Album review

Arno

Not Just a Gigolo

Paris 

01/03/2002 - 

Listening to Arno's new album Arno Charles Ernest, we can't wait to see him get up and perform it on stage! The 15 tracks on the album, which include a brilliant version of the Rolling Stones' classic Mother’s Little Helper, prove that the outspoken Belgian star is on top musical form. Fusing poetry, subtle irony and nostalgia for the 60s and 70s, Arno puts Belgian music back in the spotlight where it belongs. We Met up with Belgium's wild man of rock.

Arno Charles Ernest is a bit of a strange title for an album. I heard on the grapevine that Charles and Ernest are actually your real middle names. Do they have any special significance for you?
Arno: I inherited them from my grandfathers - Charles from my father's father and Ernest from my mother's father. I felt really happy with this particular album once I'd finished it. It was something I felt very proud of because I could honestly say I'd given 100%. And so I thought I'd dedicate it to my grandfathers, to two men who spent their lives being impressively tolerant of their wives…

And what about you? Are you particularly tolerant of your wife?
I don't have a wife these days (smiles). But I take my hat off to my grandfathers – they were really, really tolerant of theirs! My grandmothers were two absolute bitches, two real salopes, as we say in French. But I loved them. They both had incredibly strong personalities, they'd never do anything they didn't want to! And my grandfathers were brilliant, they sat back and tolerated those two harpies, I don't know how.
One of my grandmothers was Russian, she was a professional singer. She died a year ago now at the age of 96 in this really spectacular way. What happened was she got on the phone one Sunday morning and asked me to go and see her rightaway. I was in the studio working, but I dropped what I was doing. When I got there I found the whole family assembled at her bedside at 11 o'clock in the morning. My grandmother looked up, asked "Is everyone here now? Then I'm going to have a bit of a nap!" And hop, she died! She died exactly the way she lived – winding everyone up! (laughs!)

What about your other grandmother?
My other grandmother was English. She was a real tough cookie. But that's just a quick off-the-top-of-my-head analysis of things. I think I'm maybe a lot like my grandparents in a way!

So in the power struggles of life would you place yourself on the side of the hangman or the victim?
Well, I think I'd probably class myself on the victims' side! You know how it is, men just can't put up with pain and suffering the way women can. They find it really unbearable. Men might like to think they know everything, but it's women who understand it all. They've got life sussed! (Arno doubles up with laughter).

How are we meant to take the opening song on your new album, Ma femme (My Wife)?
The song's a tribute to Marie-Laure*, the mother of my kids. There are a lot of people in the same boat as me when it comes to ex-relationships with wives or girlfriends. The only thing is, I was lucky enough not to be married. Otherwise it would be a complete nightmare, I'd have to do hundreds of concerts like Bob Dylan in order to make my alimony payments! (laughs).
The problem with relationships between men and women in the West these days is that no-one really knows what their place is any more. Men and women just don't know what position to take with their partners. You know what it's like, men are completely obsessed with their careers these days and women are too! Work's become a full-time occupation to the point where people no longer have time to stop and tell each other they love one another - or to love one another full stop!

Talking of love there's another song on your new album entitled Solo Gigolo. Rumour has it that in the 70s you spent a bit of time working as a gigolo in Greece. Is that true?
(Arno looks genuinely surprised) Really? Is that what they say about me? Yeah, well… No, of course it's not true. What happened was I was out in Mykonos, one of the Greek islands, in the 70s - long before it became a gay paradise, I might add! And, to cut a long story short, let's just say I was a bit of a kept man!
I'd just got back from travelling round India and Afghanistan and I lost all my money when I got to Greece. I was flat broke. Anyway, I was wandering along the beach one day when I bumped into this fisherman called Spyro and he said to me, "Look, while you're waiting to get some cash through the post, you can always go and stay at the baker's!" So off I went to the local baker's and in the room next-door there was Alexandra… It's a great story. The father would be downstairs at night baking his loaves for the morning and we'd be up on the first floor shagging! So, you could say, that by force of circumstance, I lived as a gigolo for a while. But I was a small-scale gigolo – and I did it to save my arse! Anyway, I paid all the cash back in the end! (Laughs)

You've often said in interviews that after all you've lived and learnt, there's no way you'd like to have your time again and be a teenager today. That's not exactly a wildly optimistic attitude to have when it comes to your children's future, is it?
Well, I think it's a case of them saving their arses as well! You're right, it's not a very optimistic outlook, but that's the way things are. The 60s was when youth culture got invented and, for the first time in history, teenagers had their own music and attitude, clothes, love, the lot... There was a real anti-establishment spirit at the time and maybe it was a bit naïve but at least it was something we genuinely felt.
We didn't have MTV back then, of course, so we had to create MTV in our own lives. The 60s was when everyone got a fridge and a TV and a car… We hated all that mass consumerism stuff, we were into the "non comfort-ism" trip!… I wouldn't say things were better then than they are now, but consumer society was still in its early days then. Now it's all up for grabs – and everyone wants everything rightaway! I guess in a way it's actually more interesting to be alive now. Everything whizzes by much more quickly, but it's interesting in a way. I must say as a self-confessed voyeur, I'm happy to sit back and watch!

If you classify yourself as a voyeur you must be a big fan of reality TV shows like Popstars and Star Academy!!!
Well, Popstars and Star Academy are nothing new, are they? Back in the 60s they did all that with The Monkees. The Monkees were a group that was totally "manufactured-for-TV". They had their own show where you got to watch all these nice sweet-looking guys leaping around playing their nice little guitars. Ready-made groups have always existed – take Diana Ross and The Supremes, for instance! The only difference today is that everything is on a much bigger larger-than-life scale. When you go to the supermarket, for instance, you don't buy one chocolate bar you buy a bumper pack of 10 or 20! And it's the same thing with music too.

And doesn't it make you a bit fed up when you see amateur singers from a show like Popstars sell more records in a month than you have in 25 years' career?
Yes, but what are all those little Popstars going to be doing in a year's time? Anyway, I think people need things like Popstars in their lives. I mean, it's not as if anyone's forcing you to watch or buy the album or anything. It's a question of choice. Personally, I think it's good that something like that exists because it stirs things up and provokes anti-Popstars movements like punk and grunge.
I must admit I quite like watching the show actually. It gives me a good laugh. And it's a whole different universe. I don't feel like I'm in any sort of competition with them or anything. I mean, I certainly don't make music for people who watch Popstars.

I was interested to note that on songs like Il est tombé du ciel you do that Belgian thing of pouring all this anguish into your voice and forcing it to a big weepy crescendo à la Jacques Brel or Adamo… What is it with Belgian singers? Why do you always sound like you're having a good moan about life?
Because we've suffered, darling, we've really suffered! (He says, putting on a thick Belgian accent). I mean, go and live in Belgium for a while, then you'll understand! (Laughs) Maybe it's because of the food or something! (Laughs). Anyway, I don't know why you're picking on me - Johnny Hallyday does it all the time!

Why did you decide to include a cover of the Rolling Stones' number Mother’s Little Helper on your new album?
Well, I'd just like to point out that I changed everything about the song – except the actual words! I love the lyrics to that song, they're brilliant! It just goes to show Mick Jagger was a real visionary in that era. Mother’s Little Helper is about popping pills to help you get through and it was written before anyone even came up with Prozac! It's all about housewives in the 60s taking tranquillisers to get through the day…

If, in 30 years' time, someone recorded a cover of an Arno song, which one would you like them to choose?
Deus have already done it, in fact. And I've performed in concert with Star Flam, too. They're a Belgian rap group who've done some really good covers of my stuff. People would be better off buying their album rather than the Popstars thing, in fact. There are a couple of other groups too - Lofofora did a heavy metal version of Vive la liberté and Noir Désir did a cover of Putain putain, on est tous des Européens (Fuck, we're all Europeans now!), but it was never actually released. Which of my songs would I like someone to cover in 30 years' time?… (Arno pauses). Putain, putain, j’en sais rien!!! (In other words, "I've got no fucking idea!")

Arno Arno Charles Ernest (Delabel 2002)

*Singer/songwriter Marie-Laure Béraud.

Frédéric  Garat

Translation : Julie  Street