The French national anthem: La Marseillaise

The French national anthem, the Marseillaise, was composed in 1792 in Strasbourg (not Marseille) in only one night by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle.

It has been adopted as the French national anthem, first by the Convention (from 14 July 1795 to 18 May 1804), then on 14 February 1879 under the Third Republic.

Under the Vichy regime (1940-1944), it was replaced by the song Maréchal, nous voilà!. In the occupied zone, the German military command banned playing and singing the song from 17 July 1941.

In their 1967 song All You Need Is Love, the Beatles don’t sing it, but the first notes of the French national anthem are played (brass) as an introduction, immediately followed by the words “love, love, love”.