Happy Bastille Day!

Sacre bleu, it's Bastille Day, and your favorite Enfants Terribles almost accidentally let the day pass with nary a nod to our French namesakes. We couldn't let that happen, now could we? Now, my last visit to France consisted of me getting in a screaming match with the customs guy at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, but what can you do? Nice remains perhaps my favorite European city, and who doesn't love a good croissant now and again? Don't even get me started on fries.

In celebration of le quatorze juillet, we've put together a little mix of Frenchified tunes for your listening enjoyment. As His Royal Badness once said, "That's French. See?"

Just don't ask me what any of the songs mean. While Madame Farina will be aghast, my four years of high school French did not stick so well. i'm pretty sure i remember how to say "Your mom sleeps with my dog," though.

mp3: Les Debris, Ils Sont Blancs (Phil Lee from The Mighty King of Love)

mp3: Les Yeux Ouverts (Dream A Little Dream Of Me) (Emilie-Claire Barlow from The Very Thought of You)

mp3: Belleville Rendez-Vous (French Version) (The Triplets Of Belleville from The Triplets Of Belleville Soundtrack)

mp3: En Melody (Serge Gainsbourg from Histoire De Melody Nelson)

mp3: Sympathique (Pink Martini from Sympathique)

mp3: C'est Moi (Robert Goulet from Camelot Original Broadway Recording)

mp3: Comme des Enfants (Coeur De Pirate from Coeur De Pirate)

mp3: La Mer (Kevin Kline from French Kiss Soundtrack)

mp3: Comic Strip (Brigitte Bardot from Best of Bardot)

mp3: L'Un Part L'Autre Reste (Charlotte Gainsbourg from L'Un Part L'Autre Reste)

mp3: Can't Change Me (French Version) (Chris Cornell from Euphoria Morning French Release)

mp3: Transmitting Live from Mars (De La Soul from 3 Feet High and Rising)

mp3: French Taunting (French Guard from Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

We Have a Winner!

We like to think we're a little generous here at LET. So we teamed up with the fabulous folks at Light In the Attic to offer you the chance to win a copy of Serge Gainsbourg's seminal/legendary/necessary album Histoire de Melody Nelson. We'd like to give much thanks to everyone who entered our little Serge Gainsbourg contest. But the contest has been closed, and a name drawn out of a hat (yep, we're super fancy around here, eh?). Here's our winner, and the name of their favorite French song (which impressed us!)...

*Melissa K., from Richmond ("Comment Te Dire Adieu" by Francoise Hardy)

A hearty congratulations to Melissa, and we'll be in touch. Enjoy your brand-spanking new Serge album!

Album Review/Contest Time!: Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson

If you don't already know who Serge Gainsbourg is, well, you're going to need to look up his credentials on your own. Suffice to say, he's considered one of France's finest musicians, and his back story is just messed up enough to keep the audience entertained. He's been sampled and/or covered by everyone from De La Soul to Tricky to Michael Stipe to Portishead. Clearly, not only do the critics love him, but the masses and artists do, too.

So it's pretty kick ass that Light In the Attic has seen fit to re-issue Monsieur Gainsbourg's masterpiece, Histoire De Melody Nelson. It's a tale of seduction between an older man and a young girl, a la Lolita, it's in French, it sounds vaguely nasty throughout and is so damn funky you're probably going to have to scrape your speakers clean when you're done listening. It's all here--70's-style guitar licks, thumping bass lines, full string orchestras, choir choruses, little girls laughing in an obviously naughty way--damn good stuff, from beginning to end.

But there's no need to take my word for it. In addition to providing the track below, the fine folks at Light in the Attic are giving away one free copy of the CD to LET readers! Simply email us with your favorite French song (bonus points for sexually explicit content in the spirit of Serge) to: lesenfantsterriblesmusic@gmail.com by April 3, 2009, and we'll announce the lucky winner on April 6.

mp3: En Melody