Conference marvin::uk_music

    I really like Francoise Hardy too, but I find records extremely hard to
    come by. The recent Jimmy Somorville record was a cover of one of her
    hits, many of which were written by Serge Gainsbourg. As you say she's
    recently started making records again. All the ones I have are from
    jumble sales and junk shops, in hopeless condition, havent heard any of
    her recent releases.

    The waiter at the restaurant that was playing her album said that he
    picked it up on compact disk at Tower Records in NYC.  I have yet to
    stop by Tower (Boston) to see if they have it in stock, but I'm sure
    that they'll order it if they don't
    
    RE .1
    
    Have you heard any of her newer stuff (which is all that I know).  If
    so, how does the style compare to her older selections?
    
    -Scott

    My goodness this takes me back...
    
    As a teenager in the 60s Francois Hardy use to make me go weak in the
    knees! She must be in her mid forties now.
    
    I believe she had one major hit here, a song called All Over the World,
    also recorded by the Seekers. I also clearly remember her version of
    Loving You (Elvis originally?) but I don't know whether that was a
    single. I remember a friend of mine having an LP
    by her in about 1971 which was really good (although not 'hip' if you
    see what I mean!). Middle of the Road really. But who cared with a
    face, voice, and above all, French accent like she had!
    
    Funnily enough I did hear her name come up recently but can't remember
    in what context. Maybe she's making a comeback?
    
    Richard

    All I've heard by her was from 1964-68. She must have been the most
    photographed french girl after Bardot, and her records were very
    'Paris', very sixties, very .. well I suppose you have to hear them for
    yourselves. I much prefer her singing in French, even though I can't
    follow most of the words. 
    
    Nobody from France going to comment?
    
    Dave

    Well, got to Tower (Boston) last night.  The only disk they had by FH
    was a compilation of English language songs.  Weak.
    
    And I was one block away from Tower (NYC) that had her latest!
    
    -Scott

Well first of all it is not very pleasant for Francoise Hardy to say she sings
for several decades (.0),  2 1/2 decades would be more accurate and more 
gentleman-iac.

She began singing in 64 if I remember well with the so-called "ye-ye" wave.
 
What is the french "ye-ye" wave ? It is very easy : in the early 60's french 
people discovered rock'n'roll and a lot of groups emerged, doing french covers 
of U.S and U.K standards : Hey Pony (Pony Time), Est-ce que tu le sais (What'd 
I say), Il revient (Say mama), Viens danser le twist (The twist), Chante chante 
(Shout Shout), Marche tout droit (Walk right in), Eddie sois bon 
(Johnny B. Goode), Si tu cherches la bagarre (Riot in cell block number 9),
Petit Gonzales (Speedy Gonzales), Le diable en personne (Shakin' all over),
39 de fievre (Fever), Viens danser le locomotion (Locomotion), ...
The most well known artists of this period are : Johnny Halliday, Sylvie Vartan
(Jonhny's former wife), Les chats sauvages (the Wild Cats) with Dick Rivers (so
named as a tribute to Elvis in I-don't-remember-which-movie), Les chaussettes
noires (the black socks) with Eddy Mitchell (so named because they were 
sponsorised by a great french socks manufacturer !), ...
As those people, as a tribute to their english speaking idols, oftenly said
"Yeah yeah", the french media decided to call them Ye-ye !

Let's come back to Francoise. Though, not really ye-ye, because she was not
doing a lot of covers and was singing mostly original french songs, her name
is linked to the above idols. Her first great great success was "Tous les 
garcons et les filles" (All the guys and girls). A kind of very moody song,
the lyrics speaking about Francoise watching all the couples passing while she
stays alone :
	Tous les garcons et les filles de mon age
	Savent bien ce que c'est d'etre heureux
	Tous les garcons et les fille de mon age
	Savent bien ce que c'est d'etre deux
	Oui mais moi je vais seule dans la vie, l'ame en peine.
	Oui mais moi je vais seule car personne ne m'aime.
There a clip (in that time it was called a scopitone) of that song that was
censored because you could see girls on a merry-go-round whose knees were not
hidden !

After that in the sixties, she had some other hits. "Comment te dire adieu" 
among others, written by Serge Gainsbourg. As a matter of facts, Gainsbourg
wrote for everyone in the 60's. His association with Francoise did not last 
that long because Serge, to work with someone, needs an emotional feedback that
Francoise didn't want to give him. She made a cover of Elvis because it was
really one of her idols, and she really likes the violins on "Loving you" and
wanted to have the same sound. She also was a kind of model for Paco Rabanne
(the aluminium dresses) but altough photographied a lot she didn't appreciate
that a lot.

She married Jacques Dutronc (already discussed in this notes file), had a son,
was a friend (just friend no gossips !) of Brian Jones.

In the early 70's she made a brasilian music record with a female singer named
Tuca. His media appearances became rarest, a disk every two years, sometimes
writing songs for others. BTW I don't know if you can really call her a great
vocalist because, except in her early begginings, she never performs live and
dislikes it.

In the late 70's, early 80's, she took a jazzy/funky/soul orientation, with
very good french musicians on her records, and many songs written by Michel
Jonasz (BTW if you like Francoise Hardy latest recordings try the Michel ones
they are, IMHO, even better : "Unis vers l'uni", "La grande histoire de mister
swing"). Another interesting thing, the french techno-pop wave (Elli & Jacno,
Etienne Daho) decided to idolize her, covering her 60's songs, singing duets,
interesting phenomenon indeed.

In 89 she recorded her last (not latest) recording. She has decided to dedicate
herself to family life and mostly astrology (she is quite a good astrologist).
She says she will never record again, however she stillc sometimes writes songs
for others.

Sorry if the 70's part of this story is quite fuzzy, but as I am not 
particularly interested in this phase of her career, I only know what the media
know, i.e. not a lot. If you are interested in her 60's career, I can write
quite a lot, and I also have a recent interview for those interested.

I hope this will help,

Didier


P.S. : her records are quite easy to find in France (at least I suppose). With
the megamixes phenomenom many compilations of her 60's career have been released.
But I believe that what you like is her recent records, so when you find one 
checkthe tracks featured have been released after 1980.

    Jesus Marie, je n'aurais pas pu dire mieux.
    
    Christophe.

"Eddie sois bon". Hahahahaha. Wotta translation. Funniest thing I've heard in 
years.  

And **Petit** Gonzales???

Petit Gonzales is an adaptation of Little Speedy Gonzales, sung by Daniel Gerard.
I don't remember exactly the original lyrics, bu the (few) french lyrics I 
remember are :

		Reviens ici petit Gonzales,
		C'est ton papa qui te le dit...

The very high intellectual level of this lyrics should not make us forget that
french rock'n'roll is indebted to Daniel Gerard for singing the first french
rock'n'roll in the 59 with lyrics written by Boris Vian ! Unfortunately, I
don't remember the name of this track.

For the connoisseurs, there is another french first rock'n'roll song by the
well known (at least for us !) Henri Salvador. It was released under the name of
Henri Cording (funny isn't it !).

Don't hesitate to ask me more about awful covers of UK and US standards by the
ye-ye !


Didier

    I just picked up "Decalage" at Tower Records but haven't listened to it
    yet (I'm waiting until the right mood hits).  Tower got a bunch of her
    disks in recently, but they were all overlapping compilations and I
    couldn't figure out which one's to get (sort of like buying Checkov
    short story collections).
    
    Anyway, "Decalage" just came in and now it's mine.
    
    -Scott

    Getting back to the original question , Fran�oise Hardy became a lot
    more "jazzy" in 80's. Her voice and style of singing became a lot more
    subtle IMHO. 
    
    She also did a french version of Janis Ian : "Star".
    
    Her 60's stuff was a lot more simple though I must say very pleasant to
    listen to.
    
    Philippe.