Le Petit Prince - Apprivoise-Moi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CljUVDUV3xU

I love the story of the fox in The Little Prince. I identify with the fox because I require taming too. "Apprivoiser" is a nicer word than "tame" somehow, though.

No worries, Alfie - this isn't the version with Bob Fosse or Richard Kiley or whoever i is you're scared of.

Bande annonce 'Paris' de Cédric Klapisch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjCUca5DqTg

I don't really understand the relationships between all the characters in this movie, but I'll see anything that Cédric Klapisch makes. It comes out in February in France and Belgium... no US release date yet, that I know of.

Hey France, would you release Chacun cherche son chat on Region 1 DVD already?!

March of the Penguins

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_mlwnAmr0

Hehheh.

Alizee - J'en Ai Marre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVlrqTw7wjM

Alizée is the French Britney Spears, I guess, although without the torrid personal life (I haven't decided yet whether to forgive her for being married to weird Jérémy from Star Academy). She had a career as a pop idol from a young age, although she hasn't done anything lately. Anyway, I love the little dance that goes with this song. I suppose my ideal dance would be a combination of Alizée, Will Forte and Napoleon Dynamite. That would be... something to see.

Mareva Galanter

I am straying a bit from Serge Gainsbourg and am now just blogging about French pop. Mareva Galanter is from Tahiti and was awarded the Miss France crown... at some point. She came out with a 60's-style album a couple of years ago - full of 60's covers and new songs in the "yé-yé" style. Her videos from that album are in the Scopitone style, like the old music videos they used to show in Scopitone jukeboxes before MTV and other music television channels came out. Here are a couple:

Pourquoi pas moi?
As far as I know, this is an original song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdgBTAYV7Bg

Laisse tomber les filles
A cover of Gainsbourg/Gall's hit heard in the last post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT0qoMcpxnQ

France Gall

In addition to his work as a singer, Serge Gainsbourg also wrote a lot of songs for other singers like France Gall.

Poupée de cire, poupée de son
First, here she is performing at the 1965 Eurovision concert, where she won the Grand Prize (she's not on key all the time, but she makes up for it with cuteness).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGGviSJ4Ilw

Les Sucettes
Poor naïve France claimed that she didn't understand the double entendres of "Les Sucettes" ("The Suckers") until years later. I think that many of you will pick up on it from the video, even if you don't understand the lyrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xZuZWGU3Sg

Laisse tomber les filles
This apparently predates Poupée de cire..., but I discovered it after the others and it's in color so I assumed it came later. Check out the disastrous results of too much 60's-style hair-teasing! Still a cute song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMhO0Kfl5Ck

Serge Gainsbourg

Recently I mentioned a Serge Gainsbourg-themed post then never got around to doing it. Here it is! I think what I like most about Serge Gainsbourg is that he loved the French language, so his lyrics are full of slang and plays on words and double entendres. For a non-native speaker like me, I feel like I've won some kind of prize whenever I understand one of them. The lyrics are frequently sort of dirty, but that's the subtle undertone. I wish we wrote more music like that, that could be enjoyed on multiple levels.

This list of videos will probably be skewed towards the early part of his career, because I have a 2-cd Best Of CD and I listen to the first disc more, so I have more 'favorites' among those songs. Also because it's a video format and he didn't age well, although he wasn't much to look at in the first place. He does manage to be sort of sexy despite his looks and his straight-faced singing style. Maybe you'll see it and maybe you won't.

Le Poinçonneur des Lilas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jmYdFIcHQk

La Chanson de Prévert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLfSN4BC1U

Couleur café

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV_c2FKUCrM

La Javanaise (Why is he holding this cigarette if he never smokes it? Also, he claims to speak Javanese at the end. What, fluently?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2h-V5i2Hc4

Elisa (It is always such a joy to hear Jane Birkin trying to speak/sing French. At least when Serge was alive he would put real French words in her mouth most of the time...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PnOZo3VuIc

L'Anamour (He smiles occasionally in this video. I sort of see why he's always frowning.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXhFAHcsyJ0

Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_bGxQ5zqss

l'auberge espagnole - fan video

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

Have you seen L'Auberge Espagnole yet? If not, why not?

Renaud

A commenter mentioned my fondness for the french singer Renaud, which reminded me that I haven't really followed his career since I left France. Alas. Anyway, the least I can do is to introduce you to him. The thing that's too bad is that his talent is more in his songwriting and attitude than his voice, so non-Francophones might not be impressed. Heck, for all I know, real Francophones aren't impressed either.

On to the songs!

Mistral Gagnant, a rather nonsensical song about childhood written for his daughter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtp6B38mu90

Morgane de toi, another song for his daughter:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1994312692655920981

Dès que le vent soufflera, my favorite sea shanty. Does anyone actually have a favorite sea shanty?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7649200901861237457

Manhattan-Kaboul, a post-9/11 duet with Axelle Red:

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

And now a couple of clips from the greatest movie ever made, which was really only appreciated by three ridiculous Americans who saw it in Vichy (depending where it came out, it's called Wanted/Crime Spree/Drôles de Bandits). The joke in the radio scene is that Renaud (as "Zero") and Johnny Hallyday are really singers rather than actors and keep switching back and forth between their own songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5VSCM3BRhE


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt8bnVC6tlg

Unfortunately the videos that I can find on the Internet don't represent the full range of Renaud's songs and they sort of make him sound like a cuddly balladeer (perhaps with leanings toward pedophilia), rather than the foul-mouthed, wicked alcoholic that he was for most of his early and middle career. Wicked and alcoholic! That is how I like my French singers. Maybe tomorrow there will be a Serge Gainsbourg post.

March of the Penguins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_mlwnAmr0

There are hundreds of emperors, and one of them gets eaten by a seal!