Youri Djorkaeff will undoubtedly be chiefly remembered as, a) one of the most gifted players in one of the most gilded generations of French football history, and, b) a bona fide Bolton Wanderers club legend.
However, you may not be aware that the midfielder was also, c) responsible for one of the most sensual and erotically-charged pop hits of the early 21st century.
‘Vivre Dans Ta Lumière’ (‘Living in Your Light’) was recorded and released in 2000, right in the middle of Djorkaeff’s three-year stint at Kaiserslautern, and it still sounds as fresh and exciting as it ever did to this very day…
No wonder they called him ‘The Snake’ – look at those hips go!
The lyrics, once translated, are of course utterly incredible…
“Living clandestinely, I want to live in your eyes under your light. “
“I tattooed on my arms, tagged in my memory, a drawing of your two eyes.
Fragile as blotting paper, wet by your tears that fall in my heart like a sacred rose.”
“The story of my silences, the colour of absence, the thrill forbids erotic sighs.”
“My god, you’re beautiful. Like a watercolor, baby
Draw my dreams, draw my dreams.”
It’s like Rimbaud, re-imagined by Hallmark then vomited out by a professional footballer.
More crooning footballers on Pies…
‘Not The Dancing Kind’ – Feel Irie With Ruud Gullit’s Reggae Stonker, 1984
‘It’s Goodbye’ – Hoddle & Waddle’s Equally Powerful Follow-Up To ‘Diamond Lights’, 1987
‘Did You Ever?’ – Mick McCarthy Duets On Version Of Lee Hazelwood Classic, 1990