Georges Brassens 2

I came across Brassens when I was doing an Open University course. Part of the course was to listen to his song Chanson Pour L'Auvergnat. It gave the lyrics and it certainly opened my eyes to translation. I was starting to learn French at a deeper level. There are many idioms and phrases, some of which were no longer in current use, except when the French listen to (or sing) this song.

I remember that the next Brassens song that I came across, I think it was in the same course, was Les Copains D'Abord. As I mentioned last time, the style of guitar playing was very similar to the way I play and both songs are easy to perform. If you look at a Brassens video on YouTube you may not get the same sense of enthusiasm that I found by playing his songs but my main motivator was the expression on the faces of some French people when they joined in with me and sang the songs of Brassens and others. They were very animated, almost like une bd (bande dessinée). This ambience really is a motivator to learn French.

One last point before I leave Brassens. He wrote a song, Supplique pour être enterré à la plage de Sète. This may sound like a strange title because your body should get washed away if you are buried in a beach, but I understand that this is the name of the cemetery in Sète.

A bientôt