Thursday, November 1, 2012

SERGE GAINSBOURG/JANE BIRKIN

This post is for all you Francophiles.

I recently read a review of a biography of Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man, by Sylvie Simmons.  I couldn't buy it because the price violated my principle of not paying more than $9.99 for a Kindle book.  (Well, I've violated it a few times, but not for a biography).

I googled Sylvie Simmons and saw that she had written an earlier biography of one Serge Gainsbourg. 
 Who was he, I wondered.

.

As Wikipedia says, he was a French singer, songwriter, poet, composer, artist, actor and director, regarded as one of the most important figures in French popular music.

His lifelong partner, even though he co-habited with other women, including Brigitte Bardot, was Jane Birkin, British/French movie star, mother of Charlotte Gainsbourg, who I knew from having seen her in films.


Jane


Charlotte

A good book for $9.99, and I've filled a gap in my education.






1 comment:

  1. Alain's favorite Gainsbourg quote, when asked why he didn't shre others' health concerns about his chain-smoking, heavy- drinking lifestyle: " smoke preserves the meat, and alcohol preserves the fruit." He lives to be 62. I guess this was probably on the book you read.

    ReplyDelete