It had become a beacon of our meetings, numerous and always delicious, with the Belgian singer Arno: his desire to record a duet with the singer Mireille Mathieu.
Of her, Arno said:
“I am really a fan of this woman.
She does not change.
And how well she sings!
For me, France is the Eiffel Tower and Mireille Mathieu.
We know her all over the world.
And she invented herself.
He's an icon."
Do not go looking for the slightest second degree in this admiring declaration of the leading singer of the country of surrealism.
Arno, who died on April 23, ended up realizing this dream on the posthumous album which will be released at the end of this month.
La Paloma Adieu
, released in 1973, is one of the great successes of the career of the most famous French performer abroad.
Taken on a swaying reggae rhythm, this remarkable composition is very well restored by the antagonistic timbres of the Belgian and the Avignonnaise.
Close to the spoken word sung à la Gainsbourg, Arno rubs shoulders with the intact bird song of the lady, now 76 years old.
She recorded her voice recording in a studio near Avignon, in Pernes-les-Fontaines (Vaucluse) just before learning of Arno's death, thus fulfilling her last wish.
“
The pandemic took us away and then, in December 2021, I called him and told him that I wanted to do it
,
”
the singer told AFP.
This happened under very emotional conditions.”
