Artist: Mouloudji
Author: Boris Vian/Harold Berg
Label: Philips
Year: 1954

With Jimmy Walter's combo. Written three months before the battle of Dien Bien Phu by Boris Vian as a letter, directly addressed to "Messieurs qu'on nomme grands" (Men regarded to be great).

There's a hard version and a lite one. The hard one, where the deserter warns the gendarmes that he's armed and ready to shoot if necessary, broke Mouloudji's and Vian's careers while turning them into legends in their own time; offended war veterans disturbing their performances and all. Serge Gainsbourg had a similar experience with his Aux armes etc. Le Déserteur was an anti-war open letter to the French President, which wasn't a wise move with the Algeria crisis raging. Banned on French radio, even in the lite version (where the deserter informs the gendarmes he's not armed, so they can shoot him). While not a cover whatsoever, Boudewijn de Groot's Mijnheer De President is obviously Vian-inspired.