Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 1969 | |||
Recorded | 1968 | |||
Studio | Fontana Studios, London; Chappell Studios, London; La Gaieté Studios, Paris | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 31:18 | |||
Label | Fontana | |||
Producer | Jean-Claude Desmarty | |||
Serge Gainsbourg chronology | ||||
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Jane Birkin chronology | ||||
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Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg (also known as Je t'aime... moi non plus [1] ) is a 1969 collaborative studio album by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. It was originally released by Fontana Records. It includes "Je t'aime... moi non plus", which reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. [2]
The song Jane B is an adaptation of Frédéric Chopin's Fourth Prelude from Opus. 28 in E minor. The music was arranged by Arthur Greenslade. [3]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Pitchfork | 8.8/10 [4] |
PopMatters | [5] |
The album has received critical acclaim. D.M. Edwards of PopMatters stated: "The arrangements by Arthur Greenslade are excellent and there are plenty of glimpses of the experimentation which would be a feature of Gainsbourg's music," further describing the album as "sophisticated, timeless pop music." [5]
In 2017, Pitchfork placed it at number 44 on the "200 Best Albums of the 1960s" list. [6] Writing for Pitchfork, Cameron Cook called it "a love letter read out loud by its recipient: Every note and lyric is meant to highlight a certain aspect of Birkin's persona though Gainsbourg's lens, from her breathless delivery of every line to her heavily accented, coquettish French." [6]
All tracks are written by Serge Gainsbourg
No. | Title | Vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Je t'aime... moi non plus" | Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin | 4:23 |
2. | "L'anamour" | Serge Gainsbourg | 2:17 |
3. | "Orang-outan" | Jane Birkin | 2:28 |
4. | "Sous le soleil exactement" | Serge Gainsbourg | 2:52 |
5. | "18-39" | Jane Birkin | 2:39 |
6. | "69 année érotique" | Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin | 3:21 |
7. | "Jane B" | Jane Birkin | 3:09 |
8. | "Elisa" | Serge Gainsbourg | 2:31 |
9. | "Le canari est sur le balcon" | Jane Birkin | 2:20 |
10. | "Les sucettes" | Serge Gainsbourg | 2:37 |
11. | "Manon" | Serge Gainsbourg | 2:41 |
No. | Title | Vocals | Length |
---|---|---|---|
12. | "La chanson de slogan" | Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin | 2:53 |
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Chart | Peak position |
---|---|
French Albums (SNEP) [7] | 128 |
United States (Billboard 200) [8] | 196 |
Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians.
Jane Mallory Birkin was a British and French actress and singer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema.
Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg is a French and British actress and singer. She is the daughter of English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French singer Serge Gainsbourg. After making her musical debut with her father on the song "Lemon Incest" at the age of 12, she released an album with her father at the age of 15. More than 20 years passed before Gainsbourg released albums as an adult to commercial and critical success. She has acted in many films, including collaborations with Lars von Trier, and received two César Awards and Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award 2009 for the movie Antichrist, among many nominations.
Arthur Greenslade was a British conductor and arranger for films and television, as well as for a number of performers. He was most musically active in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Je t'aime... moi non plus" is a 1967 song written by Serge Gainsbourg for Brigitte Bardot. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best known version as a duet with English actress Jane Birkin. Although this version reached number one in the UK—the first foreign-language song to do so—and number two in Ireland, it was banned in several countries due to its overtly sexual content.
Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Produced by Jean-Claude Desmarty, the album was released on March 24, 1971 through Philips Records. Its narrative follows an illicit romance which develops between the middle-aged narrator and fourteen-year-old girl Melody Nelson, portrayed on the album and its cover art by Gainsbourg's then-partner Jane Birkin.
Di doo dah is the debut solo album by Jane Birkin, released in 1973 on Fontana Records. Subsequent reissues in 2001 and 2010 included two bonus tracks from the 1972 7" single "La Décadanse" by Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg.
"Ne t'enfuis pas" is a song written and recorded by Kate Bush. An entirely French-language track, it was released in July 1983 in France and Canada. The song was originally released as the B-side of the singles "There Goes a Tenner" in the UK and Ireland, and "Suspended in Gaffa" in continental Europe. On those singles, the title was misspelled as "Ne T'en Fui Pas".
David Henry Richmond is a British professional bass player, best known as a founder member of the 1960s pop group Manfred Mann. During his short tenure with the group, he played bass on their first hit record, "5-4-3-2-1". Richmond first picked up the ukulele at the age of 14. He later picked up the bass after hearing "Big Noise From Winnetka" on a record player, owned by his older brother.
Je t'aime moi non plus is a 1976 feature film written, directed, and scored by Serge Gainsbourg, starring Jane Birkin, Hugues Quester and Joe Dallesandro, and featuring a cameo by Gérard Depardieu.
The score to the movie The Good Thief was produced and arranged by Elliot Goldenthal; whilst the score music is generally received favourably one major complaint is that it is too short and that the other tracks supersede Goldenthal's scoring work, it contains eight pieces by him and other artists including Cheb Khaled, Serge Gainsbourg, Johnny Hallyday and Bono; the song Bono covers is the Frank Sinatra song "That's Life", produced, with a string arrangement, by Goldenthal. The original score cues were performed by both The London Metropolitan Orchestra and The Irish Film Orchestra.
Variations sur le même t'aime is the second album by popular French singer Vanessa Paradis. It was released in France in 1990, and contains the hit singles "Tandem" and "Dis-lui toi que je t'aime".
Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited is a tribute album to the works of late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. First released on Virgin Records in 2006, it consists of English language cover versions of Gainsbourg songs, performed by a diverse array of contemporary artists. Gainsbourg's former wife, Jane Birkin, sang on one track.
"Lemon Incest" is a song recorded by French father and daughter Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It was recorded in 1984 and released as a single from Serge's 1985 album Love on the Beat and on Charlotte's 1986 debut album Charlotte For Ever, marking her musical debut.
Aux Armes et cætera is the thirteenth studio album by Serge Gainsbourg, released in the early spring of 1979. It was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with some of the island's best reggae musicians at the time as well as members of the I Threes, Bob Marley's backup chorus which includes Rita Marley. Further expanded by new mixes, dubs and Jamaican versions released in 2003 and 2015, the album is considered by many as being one of his masterpieces. The French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 50th greatest French rock album. The recording marked the first time a white singer had recorded a full reggae-influenced album in Jamaica, following previous single-song recordings from Paul Simon and Peter Tosh and Mick Jagger. By 1991, it sold 650,000 copies in France.
"Guitar Song" is a single released by Scottish band Texas, taken from their greatest hits album The Greatest Hits. It contains a sample of the song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" performed by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. The song was released in 2001 exclusively in Belgium, where it charted inside the top 50 in both Flanders and Wallonia.
Bonnie and Clyde is a compilation album by Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. It was originally released by Fontana Records in 1968.
Initials B.B is a 1968 studio album by Serge Gainsbourg. It was originally released by Philips Records.
The discography of French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg consists of 16 studio albums, 4 live albums, 1 compilation album, 80 singles and EPS, and several soundtrack albums.
"A Fair Affair (Je T'Aime)" is a song by British–Swiss singer-songwriter Misty Oldland, released in 1994 by Columbia as the second single from the singer's debut album, Supernatural (1994). The song is her most successful release and was a number five hit in Iceland, while peaking at number ten in the Netherlands and number 20 in France. It samples the French song "Je t'aime... moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg. The music video for "A Fair Affair (Je T'Aime)" was directed by British director Jake Nava.