Juliette 87

Mark [Mark S.] offers this greeting to the original fille sourire:

Today is the 87th birthday of Juliette Gréco, the greatest French singer of her generation. Born on 7 February 1927, she now shares this age with Queen Elizabeth II, born 21 April 1926. For neither of these great women is retirement on offer. ‘Retraite, c’est un terme militaire pour moi’, Juliette Gréco has said, and she continues to perform, and record – most recently a new album of Jacques Brel songs.

Here is a 1958 video, as sensual as one could get away with in those days : ‘La complainte du téléphone’:

And here are two wonderful clips from 1976 – the flowering tree in the courtyard behind her adding to the elegance of first her medley of some well-known songs, here.

And then her first filmed live performance of the then new song ‘Vivre’ by Henri Gougaud and Gérard Jouannest, which she introduces:
I have posted the lyrics of this fabulous song on the Youtube page below the film.

And finally one of her least-known modern songs, ‘Et là, t’y crois’, written by Etienne Roda-Gil and Julien Clerc, with a magificent musical arrangement by Jean Claude Petit. It was recorded in 1993 and, because it requires an orchestra, is not performed by her on stage, to my knowledge.

I have posted both the French lyrics and my translation into English of ‘Et là, t’y crois’ on the Youtube page. Nearly 5 minutes of Juliette Gréco heaven.

Written by guuzbourg

French girls, singing. No, sighing. Making me sigh. Ah.

This article has 1 comments

  1. marksl

    In the video of ‘La complainte du téléphone’, the camera moves in from 2m00s and from 2m20s to the end of the song we see Juliette in close-up. A good quality film from 1958 – the sound probably remastered.
    The two 1976 clips were filmed in an open-air courtyard in Aix-en-Provence in May that year – hence the attractive flowering tree backdrop.