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
Love On The Beat
Serge Gainsbourg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Natale deviner tes pensées
Mais toi déjà déjà tu tangues
Aux flux et reflux des marées
Je pense à toi en tant que cible
Ma belle enfant écartelée
Là j'ai touché le point sensible
Il est temps de passer aux choses
Sérieuses, poupée jolie
Tu as envie d'une overdose
De baise voilà je m'introduis
J'aime assez tes miaou miaou
Griffes dehors
Moi dents dedans ta nuque
Voir de ton joli cou
Comme un rubis perler le sang
Plus tu cries plus profond j'irai
Dans tes sables émouvants
Sables où m'enlisant, je te dirai
Les mots les plus abominables
Brûlants sont tous tes orifices
Des trois que les dieux t'ont donnés
Je décide dans le moins lisse
D'achever de m'abandonner
Une décharge de six mille volts
Vient de gicler de mon pylône
Et nos reins alors se révoltent
D'un coup d'épilepsie synchrone
The lyrics of Serge Gainsbourg's song "Love On The Beat" are very explicit and provocative, discussing sexual desires and fantasies in a graphic and sometimes disturbing way. The first verse discusses the desire to read his partner's thoughts, but realizes she is already being carried away by the ebb and flow of sexual passion. The singer then imagines his partner as a "target" and revels in the sensitivity of her most vulnerable spots.
In the second verse, Gainsbourg's narrator tells his partner that it's time to get serious and satisfy her desire for sexual excess. He seems to enjoy the sound of her cries and revels in causing her pain. The chorus of the song contains the phrase "Love on the beat," which can be interpreted as both a reference to physical intimacy and to the violent rhythm of the song itself.
Overall, the lyrics of "Love On The Beat" are explicit and controversial, but they also offer an interesting commentary on the darker aspects of love and desire.
Line by Line Meaning
D'abord je veux avec ma langue
First, I want to use my tongue
Natale deviner tes pensées
To guess your thoughts, Natale
Mais toi déjà déjà tu tangues
But you already sway
Aux flux et reflux des marées
To the ebb and flow of the tide
Je pense à toi en tant que cible
I think of you as a target
Ma belle enfant écartelée
My beautiful child, torn apart
Là j'ai touché le point sensible
There, I touched the sensitive spot
Attends je vais m'y attarder
Wait, I'll dwell on it
Il est temps de passer aux choses
It's time to move on to the serious things
Sérieuses, poupée jolie
Serious, pretty doll
Tu as envie d'une overdose
You want an overdose
De baise voilà je m'introduis
Of sex, here I come
J'aime assez tes miaou miaou
I quite like your meows meows
Griffes dehors
Claws out
Moi dents dedans ta nuque
Me, teeth in your neck
Voir de ton joli cou
To see from your pretty neck
Comme un rubis perler le sang
Like a ruby, the blood pearls
Plus tu cries plus profond j'irai
The more you scream, the deeper I'll go
Dans tes sables émouvants
In your moving sands
Sables où m'enlisant, je te dirai
Sands where sinking, I'll tell you
Les mots les plus abominables
The most abominable words
Brûlants sont tous tes orifices
All your orifices are burning
Des trois que les dieux t'ont donnés
Of the three the gods gave you
Je décide dans le moins lisse
I decide on the least smooth
D'achever de m'abandonner
To finish abandoning myself
Une décharge de six mille volts
A discharge of six thousand volts
Vient de gicler de mon pylône
Just spurted from my pylon
Et nos reins alors se révoltent
And then our loins rebel
D'un coup d'épilepsie synchrone
In a synchronous epileptic fit
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Serge Gainsbourg
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Elian
on Ford Mustang
We're swapping spits / We're snorting lines [double entendre] (On s' fait des "lines")
In a Ford Mustang
And then, "Bang"
We're banging in [triple entendre]
To the plane trees / And then, "Bang," we're getting high ("embrasser les platanes = planer" [ French] (=to get high)
"Mus" to the left
"Tang" to the right
And to the left, to the right
A windshield wiper
A pack of Kool
A badge with the inscription
"Keep Cool"
A bar of
Chocolate
A Coca-Cola
We're swapping spits / We're snorting lines
In a Ford Mustang
And then, "Bang"
We're banging in
To the plane trees
"Mus" to the left
"Tang" to the right
And to the left, to the right
A bottle
Of make-up fluid
A flashgun
A Browning (automatic pistol)
A phonograph
A volume
Of Edgar A. Poe
And a plain brass ZIPPO
We're swapping spits / We're snorting lines
In a Ford Mustang
And then, "Bang"
We're banging in
To the plane trees
"Mus" to the left
"Tang" to the right
And to the left, to the right
An edition
Of Superman
A nut from
Paco
Rabanne
A pic of
Marilyn
A tube of aspirin
We're swapping spits / We're snorting lines
In a Ford Mustang
And then, "Bang"
We're banging in
To the plane trees
"Mus" to the left
"Tang" to the right
And to the left, to the right