POLL - Claudine Longet - should Alizée sing her songs?

[Människöpesten]

TL;DR but ye. i'd probably listen to them. i'm not usually a fan of covers.

[C-4]

Longet also appeared in an episode of Hogan's Heroes.

While she is beautiful, there is something about her voice that I am not partial too. It sounds a bit too breathy for me, as if she is singing from her throat and not her chest. I felt that her acting was weak, but due to her association with Andy Williams, she did get the roles, which is fine.

Whatever Alizée would do for singing other's material, I would definitely buy it as it is from Alizée, as stated earlier in this thread.

I also believe that Alizée would be a better actor and put more emotion into a part that was given to her.

If her singing career does indeed slow down, I would love to see her get movie parts, if she so choses.

[FanDeAliFee]

Originally Posted by Människöpesten

TL;DR but ye. i'd probably listen to them. i'm not usually a fan of covers.

Not many centuries ago, originality was INESSENTIAL to fine art. Surely most music was traditional and familiar, i.e. damn near all of it consisted of "covers." How quickly we have become spoiled!

Personally, I think one of the delights of YouTube is the ease with which one can pull up so many different singers doing the same song. Take for example Wanderlove. I still like the Longet version I cited above - for its tempo, arrangement and yes, even Claudine Longet's singing. But it's also fun to find other versions, including those performed by singers with more talent than Longet. The most extreme example of this is the video which plays what is roughly the Italian version of the song, titled Se tu credi nell'amore or If you believe in love, as sung by the legendary Nana Mouskouri. Hers is a voice which has sold a good fraction of a BILLION recording copies over her career. You'll understand why if you listen to her sing the song in the video below.

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But variety has a quality of its own! Just because you can afford fillet mignon every day, doesn't mean that you don't truly prefer to have a Big Mac once in a while. Even with the Mouskouri version at hand, the Longet version is still desirable.

And I also enjoy hearing the same performer do different performances of the same song, e.g. Alizée. There are other people like me here. It's something like being unable to "step into the same river twice."

Finally, when a song is worthy of close translation into many languages, it is great to hear the artist(s) who "own" the song do all the linguistic versions. Since this is a Web site about an Ajaccio girl, I'll cite the example of Waterloo by ABBA.

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Originally Posted by C-4

Longet also appeared in an episode of Hogan's Heroes.

Yes, and the remaining two of the five WW II US TV shows in which she appeared were Twelve O'Clock High and The Rat Patrol.

Originally Posted by C-4

While she is beautiful, there is something about her voice that I am not partial to[]. It sounds a bit too breathy for me, as if she is singing from her throat and not her chest.

I did opine that Longet probably was incapable of singing at a robust volume. And while C-4 is a musical professional and I am not, this is a subjective matter. De gustibus non disputandum est, of course. But a soft voice will do for songs like lullabies and maybe even those likeParlze Tout Bas. Besides, at least on screen, Longet's chest was pulling its weight in other ways.

Originally Posted by C-4

I felt that her acting was weak, but due to her association with Andy Williams, she did get the roles, which is fine.

<blockquote><i>
Candide elle croit tout qu'Andy
Qu'Andy dit d'elle
Quelle est la plus belle
De tous les modèles</i>, eh?</blockquote>To be frank, even as a lad, I didn't pay attention to the QUALITY of Longet's acting - I was too preoccupied with the way she LOOKED and the way her cute foreign accent SOUNDED. (Note to the kiddies: In the neolithic Olden Days of my youth, there were neither TiVOs nor even VCRs, much less VoD feeds - you had to suck stuff down on the fly and commit it to memory, LOL.) She was probably my very first French girl! It is not impossible that for better or worse, Alizée owes my fandom toward her in part because of someone old enough to be her grandmother - Claudine Longet. (Of course, the same might well be said about Annette Funicello.)

Originally Posted by C-4

I also believe that Alizée would be a better actor and put more emotion into a part that was given to her... I would love to see her get movie parts, if she so choses.

I think Alizée would do best in musical films. Alas, they have been largely out of style for nearly a third of a century.

[C-4]

I agree with your assesments.

[FanDeAliFee]

Since Claudine Longet was well-known for singing a Bossa Nova-style song or two, I find it interesting to read the following from a translation of the 2008 Instant-mag2 book about Alizée -

What pleasure did you feel when revisiting... [Serge Gainsbourg's]... songs on the 20th of last March for a gala in support of Fight Aids Monaco?

...That evening was a revelation, notably because I sang only accompanied by guitar. That was not planned, but Jane Birkin being absent for afternoon rehearsals, Jean-Félix Lalanne suggested that I sing "La Javanaise" ..."en guitar voix" (in guitar voice - apparently referring to such an acoustic solo guitar accompaniment). I thought I would be afraid of this form of nudity. Against all expectations, I adored this acoustic experience... During the course of the evening, I also sang a very difficult to sing bossa(nova) version of "Ces petits riens" (these little nothings) in duet with Élie Semoun. At the level of the rythm and implementation I had never sung a title so hard...

Lacking a copy of Alizée's performance of Ces petits riens, for your reference I embed one by Gainsbourg himself, followed by another, from 1981, where he is joined by Catherine Deneuve.

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[JoeNY]

You forgot to put "Who's Claudine Longet??" in your poll. Anyway, the songs are folkish, and she sounds like a female Elmer Fudd in her English songs. The songs are still good but they not Alizee's style, although she would certainly outdo the originals. One or two of those slow songs is okay, but an entire album would not get Alizee a larger following. I would buy it though.

[Euphoria]

No. Enough with the covers, she needs to be making and performing HER OWN music.

[Tony T]

Originally Posted by Euphoria

No. Enough with the covers, she needs to be making and performing HER OWN music.

EXACTLY! I won't touch it...might have a listen on youtube cos everything eventually ends up there. NEW STUFF please!!

[JoeNY]

Originally Posted by Tony T

EXACTLY! I won't touch it...might have a listen on youtube cos everything eventually ends up there. NEW STUFF please!!

No!! I want a covers album of established tunes! Ella Elle L'a and Il Jouait Du Piano Debout were new to my ears, and she sounded great! She should cover some more older French tunes. I like her voice, and let's face it, older pop music did not try to hide a singer's voice behind synthesizers or distort their beautiful voices. I did not like Psychedilices because of that. Why would you distort Alizee's lovely voice? Britney Spears sounds like a dying cat and needs it, not Alizee. No more experimentation with the next "new sound".

[FanDeAliFee]

First, this thread is related to another one I had begun earlier, viz.
Songs with French lyrics which made it in America

Originally Posted by JoeNY

You forgot to put "Who's Claudine Longet??" in your poll.

Answer: Someone who, in the 1960s, had an extensive acting career, focused on TV, as well as a successful recording career, despite her limited vocal talents and the inability to sing unaccented English (typically a career-non-starter in America).

Originally Posted by JoeNY

Anyway, the songs are folkish, and she sounds like a female Elmer Fudd in her English songs.

Until I read your remark, I had managed to avoid giving wing to a silly rumor that Longet's career downfall was due to her singing coach, who first screwed up her English pronunciation, and then encouraged her to become dangerously reckless about playing with guns. Now I am tempted to offer up the exhibit which purports to document that coach here.