'Ça plane pour moi' was written by Yvan Lacomblez and released as a single by Plastic Bertrand in December 1977. An exponent of the punk movement, it was the first punk record in French that was also a success outside of French-speaking countries.
The lyrics are full of 1970s French slang, and are very difficult to translate exactly into English. Even native French speakers disagree on the exact meaning. The title of the song in particular is ambiguous: 'Ça Plane Pour Moi' means 'It is gliding for me', which could imply that having his head in the clouds, or possibly being high on drugs, works for the singer. Other suggestions are 'It's all working out for me', 'This works for me', 'This plan's for me', 'Everything's cool/groovy for me' or, more loosely, 'Things are going great' or even 'I'm on cloud nine'. The basic theme is a chaotic, drunken sexual encounter with a girl, told in retrospect.
In 2010, Plastic Bertrand admitted that he didn't actually sing the track in 1977. Instead, the track, and most of Bertrand's first four albums were sung by producer Lou Deprijck. Ironically, Bertrand had actually won a lawsuit in 2006 from Deprijck, who wanted to acquire the rights to the song.
Live performances
Kim Wilde performed this song live during her European tour in March/April 2009 and subsequent festival performances in the summer of 2009 and 2010 and during the Come Out and Play Tour.