Since I watched Moonrise Kingdom recently, I thought it might be interesting to listen to a little Françoise Hardy. She doesn’t especially have a style. She sings a lot of different styles. It might be best to consider her a chanteuse. She is able to make me long for being in love. And sad. (More or less the same thing.)
But her early work is that classic French pop sound that I never seem to tire of. (Or that I just still like because it hasn’t been playing on the radio my whole life like the British Invasion.) A lot of Françoise Hardy’s albums are named, Françoise Hardy. She released albums of that name in 1962, 1963, 1963 (that’s right), 1965, and 1968. Today, we are interested in the 1968, Françoise Hardy. As is typical of these Morning Music posts, I’m limited to the videos I can find. But it really is a great one. It is “Comment Te Dire Adieu?” (“How to Say Goodbye?”) It is Serge Gainsbourg‘s lyrics for Goland and Gold’s It Hurts to Say Goodbye.
Oh yeah. Was there ever a more prototypical sixties chick? Maybe Jane Birkin.
I love them both – Jane and Francoise.They are awesome.
Comment Te Dire Adieu? is great! Thanks for making me aware of it Frank!
Thanks! I miss doing those posts each morning.
From circa 2003, this little earwig of a number is highly produced with the sex turned up to 11, but to me it seems charming where the equivalent from say Britney Spears is merely crass. Something about a goldfish in a bathtub. Anyway, the whole thing is very French.
And maybe you’ve never caught this one – it isn’t French, but Fran Jeffries’ memorable routine in “The Pink Panther” (1963) is the essence of early 60’s continental cool.
(they’ve chopped the sides off the original widescreen image, damn it)
If you like “Meglio Stasera”, here’s a real nice modern cover:
Great band!
Both are excellent. In terms of crass, I think the issue is cultural. Americans can’t stand subtlety. Or at least that’s the way it feels. It’s always hard to appraise foreign art because only the best makes it to us. The least common denominator in American is “We ain’t gonna listen to no foreign language.” But my experience with different cultures is that while they are bad they aren’t as bad as ours.
Here’s a more recent Alizée performance that is even more of a callback to the “60’s cool” esthetic of Hardy. Not to mention how much this video reminds me of a Maurice Binder credit sequence from one of the early Bond films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfn0WbYdkJs
And apparently Alizée and/or her producers were also fans of this young lady – France Gall (born 1947).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKibLPORq2s
It’s okay. It’s a little too middle-of-the-road for me at the moment.
The vocals are like Hardy. But the music is more standard rock. I don’t care for how the drums are mixed. But I like the song!