FOR ANGLOPHONES·

In France, Georges Brassens is as popular as the Beatles are in England.  In the anglophone world he is little known, because his lyrics are difficult for non-French audiences to understand, and English interpretations of his songs are rare.

He was born in Sète, a Mediterranean port where all southern Europe traditions meet, in 1921. His father was a humble house builder, his mother, Elvira Dagrosa, the daughter of immigrants from southern Italy.

From his father, he received the values of an unpretentious man, of great kindness and understanding, filled with the secular and anticlerical ideas of that time; from his mother, a fervent Roman Catholic, a religious education; from both an endless love for popular songs the kid followed in the streets from house to house, from gramophone to gramophone; from his school years (he left at the age of 15), he’ll only remember a teacher of exception, à la Robin Williams, communicating to his class his love for poems he read with tears in his eyes.

Gradually, he realises how much the art of la chanson needs poetry. This is due to the particular French context.  France, unlike countries such as Spain, Italy and the USA, has few traditional folk rhythms which are sufficiently attractive to form the basis of popular tunes.  Songwriters borrow rhythms from elsewhere - using tango, rhumba, blues and jazz for example.  If the lyrics are poor, there's no originality in the creation.  Thus the lyrics need special care.  True poetry is achieved by the best.

 And Georges wants to be among the best. He decides to study the art of poetry, the skills with which poets built five centuries of French literature. Up to the age of 31, from Sète to Paris, with an episode of forced labour in Germany during WWII (from which he escapes), he keeps reading, taking notes and studying from the greatest, from François Villon (born in 1421, his master, older by 500 years), to his contemporaries Paul Fort and Aragon, with Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Verlaine in between.

On March 8, 1952, when about to give up, he gets his first real opportunity to face the public. In his notebook, about 30 songs are ready, the raw material for the first 3 LPs. In a few weeks, he leaves poverty and the fringes of society, enters the world of fame and fortune. He remains one of the best paid singers in the country, selling millions of recordings, until his death in 1981.  Nearly every home has one of his records. Any French person can hum a dozen of his songs. His characters are as popular as those of La Fontaine. A national monument, a living statue.

But he was the kind of man who lived by his principles.  Neither fame nor fortune made him change his friends or his way of life.  He lodged with great friends for 20 years, in a house without running water for much of this time.  His friends might be stars like Jacques Brel or Lino Ventura, or more often unknown companions from his childhood or from harder times.

When hearing a Georges Brassens song (and if you're familiar with French... ),the first thing you notice is the perfection of the language. Poetry so subtle and elaborated that it seems simple. He really did bring poetry to the people. In his silent years, Georges Brassens built an imaginary and timeless stage through which his own philosophy could pass.  As it now becomes clearer every day, a humanism for our times.  From a basis of non-violent anarchism, he advocated an individual morality in which peace and a better world can result from eradicating "evil" within each of us. Perhaps similar to a Buddhist approach, but a long way from any organized church or party, and totally atheist.

In show business, he was a special case.  Others prepared songs for records and shows. He wrote at his own creative rate. When a dozen new songs were ready, he went back to the public. Every time, a triumph. As he said, his songs were meant to be heard again and again. So, he re-wrote them again and again. Sometimes, up to 50 drafts were found. He speaks of familiar things, love and friendship, old age and death, with humour and without sentimentality, always saying less than he is feeling, presenting an imaginary world and characters which we recognise nevertheless. This is poetry with a human face, telling us about life. Life stronger than wars and ideologies, money and power, conformity of any kind.

He set his own poems (and some others he particularly loved) to music. A music as perfect as his lyrics, based on his encyclopaedic knowledge of French song and jazz music.  The music was meant to serve the words, giving them life ("I made the words dance") and space ("like a film soundtrack you must not listen to").  On stage, alone with his guitar and a double bassist, his faithful companion Pierre Nicolas.  For studio recordings, a second guitar (Joël Favreau from 1966 onwards). But always the music serving the poetry, as evidenced when you hear instrumental interpretations or an adaptation in an unknown language.

Georges Brassens, all life long, kept specifically French (only 3 recordings in Spanish, only 3 shows outside Francophonia, among them one in Cardiff in October 1973… in French). His form of expression needed acceptance from the public. Acceptance could be gained from people with a sufficient knowledge of French.  Otherwise, it required an audience ready to be satisfied with the musicality of the words.

To ignore Georges Brassens is to ignore an essential element of French culture in the 20^th Century. More than that, it’s missing a splendid occasion to dive into the poetical heritage of France with musical accompaniment, and much pleasure. Much, much pleasure.  

BBC 4 on Brassens Oct.14th 2004