Category: Chanson Du Jour

Chanson Du Jour: La Gadoue

It’s raining this Sunday morning, while we are visiting with our lovely and loving Seattle family. What french chanson is better fit today than “La Gadoue?” Petula Clark had a modest hit with this Serge Gainsbourg composition in 1966. I love this 1996 version sung by Jane Birken accompanied by French folk-punk band Les Negresses Verte.

Chanson Du Jour 11/13/2016 “La Gadoue” – Jane Birkin and Les Negresses Verte

Chanson Du Jour: Parfait Inconnu

Chanson Du Jour November 1,2016 Jeanne Cherhal “Parfait Inconnu”

I love this oldie from Cherhal’s 2004 album 12 Far Pa An. I haven’t seen a reputable english translation for “Parfait  Inconnu.”  It is surely about neither a tall glass of ice cream, nor incontinence. I think the song is about falling in love with a “perfect  stranger,” while knowing we don’t really know a damn thing about him/her. Or perhaps not…

Help with a traslation, mes amis?

Chanson Du Jour “Les Feuilles Mortes”

Chanson Du Jour 10/30/2016 Yves Montand – Les Feuilles Mortes

Looking outside the cafe window on Blackstone Boulevard, multi-colored leaves are swirling about Lippit Park. Autumn seems fully arrived, and this beautiful melody came to mind.

“The Autumn Leaves” is a jazz standard covered by Harry James, Doris Day, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, Erroll Garner and many others.

The song originated in France in 1941 as “Les Feuilles Mortes.”  It was composed by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet French Jacques Prévert.

The song and was made popular by the cool singing Yves Montand.  This clip appears to be from a film – if you know the title, please leave a comment.

Chanson Du Jour: Dans Ma Rue

Chanson Du Jour 10/28/2016: “Dans Ma Rue” performed by Zaz

This is not only a great home-studio performance by Zaz, but comes with a Serbian lyric translation (a bonus for the many Serbs who visit my blog.)
In English, the songs begins:

I live in the corner of old Montmartre
My father comes home sozzled every night
And to feed the four of us
My poor mother works in the wash-house
When I’m sick, I lean out the window
I watch outsiders pass by
When the sun comes out
Things appear that scare me a little

So – life isn’t easy for the young girl in this song. I wish her father would take a break from getting sozzled and instead take his daughter out to visit the Zoo, buy her an ice cream cone (deux boule!) at Berthillion’s  Glacier on Ile St Louis, and then pick out a pretty new dress at La Marelle.

However, my guess is that Dad will just get sozzled again.

In this video, Zaz displays some impressive chanson chops, and I really like her piano accompaniment (the young man’s name is not listed, so let’s call him “Yaz”). Yaz not only tickles the ivories with a nice feel for Les Blues, but at the end of the song, he tends to the video recording streaming to the MacBook sitting atop the piano. Merde! These hotshot multi-taskers are costing us jobs in the video production business. Hey Zaz and Yaz, walk a mile dans ma rue!

“Dans Ma Rue” was made famous by the great Edith Piaf in 1946. The song was composed by Michel Emer (June 19, 1906 – November 23, 1984)