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Friday, January 27, 2006
DI DOO DAH
Jane Birkin
Di Doo Dah
[Buy it]
TEENIE WEENIE BOPPIE
France Gall
1968
1967
[Buy it]
DOMMAGE
Graeme Allwright / Claude Nougaro
Graeme Allwright
Mercury : 1966
MON COEUR D'ATTACHE
Enrico Macias
1966
available on Chanter
FRANCIS FORTESCUE
Richard Robbins
Soundtrack: A Soldier`s Daughter Never Cries
1998
[Buy it]
Back when I worked in the production dept. at the Washington City Paper, each month the music critics would bring a big plastic tub of unwanted promo CDs up to the reception desk and someone would open-page the offices and we would all run over and desperately scour through it like orphans at a Kinshasa landfill. This was before the days of the digital revolution and 100 gig hard drives and a free CD was a big deal. Almost all of the stuff was unremarkable indiepop or unlistenable neo-soul. The few keepers I found always ended up being weirdly eclectic independent film soundtracks. The CD for some Debbie Harry mob film called Six Ways to Sunday featured Yiddish jazz, Schooly D's song "Mister Big Dick", Blondie remixes, and original compositions by this kid Teddy Shapiro who I think I went to High School with. But my hands down favorite was the soundtrack for A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries. It was a lesser known Merchant/Ivory film loosely based on the family of writer James Jones (From Here to Eternity, A Thin Red Line.) Kris Kristofferson plays the Jones character, a somewhat famous author, a gravelly drinker but loving patriarch of a family of bohemian expats (incl. Leelee Sobieski and Barbara Hershey, back when she was old) living in late 60s Paris. In the second half of the film, the family moves home to early 70s USA where "beautifully observed" poignancy ensues.
The soundtrack reflects this split in space and place. The first half is heavy on french pop, especially the bubblegum sound popularized by "Ye Ye Girls", while the latter tracks are mostly lively 70s guitar rock. Making the soundtrack even more schizoid are a dozen or so moody pseudo-classical interludes by composer Richard Robbins.
My girlfriend used to listen to this CD everyday while she did yoga for like a year. Her whole routine became synchronized to the track list. It got so I'd be in the other room and would hear a song and know exactly what position she was in. When Tito Puente came on, I knew she was Saluting The Moon. Deep Purple's "Fireball" signalled Rocking Of The Cradle. (I found this particulary impressive. Id like to see Gwenyth Paltrow do yoga to Deep Purple.) By the time David Bowie's "Fame" kicked in, I knew she was winding up and would be shortly in front of the TV, Accessing The Hollywood before I joined her in The Receiving Of The Shiraz.
Jane Birkin's "Di Doo Dah" was a big 60s hit. Birkin was famously married for many years to Serge Gainsbourg. I presume Serge wrote this song. Jane's still getting it done. And she still has a thing for scrawny European musicians: she performs on French TV next month with Franz Ferdinand.
France Gall was another big pop tart of the time. She also hung around with Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote this song and many others for her. I wonder if Jane and France had a jealous friendship? Maybe she was like Nicole Richie to Birkin's Paris Hilton. If so, does that mean that France's famous singer dad Robert Gall was his generations Lionel Richie? If he was a French singer in the 50s, odds are pretty good that he at least shared Lionel's relish for wearing yellow cardigans tied about his shoulders.
Graeme Allwright was born in New Zealand but after losing patience with all those "So, how's Graeme doing today?!?" jokes, moved to France where he became a popular singer/songwriter. If anyone speaks French good, could they tell us what the lyrics to this song are? I'm not sure what it is I don't trust about this google translation:
Richard was a boy who was covered with chips
To get rid some it had found an easy way
It put a sock on the head and in water was inserted
The chips are assembled in the sock but Richard drowned.
Too bad.
So true Graeme. So true.
Enrico Macias is an Algerian Jew who has made a remarkable and workmanlike career as a French/Italian singer.
According to this slightly annoying website, Kofi Anna recently named Macias "Roving Ambassador for Peace and the Defence of Children." How great is that title! I have this image in my head of a kid playing with matches and Enrico jumping out from the bushes to confiscate them. A young girl slips off the monkey bars and her mother looks on in horror but out of nowhere comes Enrico and catches her and softly places her on her feet and turns to her and in a kind but firm tone says:
Per rischio giocano con il puill della vita, dato che quello non siamo mai abbastanza vecchi*
Then he walks her to the grateful mom and says:
"She is good girl. I tell her she must have repsect of gravity. She knows now. Do not punish the bambina, she will be fine. I was just thankful to be nearby when this happens. I must go now. Ciao."
* "To chance whimsy and play with life's pull? For that we are never old enough." Labels: James
posted by James
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