TISH! That's French! Vol. 3
My unrelenting fascination with songs that contain passages in French, are entirely in French, or are covers of hit songs sung in French continues!
This third volume (through the fifth) contain a lot of suggestions from regular JOKONKY visitors/commenters, so thanks to everyone who suggested a track or a group (Merci pour le partage). Bucephalus went as far as to generously send me tons of great stuff—but I haven’t sorted through it all yet—so they’ll probably start popping up in Volume 6.
Psycho Killer is simply a great way to start off any comp, in my opinion, and right on Talking Heads’ heels are one of the groups that set my fixation in motion; Les Rita Mitsouko. Another combo that really “set the hook” was Stereolab, with their briskly hypnotic Speedy Car.
One can always count on The Stranglers, & Debbie Harry to dabble in French. Sunday Girl was on an earlier volume, & here she sets her sights on French Kissin' In The USA.
There are lots of French artists on this installment, from Halo Maud (who has a LOT of aliases) to Serge Gainsbourg, and of course ye ye girls galore like France Gall, Sylvie Vartan, and the queen of them all Francoise Hardy.
As suggested by a friend of the blog, Claude Francois' Comme D'Habitude makes an appearance--which I'm told is far superior to the Paul Anka-ized reworking that became one of Frank Sinatra's signature songs: My Way. I'll have to take his word for it. Just because I enjoy songs in French, doesn't mean I can understand what they're singing about. I know what I like, but I don't know what I like.
I'm entranced by Anne Issermann's minimalistic rendition of Ca Plane Pour Moi--a song that pops up on most of the volumes. I've embedded the video below. It's her only video on YouTube, & I can't find anything more about her online, but she claims to be the king of the divan, & I believe her.
Sonny & Cher’s C’est La Vie might offend some people of French descent because of Sonny’s unimaginative stereotyping—but I feel like it was all in fun—& I loved the song as a kid (and I'm half French). You couldn’t escape them for a few years in the seventies, & I didn’t want to.
Bringing it all home are The Beatles, who were the first artists I was aware of who recorded versions of their songs in other languages. Here they stir some French, & German, into an run-through of Get Back.
Downloaders are asked to share their favorite French phrase (and the English translation). Extra credit if it’s about music!
ReplyDeleteI’ll go first. I don’t remember how to say it in French, but my dad used to say to my mother: “I love you, what more do you want?” According to Google Translate, that’s: “Je t'aime, que veux-tu de plus?”
TISH! That's French! Vol. 3
https://pixeldrain.com/u/9d9RwYfk
Link still isn't working for me. Any help?
DeleteTry another browser?
DeleteHere's another link to Vol. 3, Anonymous:
Deletehttps://www.mediafire.com/file/k8qrhw56wy17bc7/T!SH1++h@t'$+FR3N_H3.zip/file
I'm glad to see you back!
Isn't the good man called Bucephalus
ReplyDeleteHe is indeed. (Thanks, anon -- fixed it!) Stinky was close -- "Bocephus" was ol' Hank's nickname.
DeleteThanks Jon. Bocephus was named after a ventriloquist dummy!
DeleteFor a bit of fun, a bit of teasing, just a bit of friendly mucking about, I suggested The Shorts. Some teens from Holland in the worst French, and you blooming heck go with it. And now i have to play even worse tunes to get it out of my system.
ReplyDeleteBZN was a rocking and rolling band mid 60s till mid 70s but never made enough money. Change of style. In comes Annie Schilder and they change about everything. The first single they made was Mon Amour and the start of the most succesfull Dutch band in the Netherlands.
They were: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwuZS1esRlE
They became: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7OeTPEe0A
Sometimes it is better to have a comedian sing in French. Here is Urbanus. He is a very clever silly man. Mostly he sings Dutch/Flemish but two of his songs were (partly) in French. The Scratchin' Zwaantjes (Zwaantjes = Motor-Police) and Quand les zoiseaux chantent dans les bois (when birds sing in the forest)
The Scratchin' Zwaantjes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRhM3wIOk0A
Quand Les Zoiseaux Chantent Dans Les Bois https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj1LkE_Y2io&list=RDYj1LkE_Y2io&start_radio=1
Non non Rien a Changer by Kobus Gaat Naar Appelscha is one of my beloved ones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dTen-LX6a8
One of my favorite French songs is Swiss https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhHMXTGCC8 (play extremely loud s'il vous plait)
And a French saying, that I learned from Charles Aznavour, when he met Miss Piggy: Voulez vous avoir, L'adresse de l'abattoir, He did not actually say thát, but it sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteIt trips off the tongue without a hint of malice!
DeleteSure does! Thanks Richard.
Deletefrom Leonard Cohen's song "The Partisan:,
ReplyDelete"J'ai changé cent fois de nom
J'ai perdu femme et enfants
Mais j'ai tant d'amis
J'ai la France entière"
"I've changed my name a hundred times
I've lost my wife and children
But I have so many friends
I have all of France"
How do you translate a seal (sea mammal) into French: phoque !
ReplyDeleteLigue 1 football game: Nice-Brest ! (no translation needed).
Those are supposed to make the British laugh ...
J
Amusant pour un français !
ReplyDeleteIn the other side of the mirror, i'm searching english , american or others lands artists (not francophone artists) singing a part or the entire song in french for a compilation : for example Nina Simone "Ne me quittes pas", The Beatles "Michelle", Bob Seger "C'est la vie",The Stranglers "La folie", Blonde Redhead "Kiss her before", Kevin Ayers " Puis-je", Shivaree "Close my eyes", Amon Düul II "I want the sun to shine" ... and so many others
Merci mille fois, Sorgual!
DeletePlease check back, Sorgual! There are TONS of them on future volumes. :)
DeleteFrench cursing is quite interesting: My favorite is probably "putain sa mère" which literally translates as "whore - her mother"!
ReplyDeleteUnlike what people think, the equivalent use of the common "shit" isn't "merde", though that does flow from the lips sometimes, but way more often is replaced by "putain" (the aforementioned whore). The good point of "putain" is of course that it is a multitasker: You can also use it to amplify a positive sentiment. Let's say you're eating a really good meal, then you can rejoice with a "Putain, comme c'est bon". (literally: Whore, how this is good, but really its: Damn, this is good).
Obscenities are so colorful and versatile! And it's fun to read about how they are used in other languages. Thanks for the French lesson, OBG!
DeleteI looked this up on a hunch, and found a source confirming that "poontang" is an English corruption of "putain".
Here's one from 1975, sort of the tail end of glam rock...Vicky Fury doing "Flipper Story." She sounds like Joan Jett...before Joan ever recorded anything: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_eD_qBzM_U
DeleteI think they use 'pute' more than the full word, to swear. The Anglo's also do that positive thing: There's some funky bad shit going on back there. Fuck yeah.
DeleteOne of the most usual cool obscenities in France is when you don't like a thing (a painting, a song, a dish ...) is
Delete"C'est quoi cette merde ?"
that means "what is that piece of shit ?".
OBG may be speaking Canadian French? They like poutine AND putain up there.
DeleteAnd yes, every Anglo obscenity has both negative and positive attributes. You can be a bitch (which is bad) or be a bad bitch (which is good). There's good shit and bad shit, and even bad shit can be good. If you've got some badass shit, that's probably some fuckin' good shit!
Thanks One Buck Guy. Dr. Hook taught me the Spanish version of "putain" in Acapulco Goldie: "I said what does PUTA mean? And so she told me."
ReplyDeleteI think rap sounds good in French. With rap, maybe it's better to not know the dumb stuff they're sayin' and just hear the sound of it. Japanese rap sounds cool too
ReplyDeleteGood point! I'll have to check some French rap out for future volumes, Edbert.
DeleteHere is one for Koen (and it is not French, but faux-Greek) The father of George Michael was called Papa Lamepiemelos
ReplyDeleteAnd a Polish namedropping Lastlav Izzonnu, In the Netherlands we have loads of faux-namings like How Do Chinese Pick A Name For Children? They drop things from the stairs: Ping peng tsjing tsjong wangngng, or the name of a constipated African: N'ganie (the Anglos would say N'gono)
Hahahaha, hilarious, never heard it before.
DeleteJust a question : where is the volume 1 ?
ReplyDeleteHere's Volume 1!
ReplyDeletehttps://jonderblog.blogspot.com/2025/06/tish-thats-french-vol-1-songs-with.html
I know what you were thinking, Sorgual: "C'est quoi cette merde?"
I love that phrase! Thanks for introducing me to it.
I can't really contribute anything meaningful to this topic as my French is close to non-existent. But at least I can add another candidate, how about Wreckless Eric's Reconnez Cherie or Bram Tchaikovsky's Mr. President (French version)?
ReplyDelete