Chanson

La Chanson Française, is a generations-old singer-songwriter tradition that emerged in Paris during the interwar years. These miniature masterpieces not only reveal much about the day-to-day priorities and innermost workings of the French people but closely mirror events in their history. Chanson is partly descended from a type of Parisian music hall/cabaret that flourished during the twenties and thirties and produced stars like Fernandel, Lucienne Boyer, Damia, the African-American ex-pat sensation, Josephine Baker and movie star Maurice Chevalier. Chansons commonly used waltz-like time signatures also reveal a connection to bal musette, an accordion-led dance style closely associated with the French capital. However, in chanson, the lyrics are all-important; born of a taste for satiric street poetry that dates back to the Middle Ages.

But despite the music's intellectual propensities and frank, mordant observations about life and human nature, the impact of the carefully crafted wordplay is routinely compromised by sentimental, even syrupy, melodies. This is partly because until recently -- although aspects of jazz and Tin Pan Alley had long since seeped in -- chanson melodic structures had more in common with the European classical canon than African-derived North and South American pop. A quick survey of works by Bizet, Gounod and Fauré bears out this connection. But this marked contrast between the songs' surface presentation and underlying content is a metaphor for how the French propensity for cool logic can coexist with naked vulnerability and over-the-top Latin passion.

Post-WW II songwriters utilized all that came before to frame such controversial topics as sexuality, atheism, racism, politics, marital boredom and anarchy. Some of the most prominent among these were the poet Jacques Prevert (1900-77) and songwriters Charles Trenet (1913-2001,) Léo Ferré (1916 -93,) Georges Brassens (1921-81,) Charles Aznavour (b. 1924,) who is also a movie star, Jacques Brel (1929-78,) Georges Moustaki (b. 1934,) bad boy/agent provocateur Serge Gainsbourg (1928–91) and lately, Benjamin Biolay (b. 1973.) Each of them spoke for his generation and even when they incorporated trends like disco, soul, rock, world music and electronica, they used them to update, not replace, the mother lode. They were incalculably aided by the support of already established performers like singer-actor Yves Montand (1921-91.)

Although most of the best-known composers were men, women have always been major players on the Chanson scene. Of course, Edith Piaf remains an iconic figure, and British actress Jane Birkin was Serge Gainsbourg's muse. Françoise Hardy (b.1944), with her long bangs and leather jacket, was the classic sixties Yé-yé girl – France's cool answer to the British mods. The exquisite Marie Laforêt (b. 1939,) was also an actress, while Juliette Greco (b. 1927) was a black-clad "existentialist" who hung out with Jean-Paul Sartre, and Barbara (1930-97) was a self-referential yet golden-hearted drama queen. Movie stars like Bridgette Bardot (b. 1934) and Catherine Deneuve (b. 1943) have also waded into the fray. But modern singers like Patricia Kaas (b.1966,) Carla Bruni (b. 1968,) Keren-Ann (b. 1974) and Benjamin Biolay's sister, Coralie Clément (b. 1982,) while ardent collaborators, are very independent and many compose their own material.

Despite chanson being a decidedly French phenomenon -- some say it travels about as well as a ripe cheese -- it has surfaced from time to time in English-speaking markets. Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas" ("If You Go Away") is now a cabaret staple and his aptly titled "Le Moribond" is known in the USA as one-hit-wonder Terry Jack's one hit: "Seasons in the Sun". The popular 1966 revue "Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris" is periodically revived; other noted Brel cover artists include Rod McKuen and David Bowie. Claude François' "Comme Le Habitude" ("My Way") and Charles Aznavour's Hier Encore ("Yesterday When I Was Young") were favorites with the leisure-suit brigade, as were "Et Maintenant ("What Now My Love") and "Je t'appartiens" ("Let It Be Me"), both previously associated with vocalist Gilbert Bécaud. Les Feuilles Mortes ("Autumn Leaves") with music by Joseph Cosma and lyrics by Jacques Prevert, is another classic. Charles Trenet's "La Mer" ("Beyond The Sea") was a hit for Bobby Darin and Michel Legrand's "Les Moulins de ma Coeur" ("Windmills Of My Mind"), Sacha Distel's "Raindrops Keep Dropping On My Head" and Francis Lai's "Theme From A Man And A Woman" also crossed over in a big way. -- Christina Roden