I am not
sure why there is a distance between pop music in Britain and in France but
that distance is very evident. Perhaps Britain has been much more influenced by
America and youth culture, where once Britain was the exemplar and later became
the follower. By contrast French pop music was resolutely European, more
passionate and adult and less easily melodic. I would like to celebrate 10 fine
singers in French.
1.
Jean Sablon was in the old music-hall tradition
of rueful songs, siffleurs and the
provision of one’s own sound effects. He enjoyed enormous popularity from 1930-70
and we played his songs on old 78s, not least his charming revival of Le Fiacre, with the clip-clopping of
horses’ hooves.
2.
Maurice Chevalier was the epitome of the Parisian boulevardier with his jaunty air, boater
and trade-mark exaggerated Gallic tones. His stage persona was built up over
many years as after great fame in Paris as a performer and as the lover, muse
and partner of Mistinguett, he became a Hollywood star in 1929. Louise was his signature tune but the
English-speaking world remembered him best for his charm in the musical Gigi which I watched being filmed in the
Tuileries Gardens in 1957.
3.
Charles Trenet was a singer/songwriter who wrote
almost 1,000 songs of all kinds. We remember his Boum! But his name was immortalized by his classic La Mer the stereotypical French ballad,
composed in 1943 but not performed until 1946. Its easy rhythms and soaring
heights have delighted world audiences since.
4. Edith Piaf
was a phenomenon, tiny in stature, far from glamourous, living a turbulent
private life but possessing a highly distinctive and powerful voice. I saw her
in 1961 at the Olympia, Boulevard des Capucines. She hobbled onto the stage in
a plain black dress and without much ceremony belted out La Vie en Rose, Milord and her defiant song Je ne regrette rien earning rapturous plaudits.
5.
Yves Montand was the Italian son of a Communist
broom maker who fled to the Midi from fascist Italy. Yves had film-star good looks
and he was more of an actor than a singer. His songs in praise of Paris like A Paris appealed to a wide audience but
I preferred his classic numbers like Les
Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves).
I found it hard to stomach Montand’s wildly leftist politics but he distinguished
himself in later life as the conspiring villager César Soubeyran
in the Marcel Pagnol linked movies Jean
de Florette and Manon des Sources
of 1986.
6.
Jacques Brel, was proudly Belgian, though
performing widely in the Francophone world. He sang with evident emotion and
the theatricality of his performance marked him out from more routine singers
and enraptured his fans. Rather toothy and thick-lipped, he cared little for
cosmetic assistance and emoted powerfully in songs like Amsterdam or Ne me quitte pas
making him the unrivalled king of the chanson.
7.
Serge Gainsbourg courted controversy all his life. Of
Jewish-Ukrainian origin, he adopted the name “Serge” to acknowledge his Slavic
affinities, and “Gainsbourg” as a tribute to the painter he most admired,
Thomas Gainsborough. Gainsbourg had a wide talent as a poet, painter, pianist,
actor and singer and was the lover of celebrities like Juliette Greco and
Brigitte Bardot. In 1968 he fell for the English actress Jane Birkin and they
enjoyed a succès de scandale
with the orgasm-punctuated Je
t’aime…..moi non plus. He shocked and amused his public but then
overstepped the mark by appearing drunk and foul-mouthed at interviews. He sank
in esteem and died in 1991 but his posthumous reputation has steadily grown.
8.
Georges Guétary was
born Lambros Vorlou to Greek parents in Alexandria, Egypt and this exotic
background helped as he ascended in the music and cabaret circuit in Paris.
British audiences took to him as lead in the operetta Bless the Bride which started a long run in London in 1947. The
song La Belle Marguerite was
repeatedly played on record by my dear mother and I picked up Guétary’s faux Franglais accent! He went on to sing and dance in Gene
Kelly’s film An American in Paris but
he did not make it in Hollywood.
9.
Charles Aznavour was a huge star in France and
world-wide. His soulful expression, his sad tenor voice made this French-
Armenian an unforgettable performer. I saw him sing at Carnegie Hall, New York,
in 1986 and of course he sang She, The Old-fashioned ways and my favourite Yesterday, when I was young. He had a
long career, dying at 94, and was ever a proud champion of Armenians.
10.
Les Compagnons de la Chanson was a well-known group after the
war but by no means in the top echelon. They recorded The Three Bells (Les Trois Cloches) in 1946 – it became a hit for
Piaf – and their recording became popular in Britain in about 1952. Certainly, my mother enjoyed the song on a
scratchy 78rpm and the group’s close harmony and insistent “boom – boom” were
thought of as quintessentially French. Its pleasures were simple.
I am conscious that this selection is
Anglo-centric and probably well removed from a selection from a native
Frenchman. Nevertheless, French pop music has great admirers on this side of
the Channel!
SMD
26.03.19
Text
copyright © Sidney Donald 2019.
