From Mademoiselle Age Tendre, November 1971.

A repost, as requested by Kate, of the two songs Serge Gainsbourg wrote for FG in 1972:

  1. France Gall - Frankenstein
  2. France Gall - Les Petits Ballons

Here's the original post and a later post where I make a poor attempt to translate France Gall's reflections on working with Gainsbourg post-'Les Sucettes'. Thankfully my readers help clean up the mess.

I used to have a video for 'Frankenstein' up on YouTube, but 'the man' took it down. Good thing someone polices this stuff, since there's such an abundance of France Gall 60s/70s stuff on DVD and you know, watching it online might take away from valuable sales. Oh wait, there are no releases. [/soapbox]

Luckily, someone else's addition of the clip hasn't met the same fate: watch it here. It's from Top à Jacques Dutronc, March 1974 and features Dutronc as a rather odd Frankenstein. Some screencaps can be found here.

Update: 'Frankenstein' video can be viewed here.

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Comments (14)

  • Kate  
    Hooray! My cup runneth over lately. Thanks for that!
    I don't get those people who go around reporting material on YouTube (or on file-sharers). I can understand when it's a current artist and the record label is the one removing things, but when it comes to material this old, who ARE these goody-goodies who take it upon themselves to report it?!
    #1 Reply
  • Oscar  
    Your website is the greatest. I'd like to thank you for all your hard work that you put in your website so all of us can enjoy. I'd also like to thank the fans for contributing to your site. I love your France Gall videos. Thanks very much!!!
    #2 Reply
  • Christine  
    Thanks so much, Oscar - what a great comment to get! And no problem, Kate. Sometimes it's not just someone from the public, but someone representing the copyright holder. I was contacted by someone representing the estate of Ed Sullivan to take down a Martha & The Vandellas clip once. And I have a theory about te other videos being removed which I think I mentioned on here once. I had a few Dutronc-related videos taken down, and then shortly afterward someone from ina.fr contacted me to announce their new video archives and pointed me to a Dutronc video they thought I'd like. I still don't know how they got my email address; I never had that one displayed on here or anywhere else. All I could think was that somehow they got it from YouTube - I have no idea if YouTube can hand over your contact details if someone says they need to contact you re: breach of contract or legal issues, but it's all I could think of. So yeah, in short, there were too many coincidences and I do think someone from the INA took them down.
    #3 Reply
  • seidrik  
    Terrible les petits ballons ! Merci spiked candy.
    #4 Reply
  • Oscar  
    The Les Petits Ballons has a weird tune at first, but overall I like it. Both songs are great. I'm glad I stumbled on the France Gall videos on youtube or else I wouldn't have known about your site. Christine, do you plan to repost videos of France Gall in the future on your site?
    P.S. I've also bought other CDs of France Gall. You got me hooked!:) Thanks again Christine.
    #5 Reply
  • Guilherme  
    I love those songs! At first, they sound a little weird, but they're great!! I'm having a little trouble on finding France Gall's early 70's singles... They're quite rare... If you're interested, I've managed to find the brazilian version of "Zozoi" with singer Célia... In portuguese, it is called "Zozoio - Como É Que É". I didn't like it, though (and I'm a brazilian!) - send me an e-mail if you want the track! And, if possible, put more France Gall's 70's stuff, like "Caméléon Caméléon", "Donne-Moi Ma Chance, Je Ne Boirai Plus" and/or "Merry Merry O!" Thanks a lot! Bye!!
    #6 Reply
  • new fan  
    Hello, is there a chance you can reupload 24/36 and Wir sind keine engels (sp?) as well? Anyway, thanks a lot for all the good stuff.
    #7 Reply
  • Christine  
    Hi new fan... I'd rather not, I feel like I could be stuck endlessly reposting France Gall stuff, and it zaps the blogging inspiration a bit to keep retreading old ground. But if you send me your email address to spikedcandy(at)hotmail.com, I'll send you the tracks.
    Thanks Guilherme, I'll send you a message. Rest assured, I have every France Gall song and many of the early 70s stuff will make it on here, I just like to space them out.
    #8 Reply
  • Guilherme  
    Oh!! I didn't noticed my comment here!! I thought it wasn't going!! Oops!! Sorry 'bout that!!
    #9 Reply
    • Christine  
      No problem, Guilherme. I've deleted the extra one.
      #9.1 Reply
    • Christine  
      Guilherme - sorry, for some reason, I failed to notice your offer to send me the Celia track. Thanks, but I've decided to get the CD. I appreciate the info on the track - that got me looking around and listening to samples.
      #9.2 Reply
  • Swanny  
    Hi. is there anything you haven't got by France Gall?? You seem to have the lot! It's a pity there aren't as many people around as helpful or informed as you. Keep up the fantastic work.
    #10 Reply
    • Christine  
      Hi Swanny - nope, there's nothing I don't have... prior to her work with Michel Berger, at least. After that, I'm not interested. I do believe I have every single track in every language from before then.:)
      #10.1 Reply
  • Paul  
    Christine, have you heard Monopolis , from Starmania, music by Michel Berger, book by Luc Plamondon?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJBJWJkrxD0&list=RDZJBJWJkrxD0&start_radio=1

    I ask because, like you, I prefer France Gall's 60s (and early 70s) output, for a couple of reasons First, 60s music is my favorite. Second, although Serge Gainsbourg wrote a lot of her material, she also did songs by other writers, so there was a wider variety of styles she did then - it was more eclectic. Berger gave her a more modern sound, and gave her a band, but him being her only writer gave her music a more narrow spectrum - she kind of had that one sound, and that was it. Of course, without him, she might not have ever made that successful comeback that really cemented her place in French musical history. Anyway...

    I really think that Monopolis is her best vocal performance. She sings it so beautifully, so well, and with such emotion that it breaks my heart to listen to it. Maybe the fact that the lyrics were written by someone other than Berger "widens the scope" of it a bit, and it being a theater piece maybe takes it outside of that '80s pop sound. I'd like your opinion on it, I think it's undeniably beautiful.

    As for Frankenstein, I've always liked it, very quirky. Fond of the story too. It's funny in the video where she has to cover her face from laughing when the monster attacks her.
    #11 Reply

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