Verlaine, Baudelaire and the Girls

Here’s an idea: let gorgeous filles like Claire Keim, Jenifer and Camelia Jordana sing poems by Verlaine, Baudelaire, Elouard and Carême. Add some garçons (Arthur H, Marc Lavoine, Babx), some unsinkable legends (Ferré, Hardy, Nougarro) and you have La Bande des Mots. A compilation to raise money for handicapped students, and to help popularize the great French poets. Not every poem is fit to be sung, to be honest. But Verlaine’s Il pleure dans mon coeur by Claire Keim sure makes excellent FS-material. She’s certainly not the first to sing Verlaine’s poem, many classical soprano’s did it before her, but it never sounded this sexy.

Claire Keim – Il pleure dans mon coeur
Camelia Jordana – Spleen

Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire inspired many musicians, from pop to classical. His book of poetry Les fleurs du mal is best known, containing poems touching on lesbianism, sex, death and wine. Gainsbourg was a fan, obviously, and in the past artists like J-L Murat, AS Dragon and The Cure paid tribute. And now Dutch band Kashmir Boots set Tristesse de la lune to music. Guido of KB writes: ‘I recorded this with my ex-girlfriend Sarah, who is French and with whom I had a pretty intense relationship. We broke up, but saw each other recently and recorded this. Sarah loves French poetry, especially Baudelaire and Rimbaud. It’s short, but sweet. We might do this again.’

Kashmir Boots – Tristesse de la lune
Serge Gainsbourg – Baudelaire