Quote:
Originally Posted by lefty12357
Claudine Longet...
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Thank you for your prompt and knowledgeable attention, Lefty. Actually, it turns out Claudine is the reason I started this thread.
About a month ago I ran across her again. I certainly had vivid memories of her numerous NON-musical appearances on 1960's US television - leaving aside the tragedy in the next decade which snuffed out the last embers of her showbiz career, which nearly everyone always mentions. But until this year, I was totally unaware of her singing career, despite the popularity of
The Andy Williams Show, which I guess I had found too corny to watch at the time. How many other singers like her had I missed, I asked myself - hence this thread.
I am nearly finished editing a long essay on Longet, following from my discovery of her music. I've hardly heard everything she recorded, but I have audited about two dozen works in English, French and Japanese - most of them in English. Among the few French songs, I think that
L'amour est bleu, which you cite, is her best, while I like the English song
Wanderlove best among all her works.
Actually, until I heard Longet sing
L'amour est bleu this month, I had not even known it originally was a French song! The instrumental version is a US Muzak classic. And when it was new, I heard the English lyrics sung many times on the radio. But if the French lyrics ever had US air play, they escaped my earshot - hence the assertion I made in the first post of this thread.
I will not simplistically damn with faint praise the Longet career here, but ask that you guys stand by as I finish up the pendant essay, with which I will start a new thread I will link from here. Surely there are a few more personal parallels between Alizée Jacotey and Claudine Longet than Alizée Jacotey and Soeur Sourire, née Jeanine Deckers!
In the mean time, I just recalled another popular US song with some French lyrics. How could I initially forget to name this chart-topper? They still perform new versions today! (Thank you,
Charo!)
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Song: Lady Marmalade (1974)
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Speaking of blockbusters, how about a famous Beatles song whose title is the name of Alizée's own mother?
Song: Michelle (1965)
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Song: Hold On Tight (1981)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaronius31
Yes, and another singer that has had a good career in the US is that Yelle person. And you know she has when 3 of my friends ask if I know her, since they listen to her in their French class haha. And she has had many concerts here I believe.
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I still have not heard any of Yelle's songs, despite her frequent mention at AAm! Perhaps someone who knows her work well can embed some of her typical music videos in this thread.
OFF TOPIC
But whenever I have heard the name of Yelle used, I have been reminded of a song called
Yalla jonim by a famous young Uzbek singer named
Sevara (Nazarkhan).
Sevara does not speak any French (albeit her Russian is fine), so she really does NOT belong in this thread. But this was the Yelle citation that broke the camel's back, so now I will force you to watch Sevara's wonderful performance of
Yalla jonim, which I believe translates as
Song of Life. It should be less of a burden for Alizée fans than one might imagine, because Sevara is also a delicately built brunette of about the same age as the Corsican girl, who gives the type of lively performance which endeared Alizée to so many of us in the first place! (I apologize in advance to Chuck, who sometimes feels cheated if a song does not have enough non-redundant
words.)
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Sevara's organization knows how to live on a very limited budget, if necessary. Supposedly, her music video for
Gazli was shot for a mere US$ 500! (sic.)
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Sadly for its anonymous author, this song peaked a bit early to make the cut for the collection of songs here - circa 1600. But we decided to
stick it here anyway! The macaronic line of French in this English song is explained
here this way<blockquote><i>The Line Pardonnez Moi, Je Vous en Pris? Is actually a question, in French. “Pardon me, can I help you?” and was said as a mercenary typically intentionally caught someone with their shoulder in a pub or bar, spilling their drink. Basically it was an offer to start a fight!</i></blockquote>
Song: We Be Soldiers Three (circa 1600)
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