He was born Lucien Ginzburg in Paris, France, the son of Jewish Russian parents who fled to France after the 1917 Bolshevik uprising. His childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Nazi Germany, during which he and his family, as Jews, were forced to wear the yellow star and eventually flee from Paris. He had a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, with English singer and actress Jane Birkin; and a son, Lulu, with his last partner, Bambou (Caroline Von Paulus, who is related to Friedrich Paulus). Before he was 30 years old, Lucien Ginsburg was a disillusioned painter but earned his living as a piano player in bars. Daughter Charlotte would later become an actress and singer.
His early songs were influenced by Boris Vian and were largely in the vein of "old-fashioned" chanson. Very early, however, Gainsbourg began to move beyond this and experiment with a succession of different musical styles: jazz early on, English pop in the 60's, reggae in the 70's, even hip-hop in the 80's.
Success began to arrive when, in 1965, his song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" was the Luxembourg entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. Performed by French teen singer France Gall, it won the grand prize. (The song was covered in English as "A Lonely Singing Doll" by British teen idol Twinkle.) He arranged other Gall songs and LPs that were characteristic of the late 1960s psychedelic styles, among them Gall's '1968' album. Another of Serge's songs "Boum Bada Boum" was entered in by Monaco in the 1967 contest, sung by Minouche Barelli; It came 5th.
In 1969, he released what would become his most famous song in the English-speaking world, "Je t'aime... moi non plus", which featured simulated sounds of female orgasm. The song appeared that year on an LP, "Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg". Originally recorded with Brigitte Bardot, it was released with future girlfriend Birkin when Bardot backed out. While Gainsbourg declared it the "ultimate love song," it was considered too "hot"; the song was censored in various countries, and in France, even the toned-down version was suppressed. Even the Vatican made a public statement citing the song as offensive. Its notoriety led it to reaching no. 1 in the UK singles chart. A long-standing rumor maintains that Gainsbourg and Birkin were actually having sex during the recording session (asked about it in an interview, Gainsbourg answered that if this was true, the song would have lasted longer than 4 minutes).
The seventies
His most influential work came near the start of the seventies with Histoire de Melody Nelson, released in 1971. This concept album, produced and arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier, tells the story of a Lolita-esque affair, with Gainsbourg as the narrator and Jane Birkin as the eponymous English heroine. It features prominent string arrangements and even a massed choir at its tragic climax. At the time, sales were poor, but the album has proven influential with artists such as Air, David Holmes and Beck.
In 1975, he released the album Rock Around the Bunker, a rock album written entirely on the subject of the Nazis. Gainsbourg used black humour, as he and his family suffered during World War II. While a child in Paris, Gainsbourg himself had worn the Yellow badge as the mark of a Jew.
The next year saw the release of another major work, L'Homme à la Tête de Chou (Cabbage-Head Man), featuring the new character Marilou and sumptuous orchestral themes.
In Jamaica in 1978 he recorded "Aux Armes et cetera," a reggae version of the French national anthem "La Marseillaise", with Robbie Shakespeare, Sly Dunbar and Rita Marley. This song earned him death threats from right-wing veterans of the Algerian War of Independence who were opposed to certain lyrics. Shortly afterwards, Gainsbourg bought the original manuscript of La Marseillaise. He was able to reply to his critics that his version was, in fact, closer to the original as the manuscript clearly shows the words "Aux armes et cætera..." for the chorus.
The next year saw him in the new look of Gainsbarre, officially introduced in the song "Ecce Homo."
Final years
In the 1980's, approaching the end of his life, Gainsbourg became a regular figure on French TV. His appearances seemed devoted to his controversial sense of humour and provocation. He would frequently show up drunk and unshaven on stage. Perhaps his most famous incident came when, on Michel Drucker's live Saturday evening show with the American singer Whitney Houston, he exclaimed, "I want to fuck her."
During this period he released Love On The Beat and his last studio album, You're Under Arrest, (which saw him adapt his style to the hip-hop genre), as well as two live recordings. His third and last Eurovision Song Contest entry came in 1990 with the French entry "White and Black Blues", sung by Joëlle Ursull. It came second in a tie with Ireland. His songs became increasingly eccentric in this period, ranging from the anti-drug "Les Enfants de la Chance" to the duet with his daughter Charlotte called "Lemon Incest (Un zeste de citron)." The title of the latter demonstrates Gainsbourg's love of puns (another example is "Bowie, Beau oui comme Bowie").
Discography :
1958 : Du Chant À La Une !
1959 : Serge Gainsbourg N°2
1961 : L'étonnant Serge Gainsbourg
1962 : Serge Gainsbourg N° 4
1963 : Gainsbourg Confidentiel
1964 : Gainsbourg Percussions
1968 : Initials B.B.
1968 : Bonnie And Clyde ( with Brigitte Bardot )
1969 : Jane Birkin-Serge Gainsbourg
1971 : Histoire de Melody Nelson ( with Jane Birkin )
1973 : Vu de l'extérieur
1975 : Rock around the bunker
1976 : L'Homme à tête de chou
1979 : Aux armes et cætera
1981 : Mauvaises Nouvelles Des Étoiles
1984 : Love on the Beat
1987 : You're Under Arrest
L
Serge Gainsbourg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Aucun bateau sous mon transat
Je cherche en vain la porte exacte
Je cherche en vain le mot exit
Je chante pour les transistors
Ce récit de l'étrange histoire
De tes anamours transitoires
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés de l'anamour
Tu sais ces photos de l'Asie
Que j'ai prises à deux cents Asa
Maintenant que tu n'es pas là
Leurs couleurs vives ont pâli
J'ai cru entendre les hélices
D'un quadrimoteur mais hélas
C'est un ventilateur qui passe
Au ciel du poste de police
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés de l'anamour
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés de l'anamour
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
In "L'Anamour," Serge Gainsbourg laments the loss of a fleeting love. He begins by stating that there are no means of escape from his heartbreak—he cannot take a plane or a boat to leave behind his heartache. Gainsbourg is searching for the right way to leave behind his pain, but he cannot seem to find the right words or exit door. He sings to transistor radios about the strange story of his lover's transitory romances and sleeps like the sleeping beauty who slumbers.
Gainsbourg's lament threatens to become obsessive. He fears losing himself in the labyrinth of his heartbreak, leading him to scatter poppy seeds on the streets of his love for forgetfulness. His photographs taken years ago in Asia no longer have the same bright colors now that his lover is gone. As he listens to the whirring of a fan, he wishes it was the sound of a plane waiting to take him away from his pain. Nevertheless, the only escape he can find is to throw poppy seeds on the streets, hoping to forget the memories of what he once had.
Overall, the lyrics express the feeling of wishing to escape a broken heart but feeling trapped without a solution to end the pain. Gainsbourg found refuge in singing about his heartbreak and sharing his lament to anyone who would listen.
Line by Line Meaning
Aucun Boeing sur mon transit
I'm not traveling by plane anywhere
Aucun bateau sous mon transat
I'm not lounging on a boat anywhere
Je cherche en vain la porte exacte
I can't seem to find the exact door I'm looking for
Je cherche en vain le mot exit
I can't seem to find the word exit, despite looking for it
Je chante pour les transistors
I'm singing for the radio
Ce récit de l'étrange histoire
I'm narrating the strange story
De tes anamours transitoires
About your fleeting affairs
De Belle au Bois Dormant qui dort
Of Sleeping Beauty who sleeps
Je t'aime et je crains
I love you but I'm afraid
De m'égarer
Of getting lost
Et je sème des grains
So I'm scattering seeds
De pavot sur les pavés de l'anamour
Poppy seeds on the pavement of love
Tu sais ces photos de l'Asie
You know those pictures of Asia
Que j'ai prises à deux cents Asa
That I took at 200 ISO
Maintenant que tu n'es pas là
Now that you're not here
Leurs couleurs vives ont pâli
Their bright colors have faded
J'ai cru entendre les hélices
I thought I heard the propellers
D'un quadrimoteur mais hélas
Of a four-engine plane, but alas,
C'est un ventilateur qui passe
It's just a fan passing by
Au ciel du poste de police
In the sky above the police station
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Serge Gainsbourg
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@steffanhoffmann
@@Lad-Saurin The song is purely and simply, about bringing a woman to orgasm.
However you communists wouldn't know about that. Sex was taboo in ussr 😂
Even though Jane is shouting her pleasure throughout this recording, comments here are about romantic love.
No no no.
It's 1969. The end of the decade of the sexual revolution. That's what it's about.
Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion.
His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality, make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established, and he is often regarded, as one of the world's most influential popular musicians
Lucien Ginsburg was born in Paris on 2 April 1928. He was the son of Jewish emigrants of Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian origin, Joseph and Olga Ginsburg, who fled to Paris via Istanbul after the 1917 Russian Revolution and the MURDERING COMMUNISTS.
Joseph Ginsburg was a classically trained musician whose profession was playing the piano in cabarets and casinos; he taught his children—Gainsbourg and his twin sister Liliane—to play the piano.
Gainsbourg's childhood was profoundly affected by the occupation of France by Germany during World War II.
The identifying yellow star that Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg; in later years he was able to transmute this memory into creative inspiration.
The world detested this
Communism
Fascism
Both evil ideologies were destroyed.
There's a new thing to destroy nowadays; Putinism.
The little moth will be destroyed; just like Hitler.
@dorpets
In 1971 at a party, I asked a girl to dance with me to this song and she said yes. Now... she's my wife!
@Nirsterkur
Congratulations!
@theboredchannel3062
I love this song.
@noraisabel6557
@Samuel How is Paris these days, apart from the quarantine?
@LOveERDos
Samuel same here ROME AND LA DOLCE VITA ROME and the shit life
@christiandesayes4718
lucky man! thanks serge!
@georgeclancy1755
The Frenchest thing that ever Frenched.
@feuquegougueul1592
One of the best things!
@jadecostello3325
And pommed.
@marguskiis7711
Johann Bach