With Antoine losing interest in music (see Part 1), the way was open for Jacques Dutronc to become the coolest French rock singer of the second half of the sixties. He has already featured several times on this blog, so click on the relevant tab to see more of his songs.
For some reason he rarely duetted with his partner Françoise Hardy, but I have found a clip of them singing together in October 1966. Appropriately enough for this series, the song is called “Les Garçons”. The lyrics make references to “Les Play-Boys” and “Et moi, et moi, et moi”, a couple of Dutronc’s hits from earlier in the year.
LES GARÇONS
FH: = Françoise Hardy
JD: = Jacques Dutronc
FH:
Moi je n'aime pas les play-boys
J'aime les garçons, les garçons
JD:
Tu aimes les garçons
Les garçons de cafe
Les garçons coiffeurs
Les garçons de bureau
Les garçons d'ascenseur
Les garçons Lazare
FH:
Non, j'aime les garçons
Tout court
Les garçons qui aiment bien les filles
Et toi, et toi, et toi?
JD:
Et bien moi
Moi j'aime lesfilles
Toutes les filles
Les filles de joie
Les filles à soldats
Les filles mères
Les filles publiques
Les filles à couper le beurre
Les filles, les filles, les filles
L'amour est un jeu de quilles
FH:
Les garçons, les garçons, les garçons
L'amour est une espèce de hérisson
JD:
Qui s'y frotte s'y pique
FH:
Mais c'est tellement fantastique!
THE BOYS
FH: = Françoise Hardy
JD: = Jacques Dutronc
FH:
I don't like playboys
I like boys, boys
JD:
You like boys
Cafe boys
Hairdresser boys
Office boys
Lift boys
Lazarus boys
FH:
No, I like boys
Simply
Boys who like girls
And you, and you, and you?
JD:
And me as well
I like girls
All the girls
Happy girls
Soldiers' girls
Mothers' girls
Public girls
Girls are the best thing since sliced bread
Girls, girls, girls
Love is like playing bowls
FH:
Boys, boys, boys
Love is a kind of hedgehog
JD:
If you go looking for trouble you'll find it
FH:
But it's totally fantastic!
Jane Birkin, who died a few days ago aged 76, will always be associated with Serge Gainsbourg, not least for their worldwide hit “Je t’aime… moi non plus” (1969).
In a way he created the ultimate yé-yé girl, combining the Lolita-eque charms of France Gall with the sex bomb raunchiness of Brigitte Bardot, both of whom he had previously guided to pop success. However, Birkin was no puppet. She was older, smarter and more worldly than she looked, already a divorced single mother. Arguably she was the last yé-yé girl, marking the end of the 1960s and anticipating the much more knowing and cynical 1970s. This track was the B-side of “Je t’aime”. Like many of Gainsbourg’s songs it borrows from classical music, in this case Chopin’s Prelude, Op. 28, No. 4 in E Minor.
Translation by Gavin on Lyrics Translate.
JANE B.
Signalement
Yeux bleus
Cheveux châtains
Jane B.
Anglaise
De sexe féminin
Âge : entre vingt et vingt et un
Apprend le dessin
Domiciliée chez ses parents
Yeux bleus
Cheveux châtains
Jane B.
Teint pâle, le nez aquilin
Portée disparue ce matin
À cinq heures moins vingt
Yeux bleus
Cheveux châtains
Jane B.
Tu dors au bord du chemin
Une fleur de sang à la main
JANE B.
Particulars
Blue eyes
Chestnut hair
Jane B.
English
Sex, female
Age: between twenty and twenty one
Studying drawing
Living with her parents
Blue eyes
Chestnut hair
Jane B.
Pale complexion, aquiline nose
Reported missing this morning
At twenty to five
Blue eyes
Chestnut hair
Jane B.
You sleep at the side of the road
A flower of blood at your hand
This is adapted from an interview with Stella by ‘Pink Frankenstein’ from 2003. I am putting it here because the ‘Chachacharming’ website it was originally on has disappeared.
Stella Zelcer was born in Paris on the 12th of December 1950, and she spent her formative years palling around with her uncle Maurice Chorenslup, who took her to museums and movies, and introduced her to music, particularly jazz and American pop. Stella was 13 years old when yé-yé exploded in France. Just for fun, Uncle Maurice and Stella decided to write some songs and send the demos to Disques Vogue.
“My uncle and I poked fun at the French yé-yé songs – we thought they were more funny than serious. So we started writing songs to capture that irony. He said, ‘You sing because it looks like singing comes easy to you.’ So I sang and he played guitar. We made a demo and sent it to the record company closest to where we were living. We didn’t search for the biggest or best record company, just the nearest one.”
Soon they met with Jacques Wolfsohn, the man responsible for signing Johnny Hallyday, Françoise Hardy, and Jacques Dutronc. “He was very nice to me. I was only 13 years old, you know. I didn’t know anything. He wanted to release my songs, so I liked him.”
In November 1963 Disques Vogue issued Stella’s first EP, which included “Pourquoi Pas Moi”. Musically the song echoed Françoise Hardy’s early records, possibly because the two Vogue artists used the arranger Roger Samyn.
In 1965 Stella moved to RCA Victor, where she worked with producer Gerard Hugé. “Gerard was listening to a lot of Phil Spector at the time, and we got along because we were on the same wavelength. He was also into the idea of exploring different sounds”.
In 1966 Stella released “Un air du folklore Auvergnat”, a spoof on “Le Folklore Américain” by yé-yé singer Sheila. “Sheila was singing about American music, but I thought we should be singing about France, so I made the same kind of song with French roots. We had such great French songs. Brel and Brassens and all those people were writing fantastic music. I thought that we should be writing music like them rather than taking American songs and translating them into French”. The song was her biggest success, but the sarcastic patriotism of the lyrics created controversy: “The Auvergnat Association of Paris took the song quite seriously, and managed to have me banned from French radio and TV. Major articles appeared everywhere in the press. It was completely crazy, but it helped me get famous.”
Before Stella’s first gig at the Paris Olympia, a difference of opinions caused some friction between Stella and her record company. “The label had hired this big orchestra to play behind me, but I didn’t want such an orchestra. I wanted to have my band: a bass player, drummer, and guitar player so that we could have a sound that resembled my records. The label didn’t want to pay the musicians, so I remember using my paltry royalty fees to pay the musicians myself. But then the label stuck the band behind the curtain, and it ended up just looking like an orchestra with a singer. I really didn’t like that. I wanted them to be onstage with me. That caused a major problem.”
In the early part of her career, Stella was happy to hand over the reigns to the record company, but things changed as she grew into a more confident, savvy artist. “As a I tried to change and write music that was a bit more serious, things became complicated. I didn’t mind keeping the same lyric style, but I was getting tired of the same music. I recorded my last record in 1967, and that record really sounded different – a bit like Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage. But it didn’t fit with the record company’s vision for me, and that’s when I knew it was time. I was playing guitar, flute, piano… I always saw myself as a musician, even though most people at that time wanted to be singers, which is completely different in my opinion. I mean, a singer is a musician of course, but singers are usually not very interested in the writing or the musical direction. So that’s when I stopped. I wasn’t even 17 yet, but I just said ‘Ok, pfft. Leave it.’ ”
This is not completely true, as she actually released a couple of pop singles on CBS in 1968. After that she joined a blues-rock band, but had a hard time finding gigs: “At the time, a girl playing guitar didn’t look serious. So I took up the flute instead – more appropriate for a girl. Ha!” Then she met Christian Vander and joined the prog-rock band Magma, but that’s another story. Let’s end this article with Stella remembering her yé-yé days.
“Instead of going to school everyday, I went to Monte Carlo, or Geneva to perform on TV. It was great fun, but as I grew older I began to realize what show business was really made of, and I didn’t like what I saw. Pop, you know, it’s all said in that word.”
Annie Girardot was one of the most successful French actresses of the 1960s and 1970s. One of her most popular films was “Vivre pour vivre” (1967), for which she also recorded the theme song. This was released on an EP which also included this track (not from the film). Later a whole LP, also entitled “Vivre pour vivre” appeared, and it was reissued on vinyl in 2021. The track “I.B.M.” is really ahead of its time, anticipating computer dating. France Gall’s similarly themed “Computer Nr. 3” appeared the following year. Musically and visually Girardot goes for a futuristic ye-ye vibe and she pulls it off with style.
In the last line of the song she uses “IBM” as a verb, saying “IBM me”, which is a pun i.e. it sounds like “aime-moi” (“love me”). Thanks to Charming Lettuce at Lyrics Translate for helping with the translation.
I.B.M.
Si je t’avais choisi
Dans un ordinateur électronique
Si je t’avais choisi
Dans un calculateur aux dons magiques
Ta carte perforée ma carte perforée auraient coïncidé
Et voilà c’était fait
Tu aurais mis tes trous en face de mes trous
Même sang même gouts
Et voilà c’était tout
Mais je t’ai rencontré
Loin des machines
Loin des usines
Loin des techniques électroniques
Mais nous étions bien faits
L’un pour l’autre pourtant
I.B.M. pardonne à nos vingt ans
Si je t’avais choisi de façon rationnelle
Et scientifique
Si je t’avais choisi avec un peu de zèle mathématique
Tous les deux nous aurions
Les mêmes mensurations
Les mêmes dévotions
Les mêmes intentions
Les mêmes aversions
Les mêmes perversions
Les mêmes opinions
Quel couple nous ferions
Mais je t’ai rencontré
La tête à l’ombre
Bien loin des nombres
Loin des techniques des statistiques
Mais nous étions bien faits
L’un pour l’autre pourtant
I.B.M. moi et pour longtemps.
I.B.M.
If I had chosen you
Using an electronic computer
If I had chosen you
Using a calculator with magical gifts
Your punch card would have matched my punch card
And that would have been it
You would have put your holes in front of my holes
Same blood, same taste
And that would have been it
But I met you
Far from machines
Far from factories
Far from electronic techniques
But despite this
We were made for each other
I.B.M. - forgive our twenties!
If I had chosen you rationally
And scientifically
If I had chosen you with a little mathematical zeal
Both of us would have
The same measurements
The same passions
The same intentions
The same dislikes
The same perversions
The same opinions
What a couple we would make!
But I met you
Head in the shade
Far from numbers
Far from statistical techniques
But despite this
We were made for each other
I.B.M. me for a long time!
In the last post we saw a German version of a yé-yé girl, so here is one of the French originals. This song by the wonderful Stella appeared last year in my Fantasy Eurovision Song Contest 1966. It is basically a parody of the protest song movement. The title was quite tricky to translate, but I’ve done my best!
CAUCHEMAR AUTO PROTESTATEUR
Je proteste
Je ne sais pas contre quoi
Je proteste
Ne me demandez pas pourquoi
Je proteste pour le Viet-Nam
Pour Cuba ou pour Hong-Kong
J'suis la prêtresse du protest-song
Je proteste
Quand on me marche sur les pieds
Ça me fait mal
Ça m'empêche de protester
J'suis pour les Viets, contre les Kongs
Et les Kongs c'est pas c' qui manque
J'suis la prêtresse du protest-song
Je proteste
Contre ceux qui ne protestent pas
Tous les jours
Je proteste à tour de bras
Je proteste toute l'année
Sauf pendant les congés payés
J'suis la prêtresse du protest-song
Je proteste
Même quand il n'y a pas de quoi
Je proteste
Ça devient plus fort que moi
Contre le pape, contre le roi
Contre les autres ou contre moi
La route est longue
Pour la prêtresse du protest-song
NIGHTMARE SELF PROTESTOR
I protest
I don't know what against
I protest
Don't ask me why
I protest about Vietnam
About Cuba or about Hong Kong
I'm the priestess of the protest song
I protest
When they step on my feet
That pains me
It prevents me from protesting
I'm for the Viets, against the Kongs
And the Kongs are not lacking
I'm the priestess of the protest song
I protest
Against those who do not protest
Everyday
I protest with all my strength
I protest all year
Except during paid holidays
I'm the priestess of the protest song
I protest
Even when there is nothing
I protest
It's getting stronger than me
Against the pope, against the king
Against others or against me
The road is long
For the priestess of the protest song
Uschi Glas became a star, not to mention an instant sex symbol, when she appeared in the 1968 comedy “Zur Sache, Schätzchen” (known as “Go For It, Baby” in English speaking countries). The same year the actress tried her luck as a singer, releasing this charming track. Rather wonderfully, this video combines the song with visuals from the film. Plus, it’s probably the only single of the 60s to namecheck the author Günter Grass!
COVER GIRL
Ein junges Mädchen wird gesucht als Covergirl,
zu melden bitte in der Redaktion.
Cover girl, Cover girl, Cover girl
Und in der Redaktion geht das Telefon
Es melden sich so viele gleich als Covergirl.
Doch von den vielen nimmt man eine bloß.
Cover girl, Cover girl, Cover girl
Und diese eine glaubt, es wäre das große Los.
Denn sie wird manikürt, pedikürt,
und frisiert und toupiert
und massiert und frottiert,
eingeschmiert, balsamiert,
aufpoliert, und lackiert,
parfümiert, kostümiert
und dem Fotografen vorgeführt.
Da steht sie nun und nennt sich endlich Covergirl,
die Kamera, die macht ganz einfach "Klick".
Cover girl, Cover girl, Cover girl
So viel Theater für diesen Augenblick.
Das Bild es landet endlich in der Redaktion,
der Chef, er schreit: "Ich bin die Damen leid."
Cover girl, Cover girl, Cover girl
"Ich brauche heut' ein Ass,
ich will nicht Uschi Glas,
ich möchte heut' als Titel den Günter Grass.
Na, viel Spaß!
COVER GIRL
They're looking for a young woman to be the cover girl
Please report to the editor's office
Cover girl, cover girl, cover girl
And the phone in the office is ringing off the hook
So many are signing up to be the cover girl
But you take just one from the many
Cover girl, cover girl, cover girl
And this one thinks she's won the lottery
Because she will be manicured, pedicured
And have her hair cut and backcombed
And massaged and rubbed down
Oiled, made up
Polished up and varnished
Perfumed, dressed up
And presented to the photographer
There she is now, finally she can call herself a cover girl
The camera simply "clicks"
Cover girl, cover girl, cover girl
So much theatre for that moment
The picture finally lands in the editor's office
The boss yells: "I'm fed up with dames."
Cover girl, cover girl, cover girl
"I need an ace today,
I don't want Uschi Glas,
Today on the front page I want Günter Grass."
Well, have fun!
This famous Cuban song is based on a poem by the 19th century poet José Martí. It was set to music by Joseíto Fernández, probably around 1929. In the early 1960s Pete Seeger popularized the song in the USA. Singing it (in Spanish) was his way of protesting against the Cuban missile crisis.
In 1966 The Sandpipers had a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic with their version of the song. Countless artists have recorded “Guantanamera”, but clearly this version by Emily Cranz is definitive!
GUANTANAMERA
[Estribillo:]
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera
Yo soy un hombre sincero
de donde crece la palma
Y antes de morir yo quiero
cantar mis versos del alma
[Estribillo]
Cultivo una rosa blanca,
en julio como en enero
Para el amigo sincero
que me da su mano franca
[Estribillo]
Mi verso es de un verde claro
y de un carmín encendido
Mi verso es un ciervo herido
que busca en el monte amparo
[Estribillo]
Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace más que el mar.
[Estribillo]
GUANTANAMAN GIRL
[Chorus:]
Guantanaman country girl
Guantanaman country girl
I am an honest man
From where the palm tree grows
And before I die I want
To sing the verses of my soul
[Chorus]
I grow a white rose
In July just as in January
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his open hand
[Chorus]
My verse is light green
And flaming carmine
My verse is a wounded deer
Seeking refuge in the mountain
[Chorus]
With the poor people of the earth
I want to share my fate
The stream in the mountains
Pleases me more than the sea
[Chorus]
NB Guantanamera: girl or woman from Guantanamo.
NB Guajira: (poor) girl from the country(side). It is also a type of Cuban folk song.
France Gall, arguably the definitive ye-ye girl, died last month aged 70. Even in the joyful musical climate of the 1960s she stood out as a ray of pop sunshine. With this song she becomes the first artist to feature on this blog singing in three different languages: Spanish, French and German.
If three languages aren’t enough for you, it turns out the original version of this song was “La pioggia”, written in Italian for the 1969 Sanremo music festival. In that edition each song was sung by two different artists, and “La pioggia” was performed by Gigliola Cinquetti (who won Eurovision in 1964) and France Gall (who won the following year). They sang separately – a duet would have been awesome – and the song finished in sixth place. After the contest they released competing single versions in both Italian and Spanish.
The single was released in 1969 but I think this Spanish TV performance dates from a year or two later.
RIP France Gall.
LA LLUVIA
El periódico informó
que el tiempo cambiará
hay nubes negras en el cielo
y los pájaros allí
no volarán ya más
¿por qué será?
Yo no cambiaré,
No, no cambiaré
mas si el mundo loco está
no me importa a mi
ESTRIBILLO:
La lluvia
No moja nuestro amor cuando yo soy feliz
La lluvia
La lluvia ya no existe si me miras tú
El paraguas tíralo,
pues no sirve ya
…no sirve ya, no sirve ya
El termómetro bajó
el sol ya se ocultó
el frio ya llegó, mas nuestro amor
jamás se enfriará
y no se apagará
¿sabes por qué?
Yo no cambiaré,
No, no cambiaré
mas si el mundo loco está
no me importa a mi
ESTRIBILLO
La lluvia
No moja nuestro amor cuando yo soy feliz
THE RAIN
The newspaper reported
That the weather will change
There are black clouds in the sky
And the birds there
Won’t fly anymore
How could it be?
I won’t change
No, I won’t change
But if the world is crazy
I don’t care
CHORUS:
The rain
Don’t dampen our love when I'm happy
The rain
The rain’s no longer there if you look at me
The umbrella - throw it away
Since it’s no use now
…it’s no use now, it’s no use now
The thermometer went down
The sun was hiding
The cold has arrived, but our love
Will never get cold
And it won’t die
Do you know why?
I won’t change
No, I won’t change
But if the world is crazy
I don’t care
CHORUS
The rain
Don’t dampen our love when I'm happy
GERMAN POP LYRICS: The 1970s Part 9 Whatever happened to the Beat Fräuleins?
In my series about German pop in the 1960s I featured several cool female singers, both deutsche girls and French ye-ye girls singing in German. Sadly many of these women seem to have had career problems at the end of the sixties. Most of them either disappeared or embraced Schlager in order to survive. One notable exception was Françoise Hardy who continued to be effortlessly cool into the early seventies.
Hardy recorded this song on her second German language album “Träume” in 1970. She had previously recorded the original English version “Strange Shadows” and she also recorded a French version titled “L’Ombre” – I guess she really liked this song!
Three years earlier Johnny Hallyday had recorded his own French version “Son Amour Pour Un Jeu” (1967), with completely different lyrics. The original song was co-written by the English musician Mick Jones who worked with both Hardy and Hallyday as well as many other French artists.
FREMDE SCHATTEN
REFRAIN:
Warum macht man das Glück uns so schwer
Fremde Schatten sind rings um uns her
Rufen dich, rufen mich
Wo ist das Licht?
Fremde Schatten verdunkeln den Tag
Und das Licht, das ich suche, und frag
Wo das Glück für mich ist?
Das find ich nicht
Wo ist der, der mir Antwort gibt
Oder wer hört mir zu?
Wo ist der, der mich wirklich liebt?
Wo find ich endlich Ruh?
Keiner hat mir die Antwort gebracht
Und ich geh ganz allein durch die Nacht
Such mein Glück und das Licht
Und find es nicht
REFRAIN
Die Schatten, sie rufen
Die Schatten rufen dich und mich…
STRANGE SHADOWS
CHORUS:
Why is happiness being made so hard for us
Strange shadows circle around us
Calling you, calling me
Where is the light?
Strange shadows darken the day
And the light I’m searching for, and ask
‘Where is my happiness?’
I don’t find it
Where is the one who will give me an answer
Or the one who will listen to me?
Where is the one who really loves me?
Where will I find peace at last?
No one has brought me the answer
And I go all alone through the night
Seeking my happiness and the light
And I don’t find it
CHORUS
The shadows, they’re calling
The shadows calling you and me…
Chantal Goya released this song in 1965. Her boyfriend is cheating on her and he won’t even let her win at pinball – brutal stuff!
Thanks to Whalebone at Lyrics Translate for the translation.
SI TU GAGNES AU FLIPPER
REFRAIN:
Si tu gagnes au flipper,
tu as perdu mon cœur
Car je sais que tu es sorti,
avec ma meilleure amie
Au stock américain,
tu vas pour t'habiller
Tu viens faire le malin,
en blouson chemise rayée
REFRAIN
Tes devoirs sont bâclés,
on ne se voit plus jamais
Par les rues désertées,
tu t'en vas pour te bagarrer
REFRAIN
IF YOU WIN AT PINBALL
CHORUS:
If you win at pinball,
You have lost my heart
Because I know that you've gone out
With my best friend
At the American store,
You go to buy yourself clothes
You just try to show off,
In your striped shirt and jacket
CHORUS
Your homework is sloppy,
We never see each other anymore
You go through the deserted streets
To get into fights
CHORUS
Spanish Pop Lyrics 