Composed by Georges Augier de Moussac [fr] with lyrics by Serge Gainsbourg, "White and Black Blues" was originally titled "Black Lolita Blues", however Joëlle Ursull declined to perform it due to the pejorative connotations of the word "Lolita".

Gainsbourg, had previously composed France Gall's winning entry for Luxembourg in 1965, "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", as well as the Monegasque entry "Boum-Badaboum" for Minouche Barelli in 1967, which had finished fifth (and he had also composed "Comme un boomerang" for Dani to enter the 1975 Eurovision, but the song was rejected as some of its lyrics were deemed too violent; that song was released by Dani in 2001, 26 years later, as a duet with Étienne Daho, and was a major success in France that year).

Ursull sings, "when someone talks to me about skin colour / I have the blues which sends shivers down my spine / I feel as if I'm in a tale by Edgar Allan Poe".

Antenne 2 internally selected "White and Black Blues" as its entrant for the 35th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.

[3] At the close of voting, the song had received 132 points, tying for second place with "Somewhere in Europe" by Liam Reilly that represented Ireland, in a field of twenty-two.