According to legend, the erotic ballad "C'Est Extra" ("It's Great") was inspired by The Moody Blues’ song “Nights in White Satin” and a visit to a bar in Provence. In 1969, Ferré visited singer-songwriter-poet friend Jean Ferrat in the small Ardèche town of Antraigues-sur-Volane, north of Avignon. Its artist colony had earned the nickname “St. Tropez of the Ardèche.”
Ferré was reportedly impressed in a bar by a young lady “like a spindle” wearing a leather dress, who rocked the song by Moody Blues and constantly described things as C'est dégueulasse… C'est fantastique… C'est extra… (It's disgusting... It's fantastic... It's great...). Ferré adopted the title, wrote the music and lyrics and his long-time collaborator Jean-Michel Defaye made the arrangement. The piece is awash in sexual symbolism: “une robe de cuir comme un fuseau;” “une fille qui tangue et vient mouiller;” “ce touffe de noir jesus,” “d’la musique en bas des reins,” etc. It is an exemplar of Ferré’s eclectic inclusion of pop music in his repertoire.
Ferré was reportedly impressed in a bar by a young lady “like a spindle” wearing a leather dress, who rocked the song by Moody Blues and constantly described things as C'est dégueulasse… C'est fantastique… C'est extra… (It's disgusting... It's fantastic... It's great...). Ferré adopted the title, wrote the music and lyrics and his long-time collaborator Jean-Michel Defaye made the arrangement. The piece is awash in sexual symbolism: “une robe de cuir comme un fuseau;” “une fille qui tangue et vient mouiller;” “ce touffe de noir jesus,” “d’la musique en bas des reins,” etc. It is an exemplar of Ferré’s eclectic inclusion of pop music in his repertoire.
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Une robe de cuir comme un fuseau Qu’aurait du chien sans faire l’expres Et dedans comme un matelot Une fille qui tangue un air anglais C’est extra Un Moody Blues qui chante la nuit Comme un satin blanc d’marié Et dans le port de cette nuit Une fille qui tangue et vient mouiller C’est extra C’est extra Des cheveux qui tombent comme le soir Et d’la musique en bas des reins Ce jazz qui d’jazze dans le noir Et ce mal qui nous fait du bien C’est extra Ces mains qui jouent de l’arc-en-ciel Sur la guitare de la vie Et puis ces cris qui montent au ciel Comme une cigarette qui brille C’est extra C’est extra Ces bas qui tienne hautes perches Comme les cordes d’un violon Et cette chair qui vient troubler L’archet qui coule ma chanson C’est extra Et sous la voile a peine clos Cette touffe de noir jesus Qui ruisselle dans son berceau Comme un nageur qu’on attend plus C’est extra C’est extra Une robe de cuir comme un oubli Qu’aurait du chien sans l’faire exprès Et dedans comme un matin gris Une fille qui tangue et qui se tait C’est extra Le Moody Blues qui s’en balancent Cette ampli qui n’veut plus rien dire Et dans la musique du silence Une fille qui tangue et vient mourir C’est extra, c’est extra C’est extra, c’est extra |
A leather dress like a spindle That would be unintentionally chic And inside, like a sailor A girl who sways to an English tune It’s great The Moody Blues singing in the night Like the white satin of a newly wed And in the harbor of this night A girl who sways and comes to dock It’s great It’s great Hair that falls like the night And music below the loins Jazz that jazzes in the dark And this pain that does us good It’s great Hands that play like a rainbow On the guitar of life And then cries that rise to the sky Like a burning cigarette It’s great It’s great These stockings that hold high pegs Like the strings of a violin And this flesh that comes to disturb The (violin) bow that flows my song It’s great And under the veil barely closed This tuft of black jesus That streams in its crib Like a swimmer that one awaits no longer It’s great It’s great A leather dress like an oversight That would be unintentionally cool And inside, like a grey morning A girl who sways and staying silent It’s great The Moody Blues who don’t care This amp that plays no more And in the music of silence A girl who sways and comes to die It’s great, it’s great It’s great, it’s great |
NB:
- “Qu’aurait du chien sans l’faire exprès:” “avoir du chien” means to be “cool,” “desirable,” “have what it takes.” “sans l’faire exprès” means “without doing it intentionally.” Casual coolness.
- “Une fille qui tangue et vient mouiller:” “vient mouiller” literally means “to get wet,” which provokes the imagination. In naval terms, it means to “dock” or “drop anchor” and the reference in the previous line to “le port de cette nuit” bolsters the naval idiom.
- “Ce jazz qui d’jazze dans le noir.” The noun “ce jazz” somehow becomes a verb (“qui d’jazze”), if that’s what it is, in this line for which we can thank Ferré’s poetic licence.
- “Ces bas qui tienne hautes perches:” “These stockings that hold high pegs.” Those stockings are cinched up high, likely near the “touffe de noir jesus.”
- “L’archet qui coule ma chanson.” An “archet” is a violin’s bow. This line resonates with Ferré’s later comment in the Preface to his 1973 album “Il n’ya plus rien:” “Poetry…is given sex by the human voice, just like a violin touched by a bow.”
- “Cette touffe de noir jesus:” open to interpretation.
- “Le Moody Blues qui s’en balancent.” The expression “s’en balancer” means “don’t care.” Ferré is undoubtedly familiar with the lines in “Chanson de la Seine” by Jacques Prévert: “Mais la Seine s’en balance, Elle n’a pas de souci…”
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