100 Greatest Songs of the 00’s #83 Modjo Lady – Hear Me Tonight

Released: 2000

It’s hard to countenance now and for many it must seem like a fantasy, but there was a brief, blissful period at the beginning of the 00’s in which you could not only dance like nobody was watching, but also like nobody carred.

Those first 20 months or so felt perhaps inevitably like an extension of the 90’s, a legacy of barriers falling around the world and – so briefly – the existential threats we all face as humans living on the same dirt rolling back. Few songs encapsulate this period of cultural hedonism than better Modjo’s Lady – Hear Me Tonight, one written by two French students based at the American School of Modern Music in Paris.

For Romain Tranchart (producer) and Yann Destal (vocals), what happened to them had all the hallmarks of a dream; borrowing a lick from Chic‘s Soup For One, they channelled a love of house music and disco that had been revived by fellow countrymen Daft Punk on Homework, then layered in some Gallic panache, the result a good times anthem whether you were in a car, club or apartment.

With MTV at the peak of it’s powers, video director François Nemeta hit upon a perfect concept based on youthful escape, one he brilliantly realised by shooting with three unknown actors in Quebec. Now song and visualisation were in near perfect sync with the times, and Tranchart and Destal watched on incredulously as sales peaked at over two million copies. Wrapped up in peace, we danced to it like having a good time was never going to go out of fashion.