Très Chic
Rapid-fire conga’s, screaming Hammond organ and a driving mod-beat: Ecoutez by Elsa is at least something to hear, indeed. It’s one of the top tracks on Très Chic, the sequel to the French filles-compilation Ace Records released in 2010. Again, this blog gets a mention in the credits – merci bien. If you’re a regular visitor, you might be underwhelmed by the tracklist containing Yeye-standards like Comment te dire adieu, Jazz à gogo and Tut, Tut, Tut, Tut. But there’s the wonderful, Gainsbourg-penned Au Risque de te deplaire by Marie-Blanche Vergne and the English translation of 7 Heures du Matin by Jacqueline Taieb. That, plus the excellent artwork and insightful info makes this a must-have.
Congratulations to Guuzbourg for finding a good video of Françoise Hardy singing ‘Comment te dire adieu’ – as linked here. Other versions of this song on the internet do not show her so well.
‘Comment te dire adieu’ has a most interesting history, well set out at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_te_dire_adieu%3F_(song)
It was written by two American songwriters as ‘It hurts to say goodbye’. Françoise heard it and at her request Serge Gainsbourg wrote the French lyrics, with the stress on ‘ex’.
By contrast I regret to say that I find Jacqueline Taieb’s English-language song ‘7am’ not attractive at all.
It should be noted that there’s a blue vinyl version of the compilation, albeit with fewer tracks than the CD. Which to buy? Both, I reckon!