Written by Bruel and Bruno Garcin, it was the fourth single from the album Alors regarde, on which it appears as the seventh track, and was released in February 1991.

"Place des grands hommes" was originally written for French TV program Avis de recherche, where Patrick Bruel reunited with his classmates several years later as in the song.

[1] Lyrically, the song deals with the narrator who imagines his reunion, on a location named "Place des grands hommes", with a group of friends who have not seen each other for ten years.

He expresses the feelings he might have at this meeting, their mutual surprises when noting the life changes experienced by every participant, and wonders whether he should go or not to this reunion.

[2] The Place des grands hommes does not directly refer to that of Bordeaux, whose name is exactly the same, but rather to the Place du Panthéon in Paris, where the remains of the great men and women of the Nation are housed.