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
Variations Sur Marilou
Serge Gainsbourg Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The lyrics of Serge Gainsbourg's song Variations sur Marilou tell the story of a woman named Marilou engaged in various vices, and the singer observing her with a mix of fascination and disgust. The song's repetitive structure and use of imagery create a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere that mirrors Marilou's own descent into self-destructive behavior. The first verse describes Marilou smoking cigarettes and playing with the zipper of her Levi's jeans, while the singer reflects on the potential darkness lurking behind her innocent appearance, referencing the author Lewis Carroll. In the second verse, the music becomes faster and more chaotic, as Marilou's health deteriorates and she becomes more deeply involved in her vices. The third verse takes on a more hallucinatory quality, as Marilou is depicted sinking deeper into a coma where her desires become increasingly perverse.
Throughout the song, Gainsbourg employs a range of literary and cultural references, from Alice in Wonderland to Jimi Hendrix to T-Rex. He uses these references to enhance the song's atmosphere of disorientation and to suggest that Marilou's self-destructive behavior is part of a larger cultural malaise. At the same time, the song can also be read as a critique of male objectification, as Marilou is presented primarily as an object of desire rather than a fully realized character. Ultimately, Variations sur Marilou is a dark, unsettling exploration of the human psyche and the ways in which we can be consumed by our own desires.
Line by Line Meaning
Dans son regard absent
Looking in her absent eyes
Et son iris absinthe
And her absinthe-colored iris
Tandis que Marilou s'amuse à faire des volutes de sèches au menthol
While Marilou blows menthol cigarettes in spirals
Entre deux bulles de comic-strip
In between reading comic strips
Tout en jouant avec le zip
While playing with her zipper
De ses Levi's
On her Levi's jeans
Je lis le vice
I read the vice
Et je pense à Caroll Lewis.
And I think of Lewis Carroll.
Quand crachent les enceintes
When the artists blast
De la sono lançant
From the sound system
Accord de quartes et de quintes
Fourth and fifth chords
Tandis que Marilou s'esquinte
While Marilou wears herself out
La santé s'éreinte
Breaking her health
A s'envoyer en l'air...
Going for a ride...
Lorsqu'en un songe absurde
When in an absurd dream
Marilou se résorbe
Marilou dissolves
Que son coma l'absorbe
Absorbing her coma
En pratiques obscures
In obscure practices
Sa pupille est absente
Her pupils are absent
Mais son iris absinthe
But her absinthe-colored iris
Sous ses gestes se teinte
Under her touches it tinges
D'extases sous-jacentes
With underlying ecstasy
A son regard le vice
Her gaze contains vice
Donne un côté salace
It has a naughty side
Un peu du bleu lavasse
A little washed-out blue
De sa paire de Levi's
From her pair of Levi's jeans
Et tandis qu'elle exhale
And while she exhales
Un soupir au menthol
A menthol-infused sigh
Ma débile mentale
My mentally challenged girl
Perdue en son exil
Lost in her exile
Physique et cérébral
Physically and mentally
Joue avec le métal
She plays with the metal
De son zip et l'atoll
Of her zipper and the atoll
De corail apparaît
A coral reef appears
Elle s'y coca-colle
She sticks to it
Un doigt qui en arrêt
A finger that stops there
Au bord de la corolle
At the edge of the corolla
Est pris près du calice
Gets caught near the chalice
Du vertige d'Alice
In Alice's vertigo
De Lewis Caroll.
Of Lewis Carroll.
Lorsqu'en songes obscurs
When in obscure dreams
Marilou se résorbe
Marilou dissolves
Que son coma l'absorbe
Absorbing her coma
En des rêves absurdes
In absurd dreams
Sa pupille s'absente
Her pupils disappear
Et son iris absinthe
And her absinthe-colored iris
Subrepticement se teinte
Secretly tinges
De plaisirs en attente
With pleasures yet to come
Perdue dans son exil
Lost in her exile
Physique et cérébral
Physically and mentally
Un à un elle exhale
One by one she exhales
Des soupirs fébriles
Feverish sighs
Parfumés au menthol
Scented with menthol
Ma débile mentale
My mentally challenged girl
Fait tinter le métal
Makes the metal tinkle
De son zip et Narcisse
With her zipper and narcissus
Elle pousse le vice
She pushes the vice
Dans la nuit bleue lavasse
In the washed-out blue night
De sa paire de Levi's
Of her pair of Levi's jeans
Arrivée au pubis
Arriving at the pubis
De son sexe corail
Of her coral-colored sex
Écartant la corolle
Spreading the corolla
Prise au bord du calice
Caught at the edge of the chalice
De vertige Alice
In Alice's vertigo
De Lewis Caroll.
Of Lewis Carroll.
Pupille absente iris
Absent pupil and iris
Absinthe baby doll
Absinthe baby doll
Écoute ses idoles
Listening to her idols
Jimi Hendrix Elvis
Jimi Hendrix Elvis
Presley T-Rex Alice
Presley T-Rex Alice
Cooper Lou Reed les Rolling Stones elle en est folle
She's crazy about Cooper, Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones
Là-dessus cette Narcisse
This Narcissus
Se plonge avec délice
Dives in with delight
Dans la nuit bleu pétrole
In the petrol-blue night
De sa paire de Levi's
Of her pair of Levi's jeans
Elle arrive au pubis
She reaches the pubis
Et très cool au menthol
And very cool with menthol
Elle se self contrôle
She controls herself
Son petit orifice
Her small orifice
Enfin poussant le vice
Finally pushing the vice
Jusqu'au bord du calice
Up to the edge of the chalice
D'un doigt sex-symbole
With a sex-symbol finger
S'écartant la corolle
Spreading the corolla
Sur fond de rock-and-roll
To the sound of rock-and-roll
S'égaie mon Alice
My Alice gets excited
Au pays des malices
In the land of mischiefs
De Lewis Caroll.
Of Lewis Carroll.
Contributed by Zoe J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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