He still likes the girls from Renault, the girls from Castel, but he left Paris for his favorite island, Corsica.
Jacques Dutronc celebrates his 80th birthday and a series of "
happy accidents
", as Olivier Cachin puts it, co-author of a book on the artist who was originally not supposed to sing
And me, and me, and me
.
To celebrate the happy 80th anniversary of the most casual of acrobats with dignity, a little tour in his singular discography was essential.
From
Et moi, et moi, et moi
à
Paris awakens
via
Les Cactus
anthology from L'Arsène Lupin's discography of French songs chosen and commented on by Olivier Cachin.
Read alsoThe Opportunist, an anar song by Jacques and Thomas Dutronc as a preview of the second round
And me and me and me
This opposite of the committed song is not intended for Dutronc, who had written the music and tells the backstage.
"
We only found losers to sing it, so finally they said to me: go ahead, you, do it, you have accountant's clothes, it fits the song perfectly", we read in
Dutronc
, a life in songs
by journalists Olivier Cachin and Éric Jean-Jean (Hugo Doc editions).
This hit crowns his debut as a singer in 1966. “
Everything about him is nothing but happy accidents: when he learns the guitar, then sick, in bed, at 16;
when, later, he becomes an actor by accident;
when he recently goes back on stage for a sold-out tour because his son Thomas asks him
”, summarizes for AFP Olivier Cachin.
Cacti
“
Dad, cover your ears: in the history of French rock, my father has done such magnificent things
”, whispered to AFP in 2021 Thomas, alongside Jacques, in preparation for their joint tour.
“
Cacti
” is a good example.
"
We are in a sixties French rock, Kinks influence, it's very brit-rock, very Anglo-Saxon, before Jacques Dutronc became a crooner, there are big guitar riffs, like on La fille du
Père Christmas”, unfolds Olivier Cachin.
This 1966 hit was even quoted by Georges Pompidou, then Prime Minister, in 1967 at the National Assembly: “
I learned that, in government life, there are also cacti
”.
It's five o'clock, Paris is waking up
It was after a dinner washed down with the three Jacques - Dutronc, Lanzmann (lyricist) and Wolfsohn - that the latter, artistic director of the Vogue record company, had the idea of a piece on Paris at dawn.
“
And the transverse flute part, which makes it all the salt, happens by chance, because there is a flautist in the studio next door, Roger Bourdin, to whom we say: don't you want to come?
“says Olivier Cachin again.
It was Wolfsohn who asked Lanzmann to draw inspiration from a popular song from the 19th century: “
Picture of Paris at five o'clock in the morning
”.
New success, in 1968.
The opportunist
Recorded shortly after May 68, the song mocks those who have recovered the protest movement.
Those who only know how to make “
one gesture
”, that of turning their jackets around, “
always on the good side
”.
In 1982, the Indochine group took it over and, in 2015, Dutronc performed it with the group's singer, Nicola Sirkis, for the album "
Happy Birthday M'sieur Dutronc
".
"
It's typically the timeless song, the proof when Indochine takes it up, people think it's topical, and it's not just about politics, it can also be applied to cinema and music"
, laughs Olivier Cachin.
The little garden
Le petit jardin
denounces the rampant “
concretization
” of cities, to the detriment of corners of nature.
In 1972, when ecology was not a central concern.
"
This is also one of the reasons why Jacques Dutronc refuses for a long time to sing it on stage, because it could be too militant
", contextualizes Olivier Cachin.
His son asks him to take it back with him for the enriched reissue of "
Frenchy
", a successful album by Dutronc junior.
This is the " trigger
" element
of the joint tour, where Jacques Dutronc sings it again on stage.
"
It's a magnificent song, which speaks of his childhood neighborhood
", notes Olivier Cachin.
Disfigured France
(1975).
