Boum ! is a popular song by the French singer/songwriter Charles Trenet

Charles Trenet

Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...

 which won him the Grand Prix du Disque

Grand Prix du Disque

The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...

. Its light, irreverent lyrics express a joie de vivre

Joie de vivre

Joie de vivre is a French phrase often used in English to express a cheerful enjoyment of life; an exultation of spirit. Joie de vivre"can be a joy of conversation, joy of eating, joy of anything one might do… And joie de vivre may be seen as a joy of everything, a comprehensive joy, a philosophy...

which suited the mood of the French public at the time of its release in 1938.

It includes depictions of the sounds made by various animals and also various onomatopoeia. It is maybe the first time a song makes such a use of onomatopoeia. The lyric to the refrain is:

Boum!	Boum!
Quand notre coeur fait Boum!	When our heart goes "Boum!"
Tout avec lui dit Boum!	Everything says "Boum!" with it,
Et c'est l'amour	And it is love
Qui s'éveille.	Which wakes up.

"Boum!" has also been recorded by other artists in an English translation. The song is also featured in Absolut Vodka's "In An Absolut World" television commercial campaign as well as a period song in the "France Falls

France Falls

"France Falls" is the third episode of the 1973 Thames Television documentary series The World at War. It mainly covers France from the start of the war in 1939 to June 1940....

" episode of The World At War. In that episode, the song is presented with a chorus of artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 and machine guns in the sequence on military life at the Maginot Line

Maginot Line

The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...

 during the Phoney War, making the "boum" more like the English "boom" sound, a variant of "bang

Bang

-Performers:* Bang , a Greek pop music group* Bang , a hard rock group* Bang * Bang! , a British happy hardcore group* Bangs , an American punk rock group...

". Additionally, it was featured in the Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson

John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...

 comedy Something's Gotta Give

Something's Gotta Give (film)

Something's Gotta Give is a 2003 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers for both Columbia Pictures and Warner Bros. It stars Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton as a successful 60-something and 50-something, who find love for each other at a different time of life,...

 as well as Toto the Hero. Also recently it has been used by Renault in their latest string of advertising. In 1994 the song was covered by Belgian singer Maurane

Maurane

Maurane, real name Claudine Luypaerts, is a Belgian singer. She lives currently in Schaerbeek.Maurane was born at Ixelles. Her father was director in the Académie de Musique de Verviers, and when she was a teenager she took part in several musical contests...

.

Parody

In Hergé

Hergé

Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...

's contemporary Tintin

Tintin

Tintin, Tin-Tin or Tin Tin may refer to:* The Adventures of Tintin , the series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Hergé...

 cartoon adventure Tintin au Pays D'Or Noir

Land of Black Gold

Land of Black Gold is the fifteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....

 (English title: Land of Black Gold), Trenet's "Boum !" is transformed into a radio advertising jingle for a fictional roadside assistance company, "Simoun". This became "Autocart" in the English adaptation.

Original French	Translation	English adaptation
Boum!	Boum!	Boom!
Quand vot' moteur fait Boum!	When your car goes "Boum!"	One day, your car goes "Boom"!
La dépanneuse Simoun	Simoun's breakdown repair	Don't just give up in gloom,
Viendra vers vous	Will be coming your way	Call Autocart
En vitesse.	Quickly.	To the rescue.