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Françoise Hardy's duets
Parenthèses
Paris
18/12/2006 -
The result is an album of contrasts, of musical light and shade, veering between sumptuous arrangements and pared-back minimalist songs. On this series of twelve duets, Françoise Hardy explores the full spectrum of feelings and emotions, revealing herself bare to the listener, without make-up or artifice, as she often walks down the street in real life. The 'grande dame' of French music, who admits she's a "real stickler for spelling", is openly critical of the mediocrity of popular French music. And she introduces herself as a virtual hermit these days laughingly admitting that, "I only feel comfortable at home between my own four walls. I don't feel right anywhere else, apart from maybe taking a solitary walk in the Jardin de Bagatelle!"
RFI Musique: Your new album opens with the Charles Trenet classic Que reste-t-il de nos amours ? sung as a duet with Alain Bashung…
Françoise Hardy: You know, if I had to pick the most enjoyable moment I had in making this album, it would have to be the recording of Que reste-t-il de nos amours ? with Bashung. That has something to do with the song itself, of course. But I have to say I also felt particularly comfortable. There were really no difficulties at all. Bashung is just so simple to work with. There's this total humility about him, which is both touching and pleasant to be around.
The idea for doing this album of duets actually came from Alain Bashung. A couple of years ago he called my record company to ask whether I'd sing Que reste-t-il de nos amours ? with him. If I'd had to sit down and choose a song, it would have been that one above all others. But the thing was he wanted us to perform it on a TV show together. It was such a shame that he didn't suggest doing it for an album – I'd have come running! But anyway, it was Bashung who sowed the seed of the idea for the album in the first place. A few months later, my record company got back to me and brought up the idea of doing an album of duets…
It comes as something of a surprise to find you teaming up with Rodolphe Burger on a cover of the Brigitte Fontaine and Jacques Higelin classic Cet enfant que je t’avais fait …
Why? That song's like one of my favourite bedside books. It also happens to be a song that should never be covered at all because the original is perfect and whatever you do you'll never better it! I was totally blown away by the lyrics of the song. They're really exceptional – and the music really stands up melodically. Cet enfant que je t’avais fait is the quintessence of mutual misunderstanding. It's like in the Tom Sharpe novel Blott on the Landscape where you have all these different people giving their views on others, but none of them actually coincide with reality at any point. All I know is that our version of the song must have pleased Jacques Higelin because he ended up doing his latest album with Rodolphe.
You team up with the iconic French actor Alain Delon on another song, Modern Style. Would you say Delon was your type?
You know, the film where I thought he came across as the most seductive was Le Professeur (a 1972 film by Valerio Zurlini). He was just staggering in that! The funny thing is when I mentioned the idea of doing a cover of Modern Style with Delon to Jean Bart, who wrote the song, he sent me a letter saying I absolutely had to see him in Le Professeur.
If Delon hadn't accepted I'd have asked Guillaume Depardieu. I knew I wanted to have an actor, a real tortured soul.
Was it difficult working with Delon?
Well, he certainly doesn't like things to go slowly. We got to the last take of the song and I wasn't sure we had everything we needed, but I knew the last line was perfect. So I turned round and said, "You know, it's a shame you didn't do everything else the same way." So we did the whole thing again and kept the entire version this time.
Rue du Babouin, which you perform with the Belgian singer Maurane, is a song you co-wrote with Michel Fugain. When did you originally write it?
Back in the late '60s. I originally wrote it for Catherine Lara but then, every ten years or so since then, I've gone back and reworked it. I actually thought Rue du Babouin was destined to remain permanently tucked away at the back of a drawer somewhere. I felt the song would be impossible to sing, in fact. At the end of the day I had to make a few changes to the lyrics to make it work as a duet.
Does Rue du Babouin (Baboon Street) actually exist somewhere?
Yes, it does. The Via del Babuino happens to be quite a famous street in Rome. It's a bit like the Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in Paris. I love the name. When I play games like "What would you do if you were President for a day?" I always say I'd get rid of all the streets named after generals and politicians and replace them with something more poetic instead. It was obviously nicer when Avenue Foch was known as Avenue du Bois!
Will we be seeing you back on the live circuit at some point?
No, you won't!
And what about TV shows? Are they still one of your pet hates?
I can't bear going on things like that! You can't imagine how much I hate it, in fact. That's why at one point I actually thought about stopping making records altogether.
Bertrand Dicale
31/03/2010 -
10/12/2004 -
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