French singer, songwriter, novelist, poet, actor, screenwriter, director, and—through his romances with famed beauties Brigit Bardot and Jane Birkin, inspiration to short, unattractive guys everywhere, Serge Gainsbourg recorded over 500 songs over his career, which ended on March 2, 1991, when he died in his sleep of a heart attack.
There’s probably no equivalent to Gainsbourg in American entertainment. A provocateur of the first rank, in his native France he’s lauded as both a national treasure and debauched misanthrope. It get an idea of his impact, imagine Jared Kushner writing a recording pop songs, or if Frank Sinatra not only helped served as JFK’s enabler, but was also a foreign policy advisor.
His music was as wide ranging as his other interests, covering pop, jazz, disco, world music, and easy listening. Our short playlist barely scratches the surface, but gives some idea of his career.
We open with “Comic Book,” from his album of duets with Brigit Bardot. A pop artifact, it’s a jaunty little stroll, with Bardot adding fizzy onomatopoetic interjections (Sha-bam! Boom! Pop! Whizzzzz!) like she’s reading the titles from an episode of “Batman.” “Doctuer Jeckyll et M. Hyde” is cool little rocker. “Requiem pour en twistuer” and “Du jazz dans le ravin” find him in full lounge lizard mode, “Mambo miam miam” moves into a kind of big band/ Yma Sumac groove. We end with two of his best known hits, both of which could still raise eyebrows. It’s impossible to imagine anyone making a record a icky as “Lemon Incest,” recorded with his then-13-year-old daughter (with Jane Birkin) Charlotte (who has followed in her father’s footsteps by having careers both as a singer and an actress). It’s a song that would more likely land in him a line-up than the hit parade. We finish out with “J’ai T’aime …Moi Non Plus,” a 1969 hit(!) single for Gainsbourg and Birkin, whose erotic moans made it a precursor for later sexualized songs such as Donna Summer’s “Love To Love You Baby.”
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