According to legend, Wolfsohn, who had previously promoted Françoise Hardy, used to amuse himself by taking pot-shots at Fechner's Revox tape-machine with a rifle from his office window.

According to Lanzmann, the song is "about complete selfishness...all the terrible things that go on a stone's-throw away, that touch us but that, nevertheless, do not prevent us from continuing to live and enjoy the evening's barbecue".

[5] Musically, the song's fuzzy, choppy guitar line bears the influence of the Pretty Things and the Kinks.

[11][12] It also gained popularity on the British mod scene where, despite the language barrier, it was appreciated as satirising the folk revival movement.

For Portis, Dutronc marks a break with the literary tradition of French chanson in his creative use of the sounds, rather than just the syntax, of the language.

Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew, under his solo moniker Dump, released a cover of the song on his 1997 album A Plea for Tenderness.

[16] Israeli singer-songwriter Ariel Zilber recorded a Hebrew version of the song, entitled Milyard Sinim ("One Billion Chinese") in 1988.

[17] Translated by Yehonatan Gefen, the Hebrew text is a fairly accurate reflection of the French, and the chorus is exact.