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August 15, 2007
Retrohump Night: The Yeh Yeh Girl From Paris
Though the You Tubed clips we regularly feature on Wednesdays are more often an indulgence in nostalgia or an expression of disbelief that we were ever able to find such obscure vids in the first place, the cultural juggernaut of a website has other musical uses. Letting you hear elusive album material in the first place, how about?
An album I've been wildly unsuccessful in tracking down is the 1965 compilation of French language music by dreamy 60's dish Françoise Hardy, The "Yeh Yeh" Girl From Paris. It exists to be found on the pricey online import scene, but that's sort of for suckers and it ruins the thrill of the hunt, so until I see Hardy's gorgeous rain victim staring up at me from the racks, these terrific old clips will have to suffice. The record was designed to capitalize on a Life magazine spread introducing the glamorous girls from the so called Ye Ye movement in French pop to the U.S. market. It compiles the best tracks from a string of EP's that were big hits in early 60's France.
Françoise Hardy- "Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles"
Perhaps the best known and, as evidenced by the mp3 below, easiest to find tracks is the beautifully restrained "Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles" or, for the dolts, "All the Boys and Girls." In an era of outsized melodies, overbearing brass arrangements, and open throated singing, this haunting melody barely rises above a whisper. The video sees young Francoise riding an early version of one of those state fair Viking boat rides that make you feel like your stomach will soon exit via your face. There's no present evidence of motion sickness, as the only emotions registering from Ms. Hardy are ennui and perhaps mild disappointment. The prominently featured ferris wheel would seem to be the more idylic and romantic carnival ride, but shooting film on one was probably rather tricky. At least that's what the Frenchmen told these models before taking multiple reels of up-skirt footage.
Françoise Hardy - "Tous les Garcons et les Filles"
Françoise Hardy - "Le Temps Pour L'Amour"
The prominent bass line and slightly less relaxed tempo here have more of an overt rock influence than the previous song, though it's not quite as devastatingly pretty. The video makers of the era were determined to portray our girl as a fille on the go, so here we get a full clip of her rowing around while trying to look natural in her singing efforts. A weird conceipt for a love song, but the moments when they pull in close for a shot of her face against the slightly moving, sun dappled water behind her are quite fetching.
If any of our loyal followers out there are in possession of The "Yeh Yeh" Girl From Paris in its entirety, and were of the kind notion to pass it along, I would be willing to work out some kind of crazy barter system. Be warned though, I have no practical skills.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at August 15, 2007 06:04 PM
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Comments
Hi Jeff,
You need to check out Hardy later work, mostly 1966 through 1974, (though a lot of her later stuff is quite good as well), it's definitely deeper, more beautiful and better written than her early stuff. Some of the most beautiful pop music ever written. "Tous les Garcons..." isn't in my top 20 Hardy songs.
Check out "Soleil", "Voila" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1wBlqMI2tI), "Si c'est ca", "le crabe", "des ronds dans l'eau", "je suis moi", "comment te dire adieu", "tu ressembles a tous ceux...", "tout ce qu'on dit" (modish 1965), all currently available on youtube.
As well, her early stuff including Tous Les Garcons is actually not very hard to find.
Thanks for the coverage, Hardy is still relatively unknown on the American pop blogosphere.
Posted by: Sami at August 22, 2007 04:04 PM
Thanks for suggestions, but I swear I've looked all over New York for it. I don't want to buy a greatest hits...
Posted by: Jeff K at August 22, 2007 04:11 PM
