Tag: Serge Gainsbourg

Chanson du Jour: “La Javanaise”

Moniseur Pas de Merde offers two versions of this classic chanson “La Javanaise.” The first is performed by the man who also wrote the song, Serge Gainsbourg.

The second is performed by Madeleine Peyroux. This version was featured recently in the 2017 Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water.

Which do you prefer?

The Javanaise (written by Serge Gainsbourg)

J’avoue j’en ai bavé, pas vous, mon amour?
Avant d’avoir eu vent de vous mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d’une chanson

À votre avis qu’avons-nous vu de l’amour?
De vous à moi vous m’avez eu, mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d’une chanson

Hélas avril en vain me voue à l’amour
J’avais envie de voir en vous cet amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d’une chanson

La vie ne vaut d’etre vécue sans amour
Mais c’est vous qui l’avez voulu, mon amour
Ne vous déplaise
En dansant la Javanaise
Nous nous aimions
Le temps d’une chanson

Madeleine Peyroux

The Javanaise (English Translation)

I confess, I went through hell, not you,
My love.
Before I got wind of you,1
My love.

Whether you admit it or not
As we danced the Javanaise,
We loved each other
For the time of one song.

In your opinion, what have we seen
Of love?
From you to me, you have had me,
My love.

Whether you admit it or not
As we danced the Javanaise,
We loved each other
For the time of one song.

Alas, April was in vain
When it came to love.
I felt like seeing
That love in you.

Whether you admit it or not
As we danced the Javanaise,
We loved each other
For the time of one song.

Life is not worth being lived
Without love,
But it’s you who wanted it,
My love.

Whether you admit it or not
As we danced the Javanaise,
We loved each other
For the time of one song.
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-javanaise.html

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Jane Birkin on making ‘Je T’Aime…’

Music lovers: Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg in Paris, 1969
It was the year a female orgasm made it to the top of the charts. In 1969, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” became the first banned record and the first foreign-language

t was the year a female orgasm made it to the top of the charts. In 1969, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” became the first banned record and the first foreign-language single to reach No 1 in the UK. It still is, uniquely for such a pop hit, an erotic sound-collage of two people having sex.

Over a sultry, repetitive tune from a cheesy organ, the 22-year-old Birkin breathes, “je t’aime, je t’aime…”, while the 40-year-old Gainsbourg louchely growls “moi non plus” (“me neither”). It builds, via increasingly heavy breathing, to Birkin’s orgasmic chorusing of “tu vas, tu vas et tu viens/ entre mes reins” (“you come, you come and you go/ between my kidneys”). Yes, the words: I’ll come to them. Continue reading “Jane Birkin on making ‘Je T’Aime…’” →