RFI Musique - - Interview - Hugues Aufray covers Bob Dylan

Hugues Aufray covers Bob Dylan

Newyorker celebrates a lifetime's friendship

Paris

06/11/2009 -

Hugues Aufray is back in the spotlight with Newyorker, an album of Bob Dylan covers on which he teams up with Johnny Hallyday, Alain Souchon, Eddy Mitchell, Arno and a host of other French-speaking stars to cover classics by Robert Allen Zimmermann.

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In 1965, Hugues Aufray released Aufray chante Dylan, his first album of French covers of Dylan songs, giving French fans their first taste of America's young music revolutionary. More than forty years on, Aufray is back with Newyorker, an album of duets sealed with a cover stamp of approval from his friend and mentor.

RFI Musique: You weren't all that well-known in France when you discovered Dylan…
Hugues Aufray: I'd made a couple of records by 1961 when Maurice Chevalier invited me to New York to represent France at a charity gala. I discovered the most amazing city, the capital of the 20^th century, filled with the most extraordinary artists. And I thought to myself "This is the place and the music I want to grow up with!" I went back to New York the minute I could, playing as a support act to Peter, Paul & Mary at The Blue Angel. I spent six months there and one night I ventured down to the Village to this real dive, Gerde’s Folk City, and watched this young guy with a harmonica there. He was already singing the songs that went on to become absolute classics. By the time I went home to France six months later I'd collected a whole bunch of American songs. And from 1962 onwards those songs gave me my first French hits.

You released your first album of French covers of Dylan songs back in 1965. Is that when you first thought about adapting his work?
No, I wanted to do it the moment I discovered him in New York. For me, translating Dylan was something I wanted to do on an artistic level as well as a human level. It's like when you read a fantastic book and you want to share it with your friends. The problem was that back in 1962-63, nobody in Paris knew who Bob Dylan was. (Record label owner) Eddie Barclay didn't want to hear about anyone recording Dylan covers! The other problem was that Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, took almost two years to get back to me and authorise the French covers. In the interim I'd gone on to become a star in France. I was performing two or three hundred galas a year and recording pretty much non-stop. I was working with two songwriting partners at that point: Vline Buggy and Pierre Delanoë. When Vline went off on tour with Claude François, I called Pierre and we went off to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence with my pianist Jean-Pierre Sabar and holed up in three rooms I'd rented. It was amazing. We came up with twelve songs in a fortnight which is an absolute record for me. It's taken me twenty years to finish some songs!

How did your album Aufray chante Dylan go down in France?
It went down really well but it wasn't as big a hit as songs like Céline, Stewball and Santiano. The album sparked a real revolution on the French music scene. Young singers such as Renaud, who hadn't written anything by that point, discovered Dylan thanks to Aufray chante Dylan. When I performed live at the Olympia, in Paris, Bruno Coquatrix put up a poster describing the concert as "a watershed moment in French music." And that's exactly what it was! The moment my album came out young French artists took a different approach to songwriting. Dylan was a real visionary. In many ways, the lyrics of The Times They Are A-changin' predicted the events of May '68.

In 1996, you recorded a second batch of Dylan songs…
I decided to adapt another batch thirty years after Aufray chante Dylan. But at the time I didn't have a record label behind me. I spent 25 years without a label, up until 2005. Anyway, my second Dylan album Aufray Trans Dylan took things a step further than the first. It featured 24 tracks in all including 12 brand new Dylan songs. The songs I covered in 1965 were mostly acoustic, but the 12 new ones were much more electric, much more in a rock'n'folk vein. Aufray Trans Dylan didn't get much airplay though. Commercially it was a complete flop.

What motivated you to delve into Dylan's back catalogue a third time?
After signing to Universal I recorded a Félix Leclerc tribute album and then an album of my own new material: Hugh. It was at that point that the record company guys suggested I should do an album of duets, getting guest artists to record new versions of my greatest hits with me. But I thought that was a bit of a rehash especially since Michel Delpech, Adamo and co. had just done the same thing. But I went away and thought it over and decided that if I took the same concept but applied it to Dylan songs everyone would get a lot more out of it…

Who was the first singer you got on board?
Ever since I'd written the French version of Forever Young I'd hoped to record it with Johnny Hallyday. I can't imagine anyone better than Johnny singing "May you stay forever young!" After that it was a question of finding which song suited which artist and vice versa.

What approach did you take to Dylan's music?
What I really wanted to do was bring out Dylan's melodies. These days, he's into the idea of destructuring his songs on stage even if that means disappointing his fans…The thing is, Dylan's never appreciated being followed by a pack of people who don't really understand who he is. And he doesn't mind pissing people off. Remember when Pete Seeger rushed off to get an axe at the Newport festival to slash Dylan's electric guitar cable because the audience wanted the old acoustic Dylan? I can't go round demolishing his songs, though - only Dylan has the right to do that! What I've tried to do is restore the primitive musicality of the songs. I collaborated closely with the American musicians on the album - most of whom have worked with Dylan at some point - trying to come up with arrangements which would bring out the melody, the harmony and the poetic cadence of each song.

There are a few surprises on the album such as Jane Birkin's version of Just Like A Woman (Tout comme une vraie femme)…
When Jane came into the studio she had a few problems with the melody and the fact that the lyrics were in French… And to be honest I didn't know what to make of the final version. But when I played it to my friends and associates they all said "Wow! It's brilliant! She takes the same musical liberties as Dylan himself!"