Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Bonjour Chanson, Series 6, Episode 27

Bonjour Chanson Series 6, Episode 27

Play Track 01 seconds 23 to 46 ? “Reveries”.

Start text segment 1 ? Welcome to “Bonjour Chanson”. We think French Language Popular Music is special. Here is an opportunity to find out for your self. We’ll tell you about 6 artists and one of their songs in English before you hear them in French. No language skills are required. You heard an excerpt from the song “Daydreams” by Claire Lise. More about this artist at the end of the show when we’ll play the entire song.

Our first song is by Calogero whose Album “L’embellie” or the “The Brightening”, published in 2009 has received a lot of attention. He composed the music to all the songs and invited a number of well-known artists to write the lyrics. The creation of this album was therapeutic for the artist. It helped him recover from a depression after separating from his companion of seven years, who is the mother of his daughters. We have selected the song “Catch Me If You Can”. The lyrics were written by Dick Annergan, a Dutchman who lived for many years in Belgium and France. In this song we can hear the young daughters of Calogero in the background. “In my life two birds are singing, one in tune, the other one off key. They are young ladies, both have wings and they are awfully pretty. In my life sing two small birds, one as pretty as the other, Elfins and story tellers, like nymphs from the woods, a place for joyous children. ” . Here is Calogero in “Catch Me If You Can”. End text segment 1

Play Track 02 ? Catch Me If You Can
Start Text segment 2 ? That was Calogero in “Tu n’as qu’a m’attraper.”

Cora Vaucaire who was born in 1921 was an artist in the same mold as Barbara. She was a cabaret singer and avoided the large music-halls. It was she who created the title of one of the most famous, and most performed of all French songs. “Les Feuilles Mortes” known as “Autumn Leaves” in English. The authors Joseph Kosma and the distinguished poet Jacques Prevert were friends of Cora. We now listen to the song “We think of you, Paris” from 1959. “I remember a street corner and a small bistrot in the eighteenth, and the owner with a big moustache, who brought cafés crèmes. We met there twice a day, exchanging words of love. Since then, deep in my heart, Paris for me is happiness. ” Here is Cora Vaucaire in “Paris, We Think of You" ? End Text segment 2.

Play Track 03 ? On Pense a Toi Paris

Text segment 3 ? You heard Cora Vaucaire in “Paris on Pense a Toi”.

Serge Reggiani was an actor, a painter and singer, whose singing career started quite late in life. He had a warm baritone and his diction was always meticulous. When we listen to the song “My Freedom”, from 1963, we instantly understand why he was and still is so beloved in France. “My Freedom, for a long time I have kept you like a precious pearl. My Freedom, it is you who helped me to cut the moorings, to go to wherever fortune led me, to pluck while dreaming a rose from the wind, while sitting on a moonbeam.” Here is Serge Reggiani. ? End of Text segment 3.

Play Track 04 ? Ma Liberte.

Text segment 4 ? You listened to Serge Reggiani in “Ma Liberte”.

Lhasa de Sela wa born in 1972 in the small village of Big Indian, New York from a Mexican father and American mother. She was home schooled by her mother, because most of her childhood was spent traveling all over the U.S. and Mexico in a converted school bus. Lhasa’s first public performances were at age 13 in a café in San Francisco. At age 20 she moved to Montreal where she further developed her personal style. We shall listen to the song “High Tide” from her second album, “The Living Road”, which was released in 2003 after a prolonged stay in France. This song also graces the soundtrack of the 2009 movie, “Cold Souls”, starring Paul Giamatti. “The road sings, when I leave, I take three steps and the road keeps quiet. The road is black, as far as the eye can see, I take three steps, the road is no more. On the high tide I have climbed. The head is full, but the heart is lacking. “. Here is Lhasa de Sela in “High Tide”. ? End of text segment 4.

Play Track 05 ? Maree Haute

Text segment 5 ? You heard Lhasa de Sela in “Maree Haute”.

A handful of American artists have made it big in French Popular Music. Joe Dassin is one of them, It all started in 1950 when Joe’s father, the filmmaker Jules Dassin was blacklisted during the McCarthy era witch hunts. The family moved to Europe and finally settled in Paris. Although Joe grew up in a French environment, he was mindful of his American heritage and in his early singing career he adapted American folk and country music to French audiences. Women loved his good looks and the mystique of being French and American at the same time. As he became better known he moved to the main stream of French popular music. He was a master of the contemplative ballad. We listen now to “Since Last Year” from 1975. “There are evenings when I don’t feel like returning to the hotel and need to hang out in the night. When you are by yourself all girls look beautiful. A number hiding in a notebook. Blond hair and friendly eyes. Tonight I called you just to see. Maybe you are bored too. How have you been since last year. I was told they do not see you any more, you who stayed out the entire night… ” Here is Joe Dassin in “Since Last Year” ? End of text segment 5.

Play Track 06 ? Depuis L’Annee Dernière »

Text segment 6 ? You heard Joe Dassin in « Depuis L’Annee Derniere »

Our last song is by Claire Lise who grew up in France. In her performances she presents the songs of Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf, and alternates them with her own compositions. Her personality alternates between gutsy and shy. Her talent was first recognized in Switzerland. We’ll listen to the song “Daydreams” from her first album published at age 20 in 2000. (“Tomorrow I’ll go to Heaven to hug the wing of a blue angel and to tell them that down here I am bored and I want to be with them But high up there, to them the earth looks blue. They do not know that down here people are mad and people are grey, they are sad and die. They will welcome me with open arms and offer me a cloud of heaven in a coffee with a milky taste. ”) Here is Claire Lise in Daydreams ? End of text segment 6

Play Track 01 ? Reveries

Text segment 7 ? You heard Claire Lise in Reveries”.

We have come to the end of our show. We wish to thank members of l’Alliance Française de Washington for using Bonjour Chanson! This program was recorded in the studios of WYPR in Baltimore. Jonathan Ehrens is the producer. I am Charles Spira. Please, look out for the next episode of “Bonjour Chanson” and join us if you can.