A Likely Story: French pop

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Ne Dis Rien

I would have run if I had seen you coming.

I would have fled if you gave me the chance.

Now you’re the French pop tune I can’t stop humming,

The song that magics me into a trance.

Don’t say a thing; just lead me and I’ll follow.

Don’t be afraid; just put your hand in mine.

We’ll waltz to where there’s nothing false or hollow;

I’m with you to the dark end of the line.

Today’s for life—forget about tomorrow.

No more sad solos—now it’s all duets.

Tonight our love will dig a grave for sorrow

And when the night ends, we’ll have no regrets.

When Life sings out, it's folly not to dance;

When Love says “Now!” we have to take the chance.

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells

Ne Dis Rien

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The Daughters of Marx and Coca-Cola

That Marx and Coca-Cola line is from Jean-Luc Godard, who famously described the characters in Masculin Feminin as "the children of Marx and Coca-Cola." (And we all know who got custody of those kids in the divorce settlement, right?)

Anyway, I've been watching a lot of Godard lately (and I can hear my friend Daniel all the way in London yelling, "Godard?!? You watch Godard?!?") which has had the triple effect of making me (1) talk in a voice over whenever I do anything, (2) walk into bodegas and ask the guy behind the counter to open a pack of Gauloises so I can inhale that pungent tobacco aroma, and (3) drag my 60's French pop compilations out of storage, the Femmes de Paris and Pop à Paris series, because they're chirpy and happy and I've been thinking a lot about death lately. And watching Godard. Which to Daniel is the same thing.

(Sidebar question: Jean-Luc Picard and Jean-Luc Godard; namewise, aren't we talking what Derek Flint is to Erroll Flynn?)

So. Since nothing says joie de vivre like a leggy mademoiselle in a pink mini-skirt singing about how much Annie likes suckers, here's a little online trove of what I've been listening to over the last few days when I'm not dancing to the Japanese Popstars. Here you will find not only one of the best covers of a Rolling Stones tune you will ever hear in your life, but Petula Clark singing in French with the kind of accent that can best be described by the word "phonetic." To say nothing of the only version of "Nights in White Satin" you will ever want to listen to more than once, and a Serge Gainsbourg song that would have killed if Joan Jett had ever covered it.

Bonne écoute.