Learn to sing a French song - Sympatique by Pink Martini

If you want to learn to sing a French song, begin with one that teaches you the basics of French but also one that doesn't tend to look down on you like a small little child with ABC. This number uses basic verbs in the chorus which is quite catchy and grows on you.

The song was released in the same title album in 1997. Initially, I thought this may not be a good song for my fellow colleagues as the first line in the chorus reads "Je ne veux pas travailler" (I don't want to work) but it really is just a song about a woman heartbroken and given up on doing any chores - Je veux seulement l'oublier et puis je fume... (I only want to forget him and so, I smoke).

Interestingly, costmo mentioned in a post that says:

If you had been to one of their concerts, you would have heard Thomas Lauderdale (the guy who wrote the song) explain that he and China Forbes (the lady who sings the song) were in a hotel bar in Portland, Oregon and overheard two French-speaking Canadians (who he assumed were in Oregon as loggers) having this conversation. They "poemed" it up a bit, but he claims that this was the gist of their conversation. 

It was a conversation between two men about being frustrated with work, lost love (or lovers) and life in general -- so they were at the point at which all they wanted to do was smoke and forget about everything else. 

You can find the French lyrics at: http://www.xlyrics.de/pink-martini-lyrics/sympatique-lyrics.html
Its English translation is found at: http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/40788/#73016067324