“Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” was erotic, controversial and audacious in 1969 thanks to “Je t’aime… moi non plus”, but the collaboration and the passion between Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg was evident in this album and I absolutely love it!
Click here to purchase the “Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” Album on Amazon
ARTIST: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
ALBUM: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
DURATION: 11 Songs (31 Minutes)
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1969
1 La Chanson de Slogan
2 L’ Anamour
3 Orang Outan
4 Sous le Soleil Exactement
5 18-39
6 69 Année Érotique
7 Jane B.
8 Elisa
9 Le Canari Est Sur le Balcon
10 Les Sucettes
11 Manon
Actress Jane Birkin was 20-years-old, having divorced composer John Barry and a single mother with a baby toddler, she decided to audition for roles in England and Los Angeles.
While having appeared in counterculture films such as Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blowup” and the Warren Beatty and Susannah York comedy “Kaleidoscope in 1966, Birkin’s life would change when she auditioned for the lead role for the French film “Slogan” in 1969.
In that French film, she would star alongside Serge Gainsbourg, the popular French singer/songwriter, actor/filmmaker and despite the fact that she couldn’t speak French, she starred in the film and even performed alongside Gainsbourg for the theme song “La Chanson de Slogan”.
And the actress would move to France and she and Gainsbourg would collaborate on numerous projects but they would also develop a passionate relationship that would last 12 years. Which some saw unusual, considering that Gainsbourg was 14 years older than Birkin.
While the two never married, but they had a daughter who would one day become actress, Charlotte Gainsbourg.
While Birkin and Gainsbourg’s relationship would end in 1980, the two were France’s super couple. They looked glamorous on camera and they attracted attention everywhere they went.
But in 1969, the two would gain notoriety through their song “Je t’aime… moi nonplus” (“I love you…me neither”), a song which Gainsbourg originally wrote for Brigitte Bardot, but when her husband was jealous, she asked to Serge not to release the song.
So, Serge approached other women, but in the end, he chose the woman that he had grown close to, the young actress, Jane Birkin.
And the song gained notoriety because the song was deemed sexually explicit and by radio stations in Italy, Spain and the UK because not just the words but the sexual moaning at the end of the song.
But the record “Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” (aka “Je t’aime… moi non plus”) would become the biggest-selling single ever for a completely foreign-language record in the UK.
What was interesting is that the song was released via an album through the Fontana music label. But due to the controversy, Fontana withdrew the record (but record store owners who had copies still sold it) and so it was released on a major minor label. But because the Fontana single and the major minor single were in stores, both charted in the UK charts (the Fontana was No. 16 and the major minor release was No. 3 on the UK Charts. The latter would eventually reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart). It was the first time that the same song, the same artists would chart because they were released from two labels.
Needless to say, for people who want to experience that 1969 can find it now on Amazon digitally.
The album is in French but aside from “Je t’aime moi non plus”, the eleven track album features four solo songs by Jane Birkin and six by Serge Gainsbourg.
There is no doubt that the album benefits from the music of Arthur Greenslade who is a British conductor and arranger for the songs on the album. Even the Birkin rock song “Jane B” is an adaptation of Frederic Chopin’s Fourth Prelude from Opus. 28 in E minor. While the 10th track “Les Sucettes” (lollipops) was a song written by Gainsbourg and sung by France Gall in 1966 (who was unaware the song was about oral sex thanks to Gainsbourg’s uses of words). The version on the album is the Gainsbourg version. Also, included is “Elisa” which was used for the film “L’horizon”.
Personally, I love this album. Despite the fact I did study French and remember not much of it, I go out on the limb that Jane Birkin did a wonderful job. Otherwise, if her way of singing French songs were bad, she or the album wouldn’t have done so well. But she could sing as evident in the track “Le canari est sur le balcon” which showcases her vocals.
But while Serge Gainsbourg was already an established singer, Jane Birkin at the time was an unknown when it comes to singing. But her cute delivery on songs such as “Orang outang” and “18 -39” were fun and of course, you just have to love the musical collaborations between the two, who sing on “Je t’aime… moi non plus” and “69 annee erotique” (69, an erotic year).
I absolutely love the Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg album from 1969 but their next big collaboration would come in 1971 with Gainsbourg’s 1971 concept album, “Histoire de Melody Nelson”, which would be considered as one of the greatest French-language albums in popular music of all time.
“Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” was erotic, controversial and audacious in 1969 thanks to “Je t’aime… moi non plus”, but the collaboration and the passion between Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg was evident in this album and I absolutely love it!
Click here to purchase the “Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg” Album on Amazon
