Hey everyone!
This is the third installment of the Tasty Jams playlists I’ve been making. It’s all about French music. I was recently in France and had a great time. And since the French international soccer team just won the World Cup I thought it would be fitting to make a playlist of some of the best French jams. So, here it is. Not all the artists on this list were born in France. However, if they were not born in France, the majority of their work came from France. I love French music. It’s melodic and colorful and ties into the history of the country in a very interesting way. I think you’ll like this list. It’s great for dinner parties and hanging out, drinking wine and eating cheese. If you’re into that sort of thing. Below is a writeup of the songs and the artists who recorded the songs. You can skip it and just listen to the music if you’re not a music nerd like me. But if you are into music, I recommend reading what’s below since it adds to the experience. Here are the links:
Enjoy!
Edith Piaf - La Vie En Rose - I started this playlist off with one of the most iconic French classics and arguably one of the most melodically memorable songs of the mid 20th century. “La Vie En Rose” is one of the most beautiful songs ever written (in my opinion). It was written in 1945, right at the end of World War 2, by Piaf, but was shelved because Piaf’s posse thought it wasn’t as strong as her other tunes. A year later she revisited the composition and performed it for the first time. People loved it. The original recording of the song was then released in 1947 and became a massive International hit, selling over a million copies in the US. Pretty amazing, especially for that time. The title of the song can be loosely translated to “Life in Pink” and is about the sensation of falling in love. The timing of the songs release made it an anthem for those who had survived the difficult wartimes. Piaf lived a very interesting life, primarily in Paris. My mom told me this story recently - Edith was very poor when she started her career, so she and her sister had to make her stage getup themselves. Since they couldn’t afford the cloth to complete her stage dress, Edith used to sing with her arms behind her back so people would not see that the dress was incomplete and had no sleeves. She reached the point in her life where she could definitely afford buying a dress but during the early parts of her career she performed in brothels and clubs all over Paris to get by. During World War 2, she was asked to perform for French prisoners at Nazi internment camps. She ended up performing many times for prisoners of war and Nazi soldiers which lead many people to criticized her and view her as a Nazi sympathizer. Although, since then many of her close friends have made it apparent that she was (like most people at the time) unaware of what the Nazis were up to and the severity of the situation. If you get a chance to read about her life I highly recommend it, she was a very special and interesting person.
Cherry Blossom Girl - Air - This track is one of Air’s most popular tunes. It’s great, I really love it. Air’s music lands perfectly between atmospheric chill and electro pop. They never get too excited but they’re never too mellow either. This song came out in 2004 and was off their LP Talkie Walkie. I highly recommend giving the whole album a listen. It’s super good.
Moi Je Joue - Brigitte Bargot - This track is by the French singer / model Brigitte Bargot. It was written by Serge Gainsbourg. Bardot was one of the most iconic sex symbols of the 50s and 60s and has since become an animal rights activist. In 1973 she decided to retire from her career as an actress and singer and use her fame to promote her activism work. She was so passionate about her work as an activist that she had her neighbors donkey castrated (without them knowing) after it had allegedly sexually assaulted her own donkey and mare. Apparently she was taken to court over the incident. She’s donated lots of money to animal shelters for stray dogs and has outwardly condemned the consumption of horse meet and hunting of seals. During her career in the entertainment industry she was in over 45 films and recorded several albums. Her most notable work was in collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg, who also appears on this playlist.
Tristesse / Joie - Yelle - Yelle is a trio group from France. They’re still active and as of now they’ve got 3 albums out - Pop Up, Safari Disco Club and Complètement fou. They’re stuff is great, I really like it. They were one of the bands that came to fame during the boom of myspace - along with bands like Vampire Weekend and Tame Impala. They posted their first single “Je Veux Te Voir” in September of 2005 and the track made it to the top 5 in France. They’ve gained a large following outside of France and have played cochella 3 times (one off the only French acts to do that). The name of this song can be translated to “Sadness / Joy” and the lyrics have a theme of being happy around someone who is unhappy… I think. My French is pretty rusty =P
Sympathique (Je Ne Veux Pas Travailler) - Joséphine Baker - So technically Josephine Baker is not French since she was born in the United States. But she adopted France as her home when she moved there at age 19. Before going to France for the first time Joséphine performed in St Louis, where she grew up. She lived with her mother and step father in a very poor neighborhood that mostly consisted of bars, brothels and apartment buildings. She worked as a servant for families in St Louis - doing laundry and making beds - but she often received corporal punishment for mistakes she made on the job, which motivated her to find work doing what she loved, performing. She became a street performer and was soon picked up by the St Louis Chorus Vaundeville Show. She made her way to NYC soon after to perform on broadway. But she didn’t become famous until she moved to France where she gained quick notoriety for her erotic dancing style with comic overtones. At one point in her career she performed with her pet cheetah on stage with her. Apparently it would regularly jump into the orchestra pit and wreak havoc on the musicians. She was the first colored performer to appear in a film. She was a badass, you should check out all her stuff cause it’s great. Also, watch midnight in Paris cause there’s a scene where Owen Wilson is at a party full of famous intellectuals and artists of the 1920s and she is dancing to her song La Conga Blicoti (which is also super great).
Le Temps de L’amour - François Hardy - Hardy made her musical debut in the French pop scene in the early 60s. Her first big single was “Tous les garçons et les filles” Check it out here. She was one of the leaders of the yé-yé movement, which was a style of French pop that emerged from Southern France. Yé-yé was heavily influenced by the British beat movement (The Beatles and many more) that was so prevalent at the time. Hardy and Serge Gainsbourg were the biggest international influences that came out of the yé-yé movement and they eventually collaborated. I love her voice. It’s both haunting and innocent. There’s something very sincere about the way she sings. Her voice made her a favorite among other huge musicians like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger. I think this song exemplifies the best qualities of her voice with the melodic jumps in the chorus and the simplicity of the arrangement. Super cool.
Minor Swing - Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli - So Django is not actually from France, he’s Belgian. I happen to be half Belgian myself so when I found out that he was a Belge like me I was proud. However he spent the majority of his time collaborating with Stéphane Grappelli who is French. Django also spent a lot of time in Paris and I think most of his recordings were done in Paris. These guys were on my first playlist and I wrote a little bio on them, you can check it out here. I learned to play this song on guitar when I was in high school for a performance and really loved playing the gypsy jazz style. It’s so punky in attitude while being so melodically complex. Nothing is simple, all the chords are super weird but the outcome is cohesive. I really like it.
Sonate Pacifique - L’Impératice - This track is by the disco pop group L’Impératice. They’re from Paris. They’re first EP came out in 2012. This track is off their second EP that came out in 2014. The name of the EP is the same as the name of this track “Sonate Pacifique”. They’re great. I love the simplicity of their arrangements, it reminds me of Daft Punk if they were a disco pop band and not an electro pop duo. Their pallets are always really nice, super colorful and evocative. I highly recommend checking out the rest of their stuff.
La Javanaise - Serge Gainsbourg - This song is so good. I don’t like to play favorites since all these tracks are so spectacular but I’ve listened to this song sooooo many times. The background vocals are amazing and the way the strings move around the melody is so cool. Serge Gainsbourg is responsible for a lot of great pop music. As I mentioned before in this writeup, he worked a lot with François Hardy and Brigette Bardot and wrote a lot of their biggest singles (especially in the Bardot discography). There’s a track called Bonnie and Clyde (You’ve probably heard it but if not you can check it out here.) where Bardot and Gainsbourg both sing. It’s great. This song, “La Javanaise”, reminds me of walking around Paris. If you’ve never been to Paris and you plan on going you should throw on some headphones and listen to this song while you walk around the city. (Not that I’ve done that, but I’d really like to).
Les Champs-Élysées - Joe Dassin - So Joe Dassin is not French either, he was born in the US and moved to France when he was young. But I couldn’t put this song on a playlist all about the US, that wouldn’t make any sense since there’s not a word of English in it and the title of the song refers to an avenue in Paris. So I put it here and I think it’s fitting since its basically an ode to how great the Champs-Élysées is. The words of the chorus say:
“Oh Champs-Élysées, Oh Champs-Élysées,
In the sun or in the rain
At noon or at midnight
Everything you want is on the the Champs-Élysées”
This song plays during the credits of The Darjeeling Limited by West Anderson (that’s where I heard it for the first time). It came out in 1969 and sounds to me like a musical tip of the hat to “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles. Just like “La Javanaise” by Gainsbourg, this song reminds me of walking around Paris. So put it second on that playlist you’re building for that Parisian walkabout.
That wraps up this list. Thanks so much for reading and listening! It means a lot. This one came pretty late since I’ve been crazy busy. I may need to change how often these should be expected to once a month instead of once every two weeks. Maybe they’ll just come out as they come out, no particular time pattern. I’ll keep you posted either way.
Thanks again!
Felix