Tag Archives: Serge Gainsbourg
French Lyrics: Le poinçonneur des Lilas Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 5, 2018
Last week, we went over Serge Gainsbourg’s beloved song “Le poinçonneur des Lilas.” Now, let’s take a look at the lyrics and the word play the famous chanteur/compositeur wrote. The catchy réfrain of this song begins: “J’fais des trous, des p’tits trous, encore des p’tits trous.” (“I make holes, little holes, and more little holes.”) This refers…
French Music: “Le poinçonneur des Lilas” Posted by Elizabeth Schmermund on Jun 1, 2018
One of the most famous musicians of all time is, of course, Serge Gainsbourg. But for non-native French listeners, it may be difficult to fully appreciate his music. Over the course of his career, Gainsbourg wrote some 550 songs…the lyrics of which often delve into puns and other forms of word play. Indeed, upon his…
Vous n’aurez jamais notre cœur (You Will Never Have Our Heart) Posted by Hichem on Apr 3, 2013
Last week, while evoking l’Alsace et la Lorraine, and raising the question of whether they were originally French or German, we characterized the temporary loss of these two territories as provoking to many a French person a corresponding “temporary loss of sanity.” For nearly half a century, a heavy wind of revanchisme (from the word…
The French Circus of the “Poupée de Cire” (Wax Doll) Posted by Hichem on Jan 3, 2013
The French young lady (well, at the time, she still was) whose voice you are about to hear is not yet another poupée qui dit “non, non, non, non“ (a doll who says “no, no, no,no.”) In fact, she is a bit more and in the same time less than that. She is a poupée…
Monsieur Balzac Asks: How Well Can You Do French Conjugaison? Posted by Hichem on Jun 9, 2011
Imagine one second that your French teacher asks you by surprise: “Passez au tableau” (“Come to the blackboard”) to write the full conjugaison of the verb “faire” (“to do”)—“Que faire?” (“What to do“?) Whatever you “do”, ne panique pas(don’t panic)! As you will see in the tables listed below, it’s far from being a “UNE…
François Feldman’s “Joue pas” (“Don’t Play”) Posted by Hichem on May 24, 2011
French people remember François Feldman as a distinguished chanteur (singer) who left an indelible mark on the French song scene of the 1980‘s. But in addition to an early successful carrière (career), they tend to remember his later “gaffe“, or to use nowadays popular “mème internet“(“Internet meme”), his “EPIC FAIL“, so to speak, performed en direct (live) on French Television, in…
Les Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves) Posted by Hichem on Oct 20, 2010
Sometimes, one single song takes a whole life of its own in le fleuve du temps (in the stream of time), and tracing its avatars can prove to be un exercice instructif et amusant (a fun and educational exercise.) After hosting a few encores of Édith Piaf‘s masterpieces in your favorite French Blog, it was of course seulement une question de temps (only a matter of time) to reintroduce…