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Tag Archives: chanson française

Tout ce que tu veux voir (All You Want to See) Posted by on Nov 6, 2012

Vesoul, a little French town in eastern France, is also the title of a 1968 song by the prominent singer Jacques Brel, in which he delivers a super fast-paced valse (waltz.) Also in “Vesoul“, Brel famously screamed his “Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!” (“Heat up, Marcel, heat up!“): Marcel is in fact Brel’s accordionist, Marcel Azzola, who…

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“BOUM!” The French Song in the New 007 Movie “SKYFALL” Posted by on Nov 2, 2012

The French song you are about to hear is called “Boum!!” (Yes, that’s the French spelling of the English “Boom“), which was prominently featured in a rather dramatic scene of the brand new 007 movie “Skyfall.” But unlike dynamite, C-4, nitroglycerin, or Semtex-based explosions of which James Bond is such a “bloody expert” (actually more of the…

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La Semaine Prochaine (Next Week) Posted by on Oct 1, 2012

There is something that you need to know about setting up appointments in French: When for example someone tells you “on se voit jeudi prochain“, although it may translate literally as the English “we meet up *next* Thursday”, i.e. not this upcoming Thursday but the Thursday of the following week, in reality it means the…

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Mon Amie la Rose (My Friend The Rose) Posted by on Aug 27, 2012

This is a magnificent yet tragic story of a melodramatic rose, told in music and lyrics written in both languages, French and English. “A lifetime comes and goes, and as my friend the rose said only yesterday: This morning I was born and baptized in the dawn I flowered in the dew and life was…

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French Music – Alizée Posted by on Jul 25, 2009

French pop/electro-rock singer Alizée Jacotey was born on Corsica on August 21, 1984.  She started studying dance at the age of 4 and continued at a renowned dance school until she was 15.  A friend signed her up for a national television singing contest.  She performed the song ‘Ma Prière’ and won the talent show Graines…

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French Music – Patrick Bruel Posted by on Jun 12, 2009

Another of my favorite French singers is Patrick Bruel and he just released a new album called Seul o presque (Alone or almost) with live acoustic versions of his songs that were recorded while he was on tour.  Born Maurice Benguigui on May 14, 1959, in Tlemcen, Algeria, he was slow to find success as…

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French Music – The American Woman Who Conquered Paris Posted by on May 11, 2009

I mentioned Carole Fredericks in a recent article on one of my very favorite French singers, Jean-Jacques Goldman, and I am inspired to tell all of you more about her for a few reasons.  First of all, because she was a very popular singer throughout the French-speaking world in the 90’s as part of the…

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