Cookie Dingler's Femme Libérée, 1984: An 80s Anthem in French Pop Culture

Cookie Dingler's Problematic but Iconic Hit Sold Over a Million Copies, and Would Never Be Made Today

The one hit, "Femme Libérée" by Cookie Dingler, 1984, quickly became one of the best-known tracks of the 1980s in France. Despite being the band's only major hit, it sold over a million copies and a Platinum certification from SNEP (France’s Recording Industry Association of America) in 1985. But it was also really catchy and has now become kind of iconic of the 1980s in France.  The song has almost no commercial success outside of France. By comparison, Wham’s “Careless Whisper,” released in the same year, went to number 1 in 25 countries and sold over 3 million copies in the first year.

Cookie Dingler’s song spent 18 weeks on the French Singles Chart, peaking at number 2. Kind of a quintessential early 80s sound with a toxically upbeat tempo - and a few nice xylophone breaks - disparaging the modern woman as suffering from insecurity and so on.

There's no deep or symbolic meaning behind the name "Cookie Dingler" – Christian Dingler was the lead singer of the band, and I guess he was also known as Cookie.

Cookie Dingler’s song spent 18 weeks on the French Singles Chart, peaking at number 2. Kind of a quintessential “80s” sound with a toxically upbeat tempo, disparaging the modern woman as suffering from insecurity and so on. The lyrics describe a "liberated woman" who, while modern and independent, remains preoccupied with societal expectations about her appearance and behavior. The “Liberated Woman” is self-conscious and needs men to take care of her.

It’s the type of song that’s unlikely to get made today and much less likely to be popular.

Still, hit songs with xylophones are rare enough, but even Cookie Dingler didn’t use one except in the video: the xylophone sound was done on keyboard.

Some repeated lines:

"Sa première ride lui fait du souci"

   ("Her first wrinkle worries her") 

"Elle rentre son ventre à chaque fois qu’elle sort” 

   ("She sucks in her stomach each time she goes out") 

"Ne la laisse pas tomber, elle est si fragile"

   ("Don’t let her down, she’s so fragile")