
probably just looking on and thinking, in the (ungrammatical) words of jazz
singer, Fats Domino:  Ain’t
That a Shame, as the French team returned
home.

You made me cry when you said goodbye
Ain't that a shame?
My tears fell like rain
Ain't that a shame?
You're the one to blame

 What has happened to the
French players’ dream? The words of Dream On may reflect the desire of  the French captain, Patrice
Evra, to be philosophical and put the 2010
Mondiale behind him:

Every time that I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay
——————————
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win 

The incoming coach, Laurent Blanc, will be singing the words of Land
of Hopes and Dreams:

                                                                                                      

I will provide for you 

And I'll stand by your side 

You'll need a good companion for 

This part of the ride 

Leave behind your sorrows 

Let this day be the last 

Tomorrow there'll be sunshine 

A la cité des Tarterêts: "C'est la France que les Bleus représentent, pas la banlieue"

24.06.10 | 13h07  •  Mis à jour le 24.06.10 | 14h07 

La rencontre Sarkozy-Henry entourée de mystère

LeMonde.fr avec AFP, Reuters | 24.06.10 | 11h53  •  Mis à jour le 25.06.10 | 09h17 

What the travails of Les Bleus say about modern France 

The Economist, June 24, 2010

Jonathan Goldberg