An autobiographical song about a single mother, who walks the streets of Paris without a penny in her pocket but a Jack Kerouac poem in her hand. It’s high summer, her ‘gamins des rues’ are too poor to leave for the sea and settle for the chlorine odor of the swimming pools.
Intrigued? Listen to the song Caroline Christa-Bernard wrote. Find the remix here. Hear her sing a Jane Birkin song here.
Caroline Christa-Bernard – L’eau de chlore
The Rodeo is French fille Dorothée Hannequin (Dorothee, The Rodeo, get it?), who debuted in 2010 with her Far West-tinged, Cat Power-ish album Music Maelstrom. On her new EP, out now, she recorded a French song. La Notte is inspired by the movie of the same name with Marcello Mastroianni and Jeanne Moreau. Very, very nice.
Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel (best known for her role as Emmanuelle) passed away today. I’ve met her a couple of times, she recorded a beautiful Dutch Gainsbourg-cover with Rick de Leeuw for a project of mine. She was a fragile woman with a sad life, but she told great stories and was capable of captivating every one in the room. Rest in peace.
Sylvia Kristel & Rick de Leeuw – God trekt graag aan zijn Havana
Sylvia Kristel & Eddy de Clercq – Changes
We usually keep it plushy, soft-focussed and hoarse on this blog. But every now and then, we take a walk down the stairs, to the humid cellar, where things happen outside of the sun. Where bands like Liminanas play, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Granville. And New Zealand trio Opposite Sex. Alas, singer Lucy Hunter doesn’t sing in French, unless you count “au revoir, la rat…” as French (that should either be ‘La Rate’ or ‘Le Rat’). But hey, her voice is deliciously breathy, the music’s banging and clunking like a garbage truck (I mean that as a compliment) and when you call a track Mary Lu, you sure know your Gainsbourgian speak. Lucy also played the trumpet solo at the end of Connan Mockasin’s Serge-ish ‘It’s Choade my Dear’ as well as keyboards on other tracks on Connan’s album ‘Forever Dolphin Love’.
This is music that hides from the light, that breeds in the dark. Opposite sex, indeed.
How could we miss out on this one? La Femme‘s Paris 2012 fuses proto-punk, surf attitude and 80s synth-pop into a razor-sharp garage cyberpop experience. Doubtless one of the most intriguing videos of the year, and super chouette apocalyptic fun.
It’s a tough job to track Tony Green (photo: Tony, France Joli and Gene Leone at Alpha Studios, Philly, 1979) down on the net. Not only because of his stage name, but also because he’s obviously quite a reclusive guy. Actually, Tony – born Antonio DiVerdis Mazzone – was kind of the Canadian counterpart to Giorgio Moroder in the late 70s and a famous regular at New York’s Studio 54, where he certainly also crossed paths with Margaret Trudeau, the free-minded spouse of then Canadian prime minister Pierre T. (»I met her. You know, ›Hi‹. There she is.«). Green, whose recording career began in 1969, wrote and produced more than a dozen of international dance hits for Freddie James, France Joli (a.k.a. the Canadian Donna Summer), or the legendary U.N. Before his heyday, Tony Green recorded the ultra-rare French language dancefloor disco smoothie Amoureux, released as a 45 in November 1978. Despite the infectious character of his grooves, the Montréal-based disco god of the late 70s and early 80s always has been very private. »I kind of kept to myself«, he told Kelly Hughes of discomusic.com. »I was a real loner. I still am.«
Actually, I like Depardieu’s slightly sleazoid version from Quand j’étais chanteur best, but Françoise’s voice could turn even a Gainsbourg song into an anthem of innocence.
1974’s Pourquoi tu vis (Porque te vas) by Jeannette is one of the touchstones of doll-fronted pop – it was covered and sampled many times. Canadian jazz-pianist (she plays Wurlitzer, Rhodes and ‘tuned mixing bowls and muted pestle’ as well) Elizabeth Shepherd adds her version to the list, and it’s a good one. Shepherd’s known for her fierce, funky tracks and her hoarse voice. The fact that Elizabeth was pregnant during the recording of her fourth album ‘Rewind’ adds to the charm. ‘The fears and anticipation surrounding imminent motherhood were largely impetus to make this record’, she writes in the liner notes. ‘Rewind’ is covers album. Shepherd: ‘I chose to do songs that I have learned and loved and grown with over the years.’ Songs by Cole Porter (Love for Sale), Cannonball Adderley (Sack of Woe), Kurt Weill (Lonely House) and two chansons; the aforementioned Pourquoi tu vis and a Les Amoureux des bancs publics by Brassens. A very big plus of/on this album are the phat basslines by Ross MacIntyre. One of the three bassists on this album, but he’s the one who really adds to the songs.
Elizabeth Shepherd – Pourquoi tu vis
This song is also added to my New French Pop 2012 playlist on Spotify.
Mashing-up Brel’s Ne Me Quitte Pas and Gainsbourg’s La Javanaise, it can be done, and it sounds great. French jazz pianist Baptiste Trotignon expertly ties these well-known chansons together on his new album. Ne Me Quitte Pas starts gentle, then Baptiste gets mental. Or desperate – just like NMQP. Then, he finishes in a melancholy mood, that fits La Javanaise, after all a song that’s about a love affair that lasts just one song. It all sounds very left bank. Serge and Jacques knew each other well, and toured together. I’m reading the English translation of Gilles Verlant’s indispensible Gainsbourg-biography, in which he tells stories of Brel charming every girl in the little town he, Serge and a small troupe of variety-artists passed through, with Serge taking note(s).
Trotignon covered Gainsbourg before, together with Aldo Romano he mashed-up Valse de Melody and Je t’aime… Mon non plus. On his new album, Song Song Song, Trotignon has another FS-regular as a guestvocalist. Melody Gardot is breezes (or should I say, breathes) through Mon fantôme. Nice.
Baptiste Trotignon – Ne Me Quitte Pas/La Javanaise
Baptiste Trotignon & Melody Gardot – Mon fantôme
Super deep bass voice, platinum blonde hair and eyes behind black shades: No, that’s not a character from a Pulp Fiction spin-off. It’s German schlock phenomenon Heino, who sold about 5000 million albums nationwide, fusing Volkslied soul and clap-along Schlager melodies to a kind of post-Wehrmacht barbecue party hits, telling stories of blooming gentian, compliant Polish girls and the next hardcore drinking binge. In 1975, the singing baker and pastry chef did a stunning version of Charles Trenet’s all-time classic La Mer, including a stupefying string arrangement and an unforgettable girl chorus. Before extended listening, it makes sense to recall the title of Heino’s autobiography: And They Love Me Though.
Heino – Das Meer