Serge Gainsbourg (1928-91) was an iconic French singer-songwriter, actor, composer and director. He was born Lucien Ginzburg in Paris of Russian Jews who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution. His eclectic artistic output was provocative and covered many different genres, often with complicated wordplay, double meanings and puns. His first hit in 1958 was “Le Poinçonneur des Lilas,” an absurdist song about an anonymous and bored Metro ticket-taker who spends his life punching holes (“petits trous”) in tickets. As for Gainsbourg, his own personal life was punctuated by addictions (alcohol and cigarettes) and love affairs (Birken, Deneuve, Bardot) before he died in 1991 at the age of 62. In between, he wrote more than 550 songs and 30 albums, movie scores, TV commercials and short music films. It was a short life, redolent of nicotine, alcohol, women and song.
Gainsbourg’s most (in)-famous song, written in 1967 and first recorded with Brigitte Bardot, was “Je t’aime…Moi non Plus” (“I love you…Me neither”). Gainsbourg withheld this version until 1986 at the demand of Bardot’s husband Gunter Sachs and then re-recorded it a second time with Jane Birkin in 1969 when it became a sensation. It is not included here, not because it was banned in many countries and condemned by the Pope, but because its dominant lyrics of moans, groans and sighs contribute little value to French language study. The quizzical title of the song riffs on a reported comment by surrealist artist Salvador Dali on a different subject: “Picasso is Spanish; I’m Spanish. Picasso is a genius; I’m a genius. Picasso is communist; me, neither.”
In 2001, on the 10-year anniversary of Gainsbourg’s death, The New York Times marveled at his enduring posthumous influence evidenced through imitation, sampling and tributes, while describing him as: “spectacularly debauched, scatologically obsessed, ugly, French, and dead.” Indeed, his reputation only gained momentum during the ‘90s and beyond. In 2023 under his daughter Charlotte’s impetus, the house at 5 bis rue de Verneuil in Paris 7 that he shared with Jane Birkin opened as a museum and shrine to display his vast array of bric-a-brac. His grave in the Montparnasse Cemetery remains littered with validated Metro ticket stubs commemorating his first hit song even after the RATP moved to digital passes.
Gainsbourg’s most (in)-famous song, written in 1967 and first recorded with Brigitte Bardot, was “Je t’aime…Moi non Plus” (“I love you…Me neither”). Gainsbourg withheld this version until 1986 at the demand of Bardot’s husband Gunter Sachs and then re-recorded it a second time with Jane Birkin in 1969 when it became a sensation. It is not included here, not because it was banned in many countries and condemned by the Pope, but because its dominant lyrics of moans, groans and sighs contribute little value to French language study. The quizzical title of the song riffs on a reported comment by surrealist artist Salvador Dali on a different subject: “Picasso is Spanish; I’m Spanish. Picasso is a genius; I’m a genius. Picasso is communist; me, neither.”
In 2001, on the 10-year anniversary of Gainsbourg’s death, The New York Times marveled at his enduring posthumous influence evidenced through imitation, sampling and tributes, while describing him as: “spectacularly debauched, scatologically obsessed, ugly, French, and dead.” Indeed, his reputation only gained momentum during the ‘90s and beyond. In 2023 under his daughter Charlotte’s impetus, the house at 5 bis rue de Verneuil in Paris 7 that he shared with Jane Birkin opened as a museum and shrine to display his vast array of bric-a-brac. His grave in the Montparnasse Cemetery remains littered with validated Metro ticket stubs commemorating his first hit song even after the RATP moved to digital passes.
Serge Gainsbourg Songs
Baudelaire (Le serpent qui danse)
La Chanson de Prévert (Prévert's Song)
Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'en Vais (I Came to Say I'm Leaving)