Now Playing in Profile:
The Cake
lollipops and bananas
Go here to download the clip. Thanks once again to Will for this.
Buy from chouchouquinette on Ebay, or Rétro Franco.
Icrojy points out that "teenagers in France were then far less informed than nowadays. I was
myself very surprised as I was told the hidden meaning of that song as
I was 20 or so. I had sung it as a little boy and then as a teenager
without noticing anything."
He mentions that Lio suffered a similar humiliation with her 1980 hit 'Le Banana Split':
Lio makes the comparison herself in this 1983 interview:
And to tie it all in together:
Lio - Les Sucettes
From the otherwise dreadful tribute CD, Ils Chantent Serge Gainsbourg (1998).
I sympathize with your plight on the YouTube page. Sometimes it's best not
to even engage with people in that kind of a forum cause it'll just make
you tear your hair out. It's especially frustrating when people who know
nothing about the subject themselves won't take your word for it! Argh!
Haha, yes it is frustrating indeed, but I don't seem to be able to help
myself! It is quite an amusing exercise checking my youtube inbox.
They're obviously confusing what's going on in their own heads with what's
going on in her's. This is one issue where the genders are never going to
agree. I think it was the Dalai Lama who said, "Never let the facts get in
the way of a France Gall blow-job fantasy."
Bruno, I really can't tell if you're kidding, but if not, I don't get it.
Oops, I accidentally deleted Bruno's comment, but this was it:
"What's dirty about a girl who likes lollipops?I think it's a really sweet
song,her kisses must have tasted a lot sweeter.Very nice indeed,maybe a bit
erotic (le sucre coule dans sa gorge) at times,but not dirty. One only
hears a dirty song if one wants too."
Maybe I'm a bit naive?
I'm a child of the 60's after all... :)
Did you read the wiki link above, or the youtube comments? The wiki doesn't
really state it strongly enough, but it is confirmed that Gainsbourg wrote
it to mean the other meaning, not the lollipops. My source of frustration
at the youtube comments is not that people thought it was dirty, but the
insistence that France Gall must have known.
Hi Christine,I strongly believe that France thought this was a nice song
about lollies (just like I do),the text really suggests not much else,or
you should really want to... That part about "when her lollypop is
finished...she returns (to get some more) to the drug-store" strongly
suggests she is going back to get lollies (unless you have a very dirty
mind)... So no I don't think she knew...The video is quiet interesting in
that France never sucks the lollypop herself,and the other footage of the
"erotic sucking" girls with lollies was obviously inserted.The lollies are
also big and phallic shaped but that kind of lollies were quiet common in
those days...I think the only thing France noticed was the giant lollies
dancing,which is quiet innocent.Now if Gainsbourg would have sung this...
:)
OK, I think I get your previous comment now. You're right, she didn't know
what it meant, and that's the effect Gainsbourg was hoping for. He did sing
it later himself, with a devilish laugh that leaves the listener with no
doubt as to what he means!
It's a good point about those lollipops looking like common lollipops.
We're conditioned to see that stuff now.
Do you realise the 's' is missing from your URL? You should click it and
see where it goes... are you trying to save my soul? :D
Haha You've found out about my new project! :)
"The video is quiet interesting in that France never sucks the lollypop
herself"
Watching the video also very carefully, yup, she does put the lolly in her
face (see frame at 00:35 of clip). But she's biting it. Definitely no
sucking.
glad to have a crack team of researchers on top of this very important
piece of information.
My journalistic principles require ceaseless persuit of the truth in such
matters.