About Serge Gainsbourg
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Deciding that no one could sing his songs as well as he could himself, Lucien Ginsburg changed his name to something he felt to be a bit more French, and as Serge Gainsbourg he signed with Philips Records. His first album, released in 1958, was not a great commercial success, but the critics and his peers adored it. Here's how Boris Vian announced it to the worls: "Allez, lecteurs ou auditeurs toujours prêts à brailler contre, contre les fausses chansons et les faux de la chanson, tirez deux sacs de vos fouilles et raquez au disquaire en lui demandant le Philips B 76447 B...C'est le premier 25 cm 33 tours d'un drôle d'individu nommé Gainsbourg Serge."
Many of Gainsbourg's songs had already been recorded by les Frères Jacques, Michèle Arnaud and Jean-Claude Pascal. Soon Juliette Gréco would turn songs like «Le poinçonneur des lilas» and «La chanson de Prévert» into classics. Gainsbourg had an ear for fine melodies, and his lyrics, full of worldly cynicism, struck a cord with the fashionable Left Bank crowd.
At one time Gainsbourg's early recording were true collectors items, 25cm monophonic disks pressed in the late 50's. But with the advent of the compact disc and Gainsbourg's huge following, all his earliest recordings have been digitally re-mastered and included in a series comprising his entire recording career.
The first CD in the series, Le poinçonneur des Lilas, contains 24 songs recorded between 1958 and 1960. They run the gamut from 50's cabaret tunes to early 60s pop. The title track is a lament on the work-a-day world. What better way to depict the "horror of the mundane" than to show us the world through the eyes of a subway ticket puncher. " J'suis le poinçonneur des Lilas / Le gars qu'on croise et qu'on n'regarde pas / Y'a pas de soleil sous la terre / Drôl'de croisière / Pour tuer l'ennui j'ai dans ma veste / Les extraits du Reader Digest / Et dans ce bouquin y a écrit / Que des gars s'la coulent douce á Miami / Pendant c'temps que je fais l' zouave / Au fond d'la cave / Paraît qu'y a pas d'sot métier / Moi j'fais des trous dans des billets (131k)." The poinçonneurs have been gone from Paris's subways for many years now, but when Gainsbourg's character describes his days punching "des petits trous toujours des petit trous (92k)" we have no trouble relating.
Gainsbourg has often been cited as a misogynist, and these tendencies are evident in even his earliest recordings. Songs like «Sois belle et tais-toi», «La femme des uns sous le corps des autres» and «Indifférent» reflect an attitude towards women that is far from being enlightened. "Comme le chien de monsieur Jean de Nivelle / Tu ne viens jamais à moi quand je t'appelle / Qu'importe le temps / Qu'emporte le vent / Mieux vaut ton absense / que ton inconséquence (107k)," he sings in «Indifférent». And then he goes on to mourn her lack of interest!
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source:francevision.com
