Chanson Du Jour Tuesday 10/25/2016: “Come” by Jain
Jain’s album “Zanaka” is a top 5 hit in both France and Italy, and her lead single “Come” sits at the top of the French singles charts, with over 30 million streams worldwide, platinum status in France and Italy. In this clip, Jaine (real name: Jeanne Galice) absolutely kills it in live performance at the recent France Grammy Awards. The 24-year-old Parisian is influenced by Otis Redding, Reggae, Hip Hop, African rhythms, and of course French Chanson.
If you haven’t heard of JAIN, chances are it’s because you live in America. Well, trust us—that’s ALL about to change. Already a burgeoning star in her native France, 24-year-old Parisian pop sing…
It was so cool to run into this gypsy jazz quartet performing at Place aux Herbes, in Uzès last July. In this video recorded from my iPhone, the Uzès guys (never caught their name so let’s call them The Uzèsniacs ) are masterfully strumming “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” in that beautiful jazz manouche style.
Apologies -my cell battery sadly dies in the middle of a great guitar solo. Mert!
“I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” is an American jazz standard attributed to the Tin Pan Alley team of Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics) in 1928. Fats Waller and Una Mae Carlisle recorded my favorite version of the song, and there are jazz scholars who maintain that it was actually Waller who wrote the song and sold it to McHugh and Fields for $500. Mert, encore!
The song “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” is also famously featured in the classic screwball comedy Bringing Up Baby (1938) with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The Uzèsniacs probably learned the song from this wonderful 1936 version from Django Reinhardt et le Quintette du Hot Club de France ( listen below)
Chanson Du Jour 10/20/2016 “La Valse D’ Amelie” by Yann Tiersen
This is one my favorites from the film Amelie. Composer/performer Yann Tiersen plays piano, accordion, violin as well as melodica, xylophone, toy piano, bicycle wheel and a typewriter in one of the greatest film soundtracks ever made. Tiersen won a 2001 BAFTA Award for Best Film Music for Amelie (should have won the Oscar.)
Chanson Du Jour 10/19/2016: “Jezebel” by Edith Piaf
In the États–Unisd’Amérique, Frankie Laine had a great hit with this in 1951. The Everly Brothers also recorded it, as did Prague’s legendary Waldemar Matuška.
I love Piaf’s version – recorded the same year as Frankie’s hit.
Jezebel – the Biblical woman who was a murderer, prostitute and enemy of God – reportedly preferred the version of her song that Desi Arnaz sang in the I Love Lucy episode, “Lucy Is Jealous of Girl Singer.” True! Pas de merde! Continue reading “Chanson Du Jour: “Jezebel””→
Pas De Merde 