It's merely commercial pop music, no matter what language it is in. The 1950's version sung by the Gaylords was written to appeal to the young audience who listened to 45's on the radio.

As for the French version where she dances till she dies, I don't know whom that was supposed to appeal to. There are men who enjoy seeing females, especially young and pretty ones, suffer but I don't think they form much of a consumer base. That version went into the Great Garbage Can of Forgotten Culture, and I think that's a good thing.

By the way, I know a woman named Bridget who is a speech therapist, and she throws some possible light on the life of the shoemaker of the song. I saw Bridget after she had moved to New York City and had obtained a job in the public schools. She was disappointed because she wasn't doing actual speech therapy.

Her usual charge had a story like this:

A young child, maybe 4, 5 or 6, goes to the doctor for some reason, and the doctor says "Is he talking?" The parents look at each other and seem amazed. "No he isn't! We never noticed!"

The child's story turns out to be something like this. He is the fourth of sixth children. The TV is going all the time and computers are beeping. Parents may be working long hours. The older children are good at manipulating others for attention, and the babies unabashedly cry when they need it. The little kid, however, gets ignored. If he's lucky, he gets sent to a bridget, and she encourages him to talk.

I think the shoemaker was once a child like that, and he grew up and remained silent. The SHE comes along...