Gainsbourg : the biography / by Gilles Verlant ; translated from the French by Paul Knobloch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Verlant, Gilles, 1957-2013.

Contributor:

Knobloch, Paul.

Standardized Title:

Gainsbourg. English.

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Gainsbourg, Serge.

Musicians--France--Biography.

Musicians.

France.

Singers--France--Biography.

Singers.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

589 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[U.s.] : Tamtam Books, 2012.

Language Note:

In English, translated from the original French.

Summary:

When Serge Gainsbourg died in 1991, France went into mourning: Fran ois Mitterand himself proclaimed him "our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire." Gainsbourg redefined French pop, from his beginnings as cynical chansonnier and mambo-influenced jazz artist to the ironic "y -y " beat and lush orchestration of his 1960s work to his launching of French reggae in the 1970s to the electric funk and disco of his last albums. But mourned as much as his music was Gainsbourg the man: the self-proclaimed ugly lover of such beauties as Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, the iconic provocateur whose heavy-breathing "Je t'aime moi non plus" was banned from airwaves throughout Europe and whose reggae version of the "Marseillais" earned him death threats from the right, and the dirty-old-boy wordsmith who could slip double-entendres about oral sex into the lyrics of a teenybopper ditty and make a crude sexual proposition to Whitney Houston on live television. Gilles Verlant's biography of Gainsbourg is the best and most authoritative in any language. Drawing from numerous interviews and their own friendship, Verlant provides a fascinating look at the inner workings of 1950s-1990s French pop culture and the conflicted and driven songwriter, actor, director and author that emerged from it: the young boy wearing a yellow star during the German Occupation; the young art student trying to woo Tolstoy's granddaughter; the musical collaborator of Petula Clark, Juliette Greco and Sly and Robbie; the seasoned composer of the Lolita of pop albums, Histoire de Melody Nelson ; the cultural icon who transformed scandal and song into a new form of delirium.

Contents:

Yeah, I'm Ginsburg

My first yellow star

I admit, I suffered dear

My illusions open onto the courtyard

There is no sunshine in my life

An anthracitic mood

Be pretty and keep quiet

Let's take a walk inside of me

To the beat of the yé-yés

Don't listen to pop stars

Who's "in" who's "out"

Lollipop Annie

Zip! Shebam! Pow! Blop! Wizz!

Jane B., English, sex : female

Erotic '69

Ah! Melody

O di doo di doo dah

There are days I'd give God knows what to be able to shit my whole being away

I'm cabbage-head man

Le jour de gloire est arrivé

Yeah, I'm Gainsbarre

Escape happiness before it escapes you

A whore among whores

Hey man amen

I'll die on a Sunday, my suffering true and tried.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Originally published in French. 2000.

ISBN:

0966234677

9780966234671

OCLC:

772106346

Publisher Number:

99949953511