It appeared on the album Les Bigotes and was co-composed with Brel's frequent collaborative musicians Gérard Jouannest and Jean Corti.

The song has been covered in French by artists like Bruno Brel, Flossie Malavialle, Tom Mega, Vadim Piankov, Têtes Raides and Jacques Grillot.

Dutch-language versions have been recorded by Liesbeth List, Jasperina de Jong, Arie Cupé, Mich en Scène and Frank Cools (in Dutch as De Oudjes) and Herman van den Berg (in Afrikaans as Die Grysaards).

Mort Shuman released an English-language version named The Old Folks, which has been covered by respectively Jennifer, Laurika Rauch, Richard Anthony, Donald Cant, John Denver and Camille O'Sullivan.

[2] In the film version Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (1968) it is performed by Elly Stone.