"Valentine" is a song originally performed by French actor, cabaret singer and entertainer Maurice Chevalier.
Piton was needed for the rhyme scheme, but Chevalier always pointed to his nose at that moment in the song, to indicate what part of his lover's anatomy he was supposedly fondling.
His passionate love affair with the French songstress Mistinguett and "Dans la vie faut pas s'en faire" ("You mustn't worry so much in your life"), a song that became his first hit the following year, had brought him a certain notoriety.
Shortly after meeting his future wife Yvonne Vallée, he signed a three-year contract with Léon Volterra [fr] to take part in three revues at the Casino de Paris.
[9] According to Dave DiMartino in his book Music in the 20th Century, Chevalier's "rendition of lighthearted songs such as 'Valentine' [...] seemed to conjure up the romantic feel of Paris".
In the chorus the singer describes her as having small feet, little breasts ("Elle avait des tout petits tétons") and a little chin.
"[10] Chevalier performed the song in his first American movie, Innocents of Paris (1928), a musical comedy directed by Richard Wallace and starring Sylvia Beecher.