In July 1947, Henri Betti was in Nice and on his way to join his father in the center of town to play a game of bridge.
He then went up to Paris and made an appointment with the lyricist André Hornez at the Hôtel Grand Powers at 52 rue François Ier to find a title for his song.
The next day the lyricist showed Henri Betti a list of ten three-syllable titles, the last of which was C'est si bon.
Henri Betti told him that that was the one he wanted but André Hornez pointed out that there had been a song by Charles Trenet written for the movie Frederica named "C'est bon" a few years previously.
[1] On the advice of Roger Seiller at SACEM's publisher, Paul Beuscher, he proposed the song to Yves Montand at the same time as "Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai ?"
While waiting for the song editor to offer him another performer, Henri Betti sang it himself at the restaurant La Réserve in Nice in the evening with opening and closing music.
In January 1948, the publisher Paul Beuscher told Henri Betti that he would first try out the song with Jacques Hélian and his Orchestra for the radio.
[2] On 18 January 1948, Jean Marco performed the song with Jacques Hélian and his Orchestra for the radio station Programme Parisien of the French Broadcasting.
From 18 March to 9 December 1950, Sylvie St. Clair sang the English version of the song with Debroy Somers and his Orchestra in the revue Latin Quarter 1950 created by Robert Nesbitt and presented at the London Casino.
In 1961, Bing Crosby recorded the song in English with musical arrangements by Bob Thompson and conducted by Malcolm Lockyer for his album Holiday in Europe, a collection of European hits.
Also in 1964, Allan Sherman recorded a parody, "I See Bones" for his album My Son, the Nut, with a doctor describing to his patient an X-ray showing various improbable items in his innards.
In 2006, Arielle Dombasle recorded the song in a bilingual version with the musical arrangements of Jean-Pascal Beintus for her album C'est si bon.
In 2016, Tatiana Eva-Marie recorded the song in French with the Avalon Jazz Band on their album "Je suis Swing", a tribute to the Zazous.
In 1949, Giacomo Mario Gili and Nino Rastelli wrote the Italian lyrics of the song for the recording of Natalino Otto with Luciano Zuccheri and his Orchestra in March 1949.
The same year, Jerry Seelen wrote the English lyrics for the recording of Johnny Desmond with Tony Mottola and his Orchestra in January 1950.
In 1950, Ralph Maria Siegel wrote the German lyrics for the recording of Rita Gallos with Kurt Edelhagen and his Orchestra in May 1950.
The same year, Tapio Kullervo Lahtinen wrote the Finnish lyrics for the recording of Maire Ojonen with George de Godzinsky and his Orchestra.
The same year, Gösta Rybrant wrote the Swedish lyrics for the recording of Gustaf Torrestad with Thore Jederby and his Orchestra.
In 1995, Claes Eriksson wrote other Swedish lyrics for the recording of Galenskaparna och After Shave with Den ofattbara and his Orchestra and the title of his version became "Direktör".