Another guestpost! St. Paul is one hell of a DJ, and a musical omivore. Just try one of his brilliant Perfect Kippevel (Perfect Goosebumps) compilations on Perfects.nl (this one, or this one). For this blog, he wrote a touching and highly personal post on his favourite Françoise-track:
“My girlfriend’s parents owned a second house in the south of France. They were a typical wine drinking, culturally engaged and fun loving family, while I was busy fighting off teenage angst listening to Nirvana. I lived alone with my mother and, because there was never enough money, I had never been on a holiday, not even within our own country.
So when I got a call from my girlfriend to come over to their house in France, an almost uncontrollable burst of excitement came over me. Armed with a carefully selected tape full of French songs and a rose for every day that we would be together I travelled a thousand miles to see her. As I reached the land of romance and finesse I found out that the love of my life had slept with the local guitar teacher.
I’m not a Francophile. What I still cherish though, are the songs. The songs from that tape. And the songs that i got to know in the years to come. My favorite Francoise Hardy tune would be Le Temps De L’Amour. For all the obvious reasons, such as the bouncy but delicate backbeat and of course the bittersweet vocals.
But it also works wonderfully in one of the greatest movies of all time. That classic dancing scene in Moonrise Kingdom only confirms the vivid qualities of the song. To me the scene feels more like an image track to the music than the other way around. It’s as director Wes Anderson tried to make the perfect music video, just like Spike Jonze recently did with Arcade Fire’s Afterlife.
Many of Hardy’s songs evoke an instant mental picture. They invade the heart as much as the mind. A lot of it has to do with the highly romantic delivery. As a DJ I consider myself to be a professional escapist, thus falling in love with your favorite female artists would be the easiest thing to do. Except it’s not. Take Beyoncé, she runs the world with her looks, songs and charm. But she remains too much of a star to feel closely connected to. With Francoise Hardy it’s different. When you see her walking down the street, rowing a boat or simply looking into the camera it’s as if she’s addressing you and only you. Like ‘messages personnels’, her songs have an immediate power. It’s like first love all over again. But this time everything’s alright.’
Quand le temps va et vient,
on ne pense a rien malgre ses blessures.