Season 508 - The French Connection

[jtsteam]

I thought it'd be fun to try singing a song in French, so here's a jolly little song by Charles Trenet. In hindsight, perhaps I should have picked a slower one with fewer opportunities to stumble over the words, but by about take 10 I thought it finally got close enough. I gather there are English translations but I've always liked the original. Apologies to anyone who speaks French properly...

Actually it's only mostly in French. There's a couple of English words, and a variety of silly noises too.

 

[Jimpro]

a simple original

lyrics: you ask me “why?” I tell you “because I love you. That’s all.”

 

[elmann]

A song from 1967 by Gilbert Bécaud. This and other songs (e.g. Natalie) also were successful as german renditions.

 

[ukudancer]

I'm going to follow up that classic with a very fresh tune released this spring.

Here's another Joyce Jonathan song - Les P'tites Jolies Choses (2021) interpreted on uke, bass and piano. I think I've done enough singing this season. Thanks for indulging me.

Found this tune last night while working my usual late night shift. I'm really digging getting back into France's pop music scene. I might just tune into NRJ like old times.

 

[pabrizzer]

c'est la vie

paoriginal

 

[Barbablanca]

Here is a setting I composed this morning for a short poem by Verlaine that I have always liked. It shows the poet really had the blues, man!
I have put a translation of the poem into English (non rhyming version) at the end of the Lyrics & Chords section in the description.

I hope you enjoy:

 

[jtsteam]

We've had some Georges Brassens, and we've had some Jake Thackray, so how about a combination? This is "Over To Isobel", a Jake Thackray translation of the Georges Brassens song "Je Rejoindrai Ma Belle". I added the last three lines of the original in French at the end, just to make sure there was some obvious French in it.



Jake Thackray was greatly inspired by the French Chansonnier tradition, particularly George Brassens, so I really wanted to get one of his in. It was this or "Brother Gorilla"...

 

[kolibri]

Bon week-end, dear Seasonistas! My week-end will certainly be "bon", listening to your fine submissions. I know that whatever the theme is, you'll find good songs to bring or write new ones yourselves. This French week is not an exception - very enjoyable choices, a variety of styles and genres.

We have currently 57 songs from 32 Seasonistas on the playlist and hopefully we'll get some more. Merci beaucoup!

 

[Canada Jim]

The French Waltz - Adam Mitchell

Learned from Nicolette Larson's first LP. Anne Murray also has a wonderful version.

 

[lizbrinker]

Bon sour, Ylle, encore une fois…
This is my favorite Django Reinhardt song, Nuages(Clouds) from 1939. I first learned it in C from Ginger Johnson, but this arrangement is mostly based on Marcy Marxer’s Gypsy jazz class arrangement, with some modifications here and there. Please excuse my high notes, I apologize in advance. Je suis desole.

Nuages
Django Reinhardt-music
Jacques Large-lyrics
1939

 

[elmann]

A well known song in Europe since 1969 by Joe Dassin.
I never heard an english rendition, although Dassin did himself a german one.

 

[LimousinLil]

Bonsoir, Ylle ... et un grand merci pour cette semaine! I came across this song by chance the other day and I have been struggling to come to grips with it ... it really only works when there is a completely zonked Serge Gainsbourg wreathing me in cigarette smoke whilst I attempt to sing.

 

[CeeJay]

My venturing into a new recording software program having struggled,fought,bit ,kicked and scratched with Cubase for 13 years (starting with AI 3 and getting to 10 and going back to 7) and now having defenestrated it completely I am embarking a new career with Cakewalk as the go to software.......so a learning curve there.

I also have revisited the Roland FR1 V Ackordeen for some if not a lot of ..oh okay all of it then !! This recording has a lot of ackordeen, and some ukulele, and a set of drums of the midi variety so it is what it is and it is a bit iffy.

So to distract I threw in some mouse cartoons that I was inspired to draw back in '88, inspired by Floyd On France ,a series of cooking sketches by the sadly late Keith Floyd that put me in the kitchen, our welsh dresser and the fact that I like mice and think that they should all be called Maurice......exept la femme mouse and they are all Madame or Madamoiselle (tho' I believe that title is now defunct)......so 3 finished and a rough draft...there are more but I know not where..............so here goes......Blimey that's a first....the fillum has finished uploading before I finish this load of tosh...C'est formidable !!

 

[AlanDP]

 

[Demimondaine]

Bon soir, mes amis! I’ve been on a bit of a Sparks kick lately, having just covered “All That” for a benefit single. When I found this song, I knew I had to cover it.

 

[Desert Pavement]

One more from me, late on a Saturday. Supposedly inspired by the Longfellow poem Evangeline this Robbie Robertson tune tells the (not exactly historically accurate) tale of the expulsion of the Acadians from eastern Canada and Maine by the British during the French and Indian War ( or the 7 Years' War depending on where you sit). Some stayed put among various tribes of Native Americans, others to French controlled Canada or different parts of Europe. Some of those made it back to N. America, mostly Louisiana, and became known as Cajuns.



Some of my cousins have traced ancestors back to colonists who were displaced. Clearly they either stayed or made their way back, as almost all of that part of the family is in northern and central New England.

Thanks again for hosting Ylle. And not enough apologies to the fracophones out there for my pronunciation in that last part of the song.

 

[elmann]

Frederic/Reinhard Mey has another well known song in fr/de which can be sung as nice goodbye for friends.
Just play along with my translation, see above, Deminmondaines said: Bon soir, mes amis!

 

[Ukecaster]

Here's one... "Paris" by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Obviously sung from a woman's perspective, but I'll fake it on soprano. She really rocks!

 

[ukudancer]

So, I had originally wanted to do another Joyce Jonathan song (Je Ne Sais Pas), but my recording time is a bit short tonight since I was away all weekend and I'm currently at work. I did manage to sneak off and record some strings on my keys and remix this song a little more. Have I ever told you guys that I kind of envy the days where I just recorded one instrument into a mic and called it a day? It's true, buuuut this is a lot of fun and is pushing me to improve each time I play.

Anyway, here's my last re-worked entry:

 

[TheOnlyUkeThatMatters]

Je ne parle pas français. Mais j'aime le punk rock, et j'adore la musique de Plastic Bertrand et le version de Telex.



Bonne nuit, mes amis!