Talk:Serge Gainsbourg

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I have seen the video of Serge with Whitney Houston on the French talk show, and it is my recollection that he said, to the host, of Whitney, "I want to fuck her, to which Whitney said, "What?!" Various Google citations have it both ways... Anybody else see it? --AStanhope 15:57, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yes he says to the host in English, "I said. . . I want to fuck her."

Contents 1 Bob Marley Vs. Gainsbourg 2 This article needs cleanup 3 Re: Bob Marley controversy 4 Confused 5 Film Career? 6 First English-Language Interpretation of One of His Songs? 7 Regarding the trivia "The first English-language version of a Gainsbourg song was Dionne Warwick's 1965 version of "Mamadou"" 8 Regarding the trivia "The first English-language version of a Gainsbourg song was Dionne Warwick's 1965 version of "Mamadou""

[edit] Bob Marley Vs. Gainsbourg

I'm pretty sure that Rita Marley doesn't sing anything vulgar on the reggae record. What I think infuriated Bob Marley was that Gainsbourg made her sing the line "Dieu est Juif" (God is a Jew).

[edit] This article needs cleanup

Too much of what's written is not formulated very well... It would be better suited at the Music-Wiki Site. First of all, more references... Some sentences are subjective, even though they are good-hearted. I changed some of the formulations in some sentences, but I don't have the time to clean it all up in one go. The article could also gain from being structured better, especially into several sections.

[edit] Re: Bob Marley controversy

In "Lola Rastaquouère", backing vocals consist of the words: "Lola Rastaquouère rasta". This was a bit of a prank on Gainsbourg's part: rasta is here short for rastaquouère, an old-fashioned word meaning a rogue, and the song describes an impressively-built prostitute.

[edit] Confused

In the external links the sentence that reads: "Incipit of Evguenie Sokolov (painter and flatulist)..." has me a little confused. Is it supposed to be flatulist or flautist?? Jaberwocky6669 01:38, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Flatulist. That is, if flatuist does indeed mean 'one who farts.'

[edit] Film Career?

Why is nothing included about the films he directed? Zmbe 03:39, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] First English-Language Interpretation of One of His Songs?

I believe Honor Blackman (yes, the same woman who played Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger") did an English version of "La Javanaise" on her little-known 1964 LP titled "All I've Got". The English title of the song was "Men Will Deceive You".

[edit] Regarding the trivia "The first English-language version of a Gainsbourg song was Dionne Warwick's 1965 version of "Mamadou""

I don't think that's true. As far as I have learned, Sacha Distel is the only person to have released this song. The person who added this info may have been mistaken - Dionne Warwick and Sacha Distel performed one song together at the Olympia in 1965 (released as "Dionne Warwick in Paris" - see http://www.ccmusic.com/item.cfm?itemid=CCM07562). They sang "Oh, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah".

Unfortunately, this "trivia" has propogated all over - answers.com, reference.com, discogs.com, praff.blogspot.com.

If the information is true, some more details would be important - is a B-side of a single, was it perfomed live only, what album is it on...

Until then, I would treat this as false.

Thank you,

--Designwallah 18:18, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding the trivia "The first English-language version of a Gainsbourg song was Dionne Warwick's 1965 version of "Mamadou""

I don't think that's true. As far as I have learned, Sacha Distel is the only person to have released this song. The person who added this info may have been mistaken - Dionne Warwick and Sacha Distel performed one song together at the Olympia in 1965 (released as "Dionne Warwick in Paris" - see http://www.ccmusic.com/item.cfm?itemid=CCM07562). They sang "Oh, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah".

Unfortunately, this "trivia" has propogated all over - answers.com, reference.com, discogs.com, praff.blogspot.com.

If the information is true, some more details would be important - is a B-side of a single, was it perfomed live only, what album is it on...

Until then, I would treat this as false.

Thank you,

Designwallah 18:19, 4 January 2007 (UTC)