Saturday, November 28, 2009

#5 France Gall Laisse Tomber les Filles (1964)



When people ask me what I was like in high school, I show them the blonde guy in this video.

Born Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall on 9 October 1947 in Pairs, France Gall was at first a teen idol performing songs with attitude like "Don't Be So Stupid" and "Don't Listen to the Idols", the latter written by Serge Gainsbourg.
In the summer of 1964, Gainsbourg and Gall teamed up for "Forget the Girls". Gainsbourg was in his 30's and the lyrics--as has been pointed out before--are full of the kind of disenchantment that a 30-something might be familiar with...but from the mouth of a teen...seems awfully precocious:

Luck abandons
He who only knows
How to leave bruised hearts behind
You'll have nobody
to comfort you
You won't have got away with this

Of course I must mention a band called April March that recorded an English version of this tune calling it "Chick Habit". Heard in 2 films including"Death Proof" by Quentin Tarantino, "

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

#4 The Ethiopians Hong Kong Flu



In the midst of my week-long battle with swine flu, this became my theme song.

It's a killer/ Woah uh-huh
It's terrible and dreadful, mon


A minor hit for The Ethiopians, a ska, rocksteady reggae band who began recording in Jamaica in the mid-60's .