Jun 21, 2010 The Thing About Serge Gainsbourg And France Gall! Ok, so once upon a time in France (but still, actually), there was a teenage girl named France Gall. She sang songs and had really cool hair.
'Les Sucettes' | |
---|---|
Single by France Gall | |
Released | March 1966 |
Format | 7' single |
Label | Philips |
Songwriter(s) | Serge Gainsbourg |
Music video | |
'Les Sucettes' on YouTube |
'Les Sucettes' ('Lollipops') is a Frenchpop song written by Serge Gainsbourg and first recorded by France Gall in 1966. One of Gall's biggest hits, it was an unusually risqué song for its time, though in performing it she was unaware of the fact.
- 4Covers
- 4.1Kim Kay version
Meaning[edit]
'Les Sucettes' is, on the surface, a yé-yé-style song about a girl named Annie who likes aniseed-flavoured lollipops; much of the lyrical content plays up the homonyms of 'Annie' and 'anis' (aniseed).
But Gainsbourg's lyric also contains playful double meanings referring to oral sex, such as a line about barley sugar running down Annie's throat. The very noun for lollypop in French, 'sucette', is the substantivised verb 'sucer', sucking – so that the title and the refrain ('Annie aime les sucettes', Annie loves lollypops) are far more evocative in French than in the English translation. The song also features a direct double entendre, stating that Annie has lollipops 'pour quelques pennies' (for a few pennies), which can also be heard as 'pour quelques pénis' (for a few penises).
Music video[edit]
![France Gall Serge Gainsbourg France Gall Serge Gainsbourg](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125870558/689484588.jpg)
A film clip for the song was directed by Jean-Christophe Averty for the TV show Au risque de vous plaire. It featured props playing on the sexual references, with lollipops that were somewhat phallic rather than the traditional circle shape, interspersed with cutaways of young women suggestively sucking on lollipops.[1]
Another video was filmed, featuring Gall herself in a schoolgirl uniform inside a house, singing the song.
Reaction[edit]
Gall, aged 18, did not understand the double meaning of the song when she recorded it.[2] By Gall's account she did not realize until later why the filming of the clip attracted so many visitors to the set.[1]
She was extremely upset upon finally learning the truth about the song's double meaning — 'mortified, hiding herself away for weeks, refusing to face anyone'.[3] Gall said that she had sung Gainsbourg's songs 'with an innocence of which I'm proud. I was pained to then learn that he had turned the situation to his advantage, mocking me.'[4] In a 2001 television interview, Gall said that she felt 'betrayed by the adults around me.'[1]
Gainsbourg called the song 'the most daring song of the century' in an interview with the magazine Rock and Folk.[3]
Covers[edit]
- Gainsbourg recorded his own version, with a psychedelic arrangement, on the 1969 album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg.
- The song was performed by Luce as a contestant on the eighth season of the French TV singing competition Nouvelle Star in 2010.
- The song was covered by the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion in the album Les Fleurs du Mal released in September 2012.
Kim Kay version[edit]
'Les Sucettes' | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Kim Kay | ||||
from the album Hits! | ||||
Released | 2000 | |||
Format | CD | |||
Recorded | 2000 at Sterman & Cook Studio | |||
Genre | Eurodance | |||
Length | 3:26 | |||
Label | EMI | |||
Songwriter(s) | Serge Gainsbourg | |||
Producer(s) |
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Kim Kay singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
'Les Sucettes' on YouTube |
Another version of the song was by the BelgianEurodance singer Kim Kay. It was released in 2000 on EMI as the fourth single and as well as the opening track from her only compilation album, Hits! (2000). It is a Eurodance song that was written by Serge Gainsbourg and produced by Phil Sterman and Lov Cook.
Track listing[edit]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | 'Les Sucettes' | 3:26 |
2. | 'Lilali' (mellow mix) | 2:50 |
References[edit]
- ^ abcThe Story behind Les Sucettes on YouTube
- ^France Gall biography at RFI MusiqueArchived 2004-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 25 June 2007.
- ^ abSylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes, ISBN978-0-306-81183-8, page 44.
- ^Gilles Verlant, Gainsbourg, quoted in Sylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes, ISBN978-0-306-81183-8, page 44.
External links[edit]
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
- 'Les Sucettes' on YouTube
- 'Les Sucettes' at AllMusic
- 'Les Sucettes' at MusicBrainz
- 'Les Sucettes' at Discogs
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