The Serge Gainsbourg thread.

Hello, this is the Official Gainsbourg thread ;-)
(and sorry for my bad bad english)
I take some songs in each of his albums for seing the evolution. Except for "Histoire de Melody Nelson" where all his fabulous (96 in metacritic)
Since we are on an international forum, I focused on rhythm, not to the words. The album are homogeneous, if you like a song, it is likely that you appreciate the other of the same album.
And I put some of songs write and composed by Serge Gainsbourg but sing by other.


1958 : Du chant à la une
Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas.
Douze Belles Dans La Peau.
L'alcool.

1959 : N°2
L'anthracite.
Indifférente.
Judith.
L'eau à la bouche.

1961 : L'étonnant Serge Gainsbourg
La Chanson De Prévert.
Les Oubliettes.
Les Amours Perdues.

1962 : N°4
Les Goémons
Black Trombone.
Baudelaire.
Intoxicated man.
Requiem pour un twister.
La Javanaise.

1963 : Gainsbourg Confidentiel
Chez les yé-yé.
Elaeudanla Téïtéïa.
Scenic Railway.
No, no thanks no !.

1964 : Gainsbourg Percussion
Pauvre Lola.
Quand mon 6,35 me fait les yeux doux !.
New-York USA.
Couleur café.
Ces petits rien.
Coco and co.

1967 : Anna (fabulous OST)
Sous le soleil exactement
Ne dis rien
Un jour comme un autre
Un poison violent, c'est ça l'amour
De plus en plus, de moins en moins
Roller girl
Je n'avais qu'un seul mot à lui dire.

1968 : Initials B.B.
Initials B.B.
Comic Strip
Bloody Jack
Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde
Ford Mustang
Bonnie & Clyde
Qui est"In", qui est "Out" ?
Requiem pour un con

1969 : Jane Birkin - Serge Gainsbourg
Je t'aime, moi non plus ! (Birkin)
Je t'aime, moi non plus ! (Bardot)
L'anamour
69, année érotique
Elisa
La chanson de Slogan

1971 : Histoire de Melody Nelson
All the album without any exeption
Melody
Ballade de Melody
Valse de Melody
Ah Melody
L'hotel particulier
Cargo Culte

1973 : Vu de l'extérieur
Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais !
Par hasard et pas rasé
L'hippopodame
Sensuelle Et Sans Suite

1975 : Rock around the Bunker
Nazi rock
Rock around the Bunker
S.S. in Uruguay

1976 : L'homme à la tête de chou
L'homme à la tête de chou
Chez Max, coiffeur pour homme
Flash Forward
Aeroplanes
Variations sur Marilou
Marilou sous la neige

1979 : Aux armes et caetera
Aux armes et caetera (the French anthem revisited)
Vieille Canaille
Lola Rastaquouere

1981 : Mauvaises nouvelles des étoiles
Overses Telegram
La nostalgie camarade

1984 : Love on the Beat
Love on the Beat
Sorry Angel
No comment
Lemon Incest

1987 : You are under arrest
Gloomy Sunday
Aux enfants de la chance
Mon Légionnaire

Other artist who sing Gainsbourg
Anna Karina - La noyée
Brigitte Bardot - Contact
Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson
Catherine Deneuve - Dieu est un fumeur de Havane
Dani - Comme un boomerang
Dominique Walter - Les petits boudins
France Gall - Laisse tomber les filles
France Gall - Les sucettes (she never understand the double sens of the song, the poor girl)
France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son
Françoise Hardy - Comment te dire adieux
Isabelle Adjani - Beau oui, comme Bowie
Isabelle Adjani - Pull Marine
Jane Birkin - La décadanse
Jane Birkin - Jane B
Jane Birkin - Ex fan des sixties
Jane Birkin - L'aquoiboniste
Jane Birkin - Ballade de Johnny Jane
Jane Birkin - Les dessous chics
Marianne Faithfull - Hier ou demain
Michèle Arnaud - Les papillons noirs
Mireille Darc - Hélicoptère
Nico - Strip Tease
Petula Clark - La gadoue
Régine - Les p'tits papiers
Vanessa Paradis - Tandem

And I highly recommend to buy the "Le Cinema de Serge Gainsbourg" compilation.
Some of the OST :
Angoisse
Some small chance
Woom woom woom
Cannabis
Sex Shop
Goodbye Emmanuelle
Sea sex and sun

And for the anglophiles, I highly recommend the two compilations of Mick Harvey : "Intoxicated man" and "pink Elephants"

If I can make discover some songs at at least one person I'd be happy.


The other thread who bug can be deleted ? Thanks.

Today, I found myself in the mood to relisten "L'Homme à tête de chou". I think I've listened so much to "Melody Nelson" now that I know it nearly by heart, so I wanted to listen to THE other Gainsbourg "classics". This might sound strange to a non-french music listener, who might favour a chanson or "Initials BB" period song or album, but this is how it is here.

My mind was blown away. I realised that I've discovered many new musical horizons, and AM.net is in many ways responsible for it (thanks Henrik!), but I didn't take the time to come back to this album before. The scenario begins identically to Melody Nelson (an old man falls in love with a young girl), and it turns bad, but not in the same way.

I read somewhere that although Melody Nelson is considered the "musically" superior album, L'Homme is often seen as the "lyrically" superior one. And it's not hard for Melody : the music is sparse, minimalistic, nearly anecdotic on L'Homme which sounds much more like Gainsbourg reciting his story than singing it (maybe only Alain Bashung's "Play Blessures" is that musically minimalistic in the french scene). That's why some feel the album is boring, or that he went only half-way on it, not taking the time to adjust music and lyrics.

But it might have been a shame, for the lyrics to be changed, since "the flow" sounds so perfect to a french-speaking ear. It is full of play on words, pop culture references, absurdities (the whole Lewis Carroll thing on the song "Variations sur Marilou"; the Flash Forward shock when the hero discovers about Marilou's real nature...), and more, I can think of no other french artists who tackles the sex subject as crudely as Serge does here. It might look strange for the land where Paris, the so-called City of Love, is, but it seems that when it comes to sex in pop culture, french people react with hostility.

That can be understood here; this hallucinatory trip (Transit à Marilou; Premiers symptômes...) ends in the murder of the old man's girl, who believed he was Marilou's lover, only to discover that she had a completely free sexuality. Sounds way too crude for the time. Even in the post-De Gaulle period, french society still remained highly conservative. One can only see the whole "Aux armes etc." scandal 3 years later.

That's no surprise this album got "lost in translation" against other Gainsbourg works, and there is few other answers to the problem than telling people to try their best to understand the lyrics, and even this won't be enough. An iconic song ? Only the masterpiece "Variations sur Marilou" comes to my mind, a long poem about Marilou's sex ways.

Melody Nelson is probably the best french rock album ever. But L'Homme is really a serious contender, and "Variations" a likely candidate for Gainsbourg's best song. At least, here are his best lyrics. Sorry to spam you with that review, but I felt I was in the mood to talk about it after listening to the album. Goodbye!

Romain's link to "Variations" on the Gainsbourg page:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EelVBOMia2w

Allmusic's page for "L'Homme à tête de chou":

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hnfpxquhldke

I've merged the two topics.

Hey, Romain, hope you like it like that, I did it only because it’s more visually attractive

The Serge Gainsbourg thread

Hello, this is the Official Gainsbourg thread ;-)
(and sorry for my bad bad english)
I take some songs in each of his albums for seing the evolution. Except for "Histoire de Melody Nelson" where all his fabulous (96 in metacritic)
Since we are on an international forum, I focused on rhythm, not to the words. The album are homogeneous, if you like a song, it is likely that you appreciate the other of the same album.
And I put some of songs write and composed by Serge Gainsbourg but sing by other.



1958 : Du chant à la une
Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas
Douze Belles Dans La Peau
L'alcool


1959 : N°2
L'anthracite
Indifférente
Judith
L'eau à la bouche


1961 : L'étonnant Serge Gainsbourg
La Chanson De Prévert
Les Oubliettes
Les Amours Perdues


1962 : N°4
Les Goémons
Black Trombone
Baudelaire
Intoxicated man
Requiem pour un twister
La Javanaise


1963 : Gainsbourg Confidentiel
Chez les yé-yé
Elaeudanla Téïtéïa
Scenic Railway
No, no thanks no !


1964 : Gainsbourg Percussion
Pauvre Lola
Quand mon 6,35 me fait les yeux doux !
New-York USA
Couleur café
Ces petits rien
Coco and co.


1967 : Anna (fabulous OST)
Sous le soleil exactement
Ne dis rien
Un jour comme un autre
Un poison violent, c'est ça l'amour
De plus en plus, de moins en moins
Roller girl
Je n'avais qu'un seul mot à lui dire.


1968 : Initials B.B.
Initials B.B.
Comic Strip
Bloody Jack
Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde
Ford Mustang
Bonnie & Clyde
Qui est"In", qui est "Out" ?
Requiem pour un con


1969 : Jane Birkin - Serge Gainsbourg
Je t'aime, moi non plus ! (Birkin)
Je t'aime, moi non plus ! (Bardot)
L'anamour
69, année érotique
Elisa
La chanson de Slogan


1971 : Histoire de Melody Nelson
All the album without any exeption
Melody
Ballade de Melody
Valse de Melody
Ah Melody
L'hotel particulier
Cargo Culte


1973 : Vu de l'extérieur
Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais !
Par hasard et pas rasé
L'hippopodame
Sensuelle Et Sans Suite


1975 : Rock around the Bunker
Nazi rock
Rock around the Bunker
S.S. in Uruguay


1976 : L'homme à la tête de chou
L'homme à la tête de chou
Chez Max, coiffeur pour homme
Flash Forward
Aeroplanes
Variations sur Marilou
Marilou sous la neige


1979 : Aux armes et caetera
Aux armes et caetera (the French anthem revisited)
Vieille Canaille
Lola Rastaquouere


1981 : Mauvaises nouvelles des étoiles
Overses Telegram
La nostalgie camarade


1984 : Love on the Beat
Love on the Beat
Sorry Angel
No comment
Lemon Incest


1987 : You’re under arrest
Gloomy Sunday
Aux enfants de la chance
Mon Légionnaire




Other artist who sing Gainsbourg
Anna Karina - La noyée
Brigitte Bardot - Contact
Brigitte Bardot - Harley Davidson
Catherine Deneuve - Dieu est un fumeur de Havane
Dani - Comme un boomerang
Dominique Walter - Les petits boudins
France Gall - Laisse tomber les filles
France Gall - Les sucettes (she never understand the double sens of the song, the poor girl)
France Gall - Poupée de cire, poupée de son
Françoise Hardy - Comment te dire adieux
Isabelle Adjani - Beau oui, comme Bowie
Isabelle Adjani - Pull Marine
Jane Birkin - La décadanse
Jane Birkin - Jane B
Jane Birkin - Ex fan des sixties
Jane Birkin - L'aquoiboniste
Jane Birkin - Ballade de Johnny Jane
Jane Birkin - Les dessous chics
Marianne Faithfull - Hier ou demain
Michèle Arnaud - Les papillons noirs
Mireille Darc - Hélicoptère
Nico - Strip Tease
Petula Clark - La gadoue
Régine - Les p'tits papiers
Vanessa Paradis - Tandem


And I highly recommend to buy the "Le Cinema de Serge Gainsbourg" compilation.
Some of the OST :
Angoisse
Some small chance
Woom woom woom
Cannabis
Sex Shop
Goodbye Emmanuelle
Sea sex and sun

And for the anglophiles, I highly recommend the two compilations of Mick Harvey : "Intoxicated man" and "pink Elephants"

If I can make discover some songs at at least one person I'd be happy.

Hey guys. I listened to Histoire de Melody Nelson and I loved it. It sounds like Beck's Sea Change (or rather beck sounds like Gainsbourg). What next? In your opinion, what's most like Histoire de Melody Nelson? Thanks.

The fact that Beck has cited this album as a major influence on his Sea Change Album (and clearly on his father -- who arranged the strings -- also) was what prompted me to buy the album. Up until then, I had been turned off by my limited exposure to Gainsbourg based upon his voice. I simply sounded unappealing to me -- smarmy and sleazy, but not in a good way.

So I gave Histoire... a good few listens, and his voice still ruins for me what is an extremely impressive instrumental album. It has struck me that this is unfair; after all, I understand no French. How can I judge his voice if I can't understand the words he's trying to put over? But I am a firm believer that the voice is an instrument, and that it is legitimate to react to the timbre and tone of that instrument. I also have negative reactions to the vocals of English-language singers Wayne Coyne and Bryan Ferry (see my snarky comment in another recent thread).

But wow those instrumentals are fantastic. I also loved the instrumental "Canabis" that was nominated for the unacclaimed song tourney. Can I become a Gainsbourg fan based solely on his instrumental work? What if we add in the work with all the female singers?

Honorio, it's incredible. Thank you a lot for your very good job. It's much better.

Sea Change is clearly an "hommage" to Serge Gainsbourg. Beck is know, here, in France, to be a huge fan of Gainsbourg.

Have you tried his older albums (n°4 especially). His voice is not the same, softer I think. Otherwise, you can try his songs in english with the two CD of Mick Harvey.

And if you don't want to here his voice, "Le cinéma de Serge Gainsbourg is made for you. It's an excellent collection of soundtrack.

Great post !

I'm just discovering it
I jut saw "Vie héroïque" : it's beautiful. I loved it, especially the beginning.

Today is the twentieth anniversary of his death !
The more time passes, the more I love him.
Today, I'm sad.

I love Beck's Sea Change, love Gainsbourg, love this thread, love his girls from Bardot to Birkin! Discovering new things about him is making me so happy! Hell, I LOVE FRENCH AND FRANCE! It gives me such a joy when i finally learn something new in my french classes. I think français is the most beautiful and sexy language ever! Oh my God "Je Ne Suis Pas Anglais" means something so simple, but it sounds so damn fancy and lovable. I won't resist France when i meet it.

Any french music recommendation is welcoming to me! Give those awesome chanteurs and chanteuses.

I was too young to remember his death. But through his music, I miss him. Really. I'm glad I have seen Alain Bashung "en live" before his death, but I will always regret that I couldn't see Serge.

What are you looking for exactly? I guess I'm repeating things that have already been told elsewhere, but anyway.
Actually, I don't think any artist gets close to Gainsbourg, nothing sounds like Melody Nelson. He is just miles ahead of the others.
If you are looking for the "chanson" side of French music, I'm not the best qualified. The classics, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, Jacques Brel or Barbara are still the best ways to discover it.
For French rock, the obvious choices are Alain Bashung, Noir Désir and Téléphone. Also, Serge's friend Jacques Dutronc from 1966 to the beginning of the 1970s is a must-listen. Any French person you meet on the street will advertise Johnny Hallyday as the best French rock artist, but I disagree.
For hip-hop, IAM, Suprême NTM, MC Solaar and Zebda (quite pop sometimes for this one). There are many others, but these are the best.
After that, for French pop, obvious choices are less prominent. Françoise Hardy is the best for yé-yé, Etienne Daho is the best for 80's pop, and there are many others, in many different styles. The Rita Mitsouko, Michel Polnareff, Charlélie Couture, Jacques Higelin...
Guess it's already good

Pierre, to talking about French music, I have created a thread some month ago, if you want, you can put your choices here.

Sorry for that. I was unaware, and since HRS asked here, I answered here :S .

Thank you both, really, thank you! I'm so writing those names down and chasing them online. And Romain just gave an "up" on the other thread and i'll check there too! Don't the french die! Bring it On!

And anything you guys need about Brazilian music, here i am! hehe But we're kinda facing some slow days... new artists are more influenced by the likes of mainstream american music and the indies ones are influenced by indie rock most famous names, nothing to loud about like Tropicalia, Bossa or most recently singer/songwriters like Céu and Tulipa, so.. when something pops up i can give the feedback over here.

You have to check out sertanejo though, it's totally awesome!

Which ones do you like? I totally dig a sertanejo concerts! Especially when it's from a small group. Brazil have big names, most recently Paula Fernandes and a lot of sertanejo universitario groups. I'd say that sertanejo is roughly the brazilian equivalent of america's country music and roots music, it's awesome live music, my parents are huge fans. There are the big popular names right now, they are mostly one-note unfortunately (and they live ripping-off american's pop melodies), but smaller groups and artists in the south are totally worthy, they made me enjoy more the genre, what plays on the radio is mostly the same "she dumped me" or "i want her".

But stay Away of forró and funk! Some people like M.I.A. and Diplo made that sound genius, but funk is basically porn with a nice dirty bit in the background. Forró is the style of where i live, they basically got melodies of songs of other countries and rearrange to fit the style. I must say that mainstream music currently in Brazil is very diverse. If you go to the center-east, people listen to rock and sertanejo, same goes to the south. Southeastern is more ecletic, you listen from Samba to Bossa, from funk to electronica and rock. Northeast, where i live, is all about axé, forró, arrocha, brega (something like "tacky") they are all overlooked genres, people here don't like to call them music. Axé is the sound of Bahia, it's fun music to dance in concerts. Forró is roots music over here, i enjoy old artists of the genre, not the new one that rips other people off. And if yoy add pop/rock and international artists like Gaga, Beyonce and Rihanna, you have brazilian current mainstream scene. Rock is becoming a caricature of itself. It's all about money and airplay, i guess this happens in other places too, we just don't have a strong indie scene yet to makes us forget about what it plays on the radio most of the time. We've had better years. Still some terrific artists like Los Hermanos, Moveis Coloniais de Acaju to name a few. Thank God for AM and the artists i found out here, though. Bring Serge!

I was being 'slightly' sarcastic; every time something awful comes on the radio here and I ask what it is, the answer is sertanejo. Some truly awful stuff in there. Not that we don't have our share of awfulness in the Netherlands, mind you.

Now it makes more sense

I was at a bar, in Rio Grande do Sul. And i used to hate sertanejo music. And this old guy started playing old songs, i guess in a acoustic guitar and a sanfona. It was old songs from there in the style of sertanejo music, it totally changed my mind about the genre itself. Like most of the stuff out there, once music executives put their hands on it... it's just so crappy and it screams money. Smaller groups are awesome. Paula Fernandes has an awesome voice, she might be the only one i can tolerate vocally (still rips off other people's melodies). Major labels are the reason why we have sertanejo artists like Luan Santana and Jorge e Mateus, ugh! They are just awful, music with no depth whatsoever. I still don't get how my parents are such huge fans. They call sertanejo universitario these days because young people, circa my age are enjoying them and teenagers are starting to sing it too (think of Bieber Fever with country music or Taylor Swift without the hype and the hooks). Friends of mine dragged me to sertanejo concerts two times, it was surprisingly fun. Not as awful live, they were mostly unknown artists, or maybe it was the drinks and the company. Your friends do some pretty embarrassing stuff and you just want to laugh out loud and have some fun. Oh yeah, i need to make this clear: Here in Brazil there are two kinds of concerts. The ones you go for the music (never had this opportunity, most of the artists i like just don't come here where i live, i don't blame them) and the ones you go for fun and have a good time with friends laughing, jumping, dancing and all that stuff (mostly the ones i go). So, with a little help of my friends, any live music is fun music to me. Fine not the music, but the ambient, they make you forget about the atrocities they are playing.

Oh Oh, now some Netherlands awfulness!

Dear HRS, I put some recommendation for you in the thread "French Musique". I'm not a "connaisseur" of new chanteuse but I think you can found some good things in my links.

And I recommend you to create a thread for Brazilian music for to share your tastes and warn us of interesting news. If all the guys and girls of each countries in this forum create threads like that, we could follow the big musical events of each.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH! IN KANYE WEST'S CAPS LOCK STYLE FOR YOU!

I will so check it! Like i said Brazilian music is slow nowadays with trash coming from everywhere, but yeah, maybe a thread that mention older artists, big over here, living legends and all that and the ones still worthy like Céu and Los Hermanos. It would be awesome to have something from every country. It's great to check some french music with you guys and sometimes Honorio posts something about a latin artist (i remember he posted once the day after Cap Beefheart died). So let's keep them coming! Je t'aime some french music and i am more excited than ever to check the artists!