"Tu ne m'as pas laissé le temps" is a 1999 song recorded by French artist David Hallyday. It was the lead single from his album Un Paradis / Un Enfer, released about two weeks after the single, in June 1999. Very moving, it was a smash hit in France (a number-one single) and Belgium (Wallonia) and remains to date David Hallyday's most successful single.

The music was composed by the singer himself, while the lyrics were written by Lionel Florence, a famous composer who had previously worked with many artists such as Alain Chamfort, Faudel, Florent Pagny, Jane Birkin, Pascal Obispo and Patricia Kaas (later, it has also composed for Nolwenn Leroy, Natasha St-Pier and many others). The song is dedicated to Hallyday's grandfather and he addresses directly to him in the lyrics.

The song brings emotion "on a spontaneous mode which uses its most forceful sentences from the universe of the children : constructions inspired by the spoken language which break the semantic rules, idealistic oaths as much as solemn". The music seems to express both nostalgy and regrets, created by the guitar in the introduction and the violins in the refrains.

"Tu ne m'as pas laissé le temps" is also available on many French compilations, such as Hit Connection - Best Of 1999, Hit Express 8, La Discothèque du XXè siècle, Lionel Florence: des rencontres et des mots (2002) and Hits de diamant (2007).

The song was awarded the Price Vincent Scotto by the SACEM.

In 2006, the song was covered by Chimène Badi, Liane Foly, Maurane and Yannick Noah. Their version was included as tenth track of the first CD on Les Enfoirés' album Le Village des Enfoirés.

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