Serge Gainsbourg

[jazzfascist]

Wbut then he started to talk over the tracks instead

I think that was due to the fact that his voice was starting to go by age 40 thanks to his years of tobacco abuse. On You're Under Arrest, the man can barely let out a rasp. Kind of like Dennis Wilson near the end. Eventually, all Serge could do was whisper or speak in a rasp. Mostly, he whispered.

I don't know, because he actually also sings on some of his later tracks, and even though I don't doubt that his voice was not good because of smoking, maybe it was just as much a persona he developed for his records.

Søren

[Jason]

Well, that was the whole Gainsbarre thing he had going on there after his relationship with Jane Birkin fell apart. His alter ego.

[Jason]

So Ian......you give that stuff a listen yet? I'm dying to hear your opinion, brother.

[jazzfascist]

Well, that was the whole Gainsbarre thing he had going on there after his relationship with Jane Birkin fell apart. His alter ego.

That was around 79 he turned into Gainsbarre wasn’t it ? But if you listen to his records he already started talking on “Requiem Pour Un Con”, where his voice doesn’t sound particularly shot, so I think it was also something he did for dramatic purposes. Later on it probably became a necessity because of his deteriorating voice. If you also look at his duet partners, none of them weren’t really great singers in the normal sense of the word. So maybe there was also a punkish attitude behind it, that it didn’t matter if you could sing, as long as you had personality or something to say.

Søren

[Jason]

I think that's always what Serge was looking for in his duet partners. I don't think it's too off-beat to claim that Jane Birkin was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.

[Jason]

Since Serge became Gainsbarre in the early 80s.....wouldn't he, not John Mellencamp, be the first "The Artist Formerly Known As..."?

[I. Spaceman]

Nah, there's Jim/Roger McGuinn and Devadip Carlos Santana.

[Jason]

I forgot McGuinn.....piss it.

Spinning L' Homme À Tête de Chou now.....still don't know what to think of this album. It's so dark, man.

[I. Spaceman]

Sez the man wit da Suicide avatar.

[Jason]

Well, Serge and Suicide are two very different types of music. I don't identify Serge with "dark" music. And hell, that Suicide album isn't all THAT dark. Frankie Teardrop is about the darkest the album gets.

[I. Spaceman]

I don't identify Serge with "dark" music.

Ahh, see, that's where you've gone astray. To me I think of Serge like Roxy Music, half-dark, half-light. Love Is The Drug AND In Every Dream Home A Heartache, dig?

[Jason]

Ahhhhhhhh now I see where you're coming from. That's the humanity in Serge's music. Everyone has their light and dark sides. Really, when you think about it, a lot of Serge's music is dark. Dark in a seriocomic way, but dark nonetheless. I mean come on, this was a Jew lashing out at Nazi Germany on Rock Around The Bunker.

[Jason]

I'm giving the soundtrack set another listen, I really dig these tracks, especially the earlier, jazzy ones. Serge just sounds like he's from another, cooler planet.

[Jason]

Think it's time for this thread to RIP just like Serge is doing right now.

[Jason]

Actually, this thread must not RIP!

Ian, what else is on that DVD set? It's in the mail and I'm too impatient. Can you give me an idea as to what's on there?

[I. Spaceman]

Do you open your Xmas gifts before Xmas morning?

[Jason]

I always open one on Christmas Eve.

[I. Spaceman]

Lots of cool Bardot, Birkin and Karina and the entire Melody Nelson TV special are on there!

[Jason]

Cool beans brother.

[I. Spaceman]

There's no cooler video than 69 Annee Erotique.

[Jason]

This DVD is gonna rock.

[I. Spaceman]

Dude, when you see the Bardot Harley Davidson video, you'll jump out the window.

[Jason]

I'll have my window ready when I watch it.

[jazzfascist]

Ahhhhhhhh now I see where you're coming from. That's the humanity in Serge's music. Everyone has their light and dark sides. Really, when you think about it, a lot of Serge's music is dark. Dark in a seriocomic way, but dark nonetheless. I mean come on, this was a Jew lashing out at Nazi Germany on Rock Around The Bunker.

I don't think his dark side is so surprising. I think he reminds a little of Roman Polanski who also come from Eastern Europe and like Gainsbourg experienced the war and persecution of jews. Maybe because of that it seems that they both look at life as some kind of black comedy. The movie "Bitter Moon" by Polanski about a couple, who sort of disintegrates in sexual excess,  seems like something Gainsbourg could have made a record about.

Søren

[I. Spaceman]

Nice comparison. Except Rock Around The Bunker is about ten thousand times better than The Pianist, as a piece of art.