Jane Birkin

[Maite]

I've found this article (in Spanish) about Jane Birkin, the one who sang Je T'aime with Serge Gainsbourg. I'll try to translate it.
http://canales.diariovasco.com/dvorame/280504/musica/musin001.htm

[Antoni Martínez]

She is a great singer, really, with a very special voice.

[Melody Nelson]

I've just seen an amazing 1-hour long documentary about Jane Birkin. Any Gainsbourg fan must see it. His name must be pronounced every 10 seconds. Plus if you don't know much about Jane outside of her work with Serge, you'll find out what an extraordinary human being she is! And how rich her life has been and still is.

The best thing about it for you is that outside of the voice-over in French, all the rest and especially Jane interviews are in english. So it's really really complete to learn about her.

"A la rencontre de Jane Birkin" is rerun on Thursday at 11:20am on Planete channel (cable)

[Touch]

heya !

down

[Kam]

Wow! Thanks for the video, Touch. I was only familiar with the more uptempo version of the song from the '60s that Françoise Hardy had done. I love the melancholy feel of this rendition, and the presentation is just classy all the way around. I find it difficult to decide who looks prettier: Jane or Françoise. Old videos like this just make my day.

I also really like the version of the song that Jane Birkin did on 2002's Arabesque. For anybody not familiar with the CD or the concept, it's an intimate concert where Jane covered Gainsbourg songs with Middle-Eastern arrangements. A little peculiar, but high on the emotion factor, and at times, beyond beautiful.

Jane Birkin - Arabesque - Comment te dire adieu.mp3

I've yet to purchase the CD and DVD, though. Too much that I want, and too little money.
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[kirych75]

hmm...hmm...excuse me, but i don't understand this woman...firstly i had bought her "Arabesque"on CD, then on DVD, then "Render-Vous" - and was only surprised: what about her songs? such a strange manner of singing... hmmm... how old is she?
i guess, is it sort of singer, that very extraordinary, and has popularity in very specifical society

p.s. by the way: i like her "JE M'APPELLE JANE" en due avec MICKEY (3D)

[Greg]

See her biography here, in English:
http://www.janebirkin.net/uk/index.html

I don't know about her last album. I mostly know her music through Gainsbourg... It's Gainsbourg who made her famous in France around 1965 .. He married her, and made some duos with her. The most famous one being: "Je t'aime mon non plus". Also "69, année érotique" ...
What is funny about Jane Birkin is that she has been living in France for some decades now but she still has an horrible (or charming, it depends) English accent, very strong. I'm sure she makes it strong deliberately.

[Melody Nelson]

Actually, he didn't marry her.

In the documentary i talked about above and that no one cared about, she says that living with Gainsbourg was like being part of the Royal Family. She instantly (?) became loved by the French, just thanks to Serge's huge popularity in France.

My favorite Jane Birkin songs (written by Serge, excluding the Melody Nelson album which is too perfect for me to make it compete with the other songs) are:
- Ex-Fan Des Sixties
- La Ballade De Johnny-Jane
- Fuir Le Bonheur De Peur Qu'il Ne Se Sauve
- Les Dessous Chics

And i love Les Yeux Fermes, her duet with Anderson Brett from Suede.

[Kam]

Melody Nelson wrote:

In the documentary i talked about above and that no one cared about, she says that living with Gainsbourg was like being part of the Royal Family. She instantly (?) became loved by the French, just thanks to Serge's hige popularity in France.

Hey, it's not that nobody cared about it! I requested a recording from Touch, he said he had already recorded it when it first aired, but he never shared it with me. By the time all that happened, it was already too late to participate in this thread. (So Touch, if you ever have bandwidth to spare, pass it over!) I also even had John record the Bénabar/Keren Ann/Vincent Delerm documentary you mentioned, which I'll hopefully find the time for sometime soon. So as you see, at least one person cares about this stuff.

I've seen you post some wonderful pictures of Gainsbourg and Jane with the kids in another forum in the past. Do you still have those pics?
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[Melody Nelson]

ok ok, forget what i said lol

http://www.vanessaparadis.info/Talk/viewtopic.php?t=39&start=10
or
http://p197.ezboard.com/fbeautifulgirlfrm71.showMessage?topicID=122.topic

[Kam]

Thanks, Melody. Lovely pictures.

It's interesting to know, I think, that despite the shock value of his music and public image, Serge was still a family man--quite the opposite.

I like this picture best:


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[Greg]

Yes in this picture he looks like a good guy .. maybe the glasses help too.

Melody Nelson wrote:

Actually, he didn't marry her.

Oh ok, my fault, I should have checked this.

And Jane is also "famous" for being "plate comme une limande". That is the French expression which means she has no breast ... It's just a little mockery and she deals with that without any problem.

[kirych75]

It will be a concert of Jane in Moscow at 17-th of November. I guess it will be a 1-1.5 hour concert includes an Arabesque album content. I've got a ticket, so my opinion and photos from this concert will comes




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... je t'attends, je t'attends, je t'attends... (AR)

[Touch]

cooool !!!

i wait your comments

[Astro]

That's the concert that she did here in Australia...but I had a Quantum exam so I couldn't go!!



P.S. I adore the album "Arabesque"