A Wall of Serge Gainsbourg
Don’t worry if you feel ‘lost’ in Paris. Because often times that’s how you happen upon the coolest things! Like this image, and tribute wall to Serge Gainsbourg!
Wandering…quite different than lost…will allow you to meander down streets you’ve never seen and see curious doors, passages and stores you might not have happened upon otherwise.
Like the joy of stumbling on giant graffiti face of Serge! It’s not just any wall of graffiti, but it's a revolving tribute ‘Wall of Gainsbourg’ that is just in front of his house on 5 bis rue de Verneuil in the Saint-Germain-des-Pres quartier in Paris.
Serge Gainsbourg is an icon in French music. He went through many phases and incarnations but always remained one who was pushing boundaries, challenging the staus quo. He had famous love affairs with the likes of Brigitte Bardot and married Jane Birkin, whom he also recorded with.
He always had that french swagger and undeniable star quality. Below is just a taste of his music. Stay tuned for more postings about Serge & songs we love! Here is an older article from Vanity Fair where Charlotte Gainsbourg, Serge’s daughter, speaks about her father and his famous apartment. Which she now owns and which apparently hasn’t changed a bit since the day of his death on March 2, 1991.
LINKS FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE:
Valse de Melody - let yourself dive into this album. A 1971 classic. 28 minutes of dark, sleek, languid funk, lushly scored for strings, with Gainsbourg's murmured vocals so close-miked you can almost smell the Gitanes and whisky on his breath.
Aux Armes Et Caetera (the song) - let the whole album play on a sunny, reggae day! This is the title track of the album. A reggae adaptation of La Marseillaise, the French national anthem. A controversial album as some considered it an insult to the French Republic. Gainsbourg received death threats upon its release. At an auction years later, he bought the original manuscript of 'La Marseillaise' signed by the author. Pointing out to critics that his version was, in fact, closer to the original than any other recorded version as the manuscript clearly shows the words "Aux armes et cætera..." for the chorus as author Rouget de l'Isle did not bother writing the full chorus each three times, preferring to shorten it with the word etc... (classic Serge!)