In 1985, in a concert in Moscow, in what was an orchestrated gesture, roughly one third of the spectators upped and left the concert hall when he sang the anti-militarist "Déserteur". In the late 1980s and the 1990s, Renaud's work was distinguished by "softer" subjects such as his then-wife Dominique, his daughter Lolita and his friends, as well as comedian and singer Coluche for whom he wrote the tribute ""Putain de camion"" ("Bloody Lorry") after Coluche's death in a road accident. He has also ventured into regional music and language, such as the language of Marseille in "La Belle de Mai", the north with "Renaud cante el' Nord" and even Corsican polyphonics in "Lolito lolita".