The Mediating of Chanson: French Identity and the Myth Brel-Brassens-Ferré
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stirling Online Research Repository University of Stirling The mediating of chanson: French identity and the myth Brel-Brassens-Ferré Adeline Cordier - Supervised by Professor David Murphy Submitted for the degree of PhD in French Studies School of Languages, Cultures and Religion September 2008 Abstract of thesis The mediating of chanson: French identity and the myth Brel-Brassens-Ferré Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré are three emblematic figures of post-war French song, who have been seen by critics, journalists, and the public, as the epitome of chanson, and more generally of ‘Frenchness’. The starting point of this study is the observation that the legacy of the systematic association of Brel, Brassens, and Ferré – crystallised in Cristiani’s 1969 interview and in Jean-Pierre Leloir’s photograph of the interview – has enjoyed a prosperity which seems disproportionate to the actual relevance of the comparison between the three artists. In 1969, the three singers were significant figures of French song, but they were not the only ones. Bringing them together was therefore a promise of media success, but it was in no way expected to start a legend; and yet, the myth of the interview has today taken over its reality, to the extent that the Comédie Française is presently, almost thirty years later, turning it into a play which was staged in May 2008. The photograph of the three singers smoking and drinking around a table is, today, and for a vast majority of people, the only thing that they know about the famous interview, if not about the singers. The lack of obvious grounds to justify the exclusivity of the trio suggests that there is more to it than a musical trinity. By taking into consideration the oral dimension of song, the socio-cultural context in which the trio emerged, and the mediation of their celebrity, this study aims to identify the factors of cultural and national identity that have held together the myth of the trio since its creation. Besides shedding new light on the significance of the three artists individually, this study proposes to demonstrate that each singer embodies qualities with which the French people likes to be associated, and that the trio Brel-Brassens-Ferré can therefore be seen as an arbitrary sketch of a certain ‘Frenchness’. In particular, this thesis focuses on the trio illustrating the popular representation of a key issue of French national identity: the paradoxical aspiration to both revolution and the status quo. By taking the cultural icon ‘Brel-Brassens-Ferré’ as a case study through which to address questions of popular and national identity, this study contributes to cultural studies in two different ways. Firstly, through theorising the implications of the oral dimension of songs, it demonstrates the necessity of taking into consideration factors such as performance, the media, and the socio-historical context, when studying artists as societal phenomena. Secondly, it evidences the importance of the study of forms of popular culture, such as iconic singers or music, when investigating the ways in which a society perceives its own national identity. Table of contents Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………. iv Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 1 Chapter 1: An artificial trio A – Brel, Brassens and Ferré: the creation of a trio …………………………… 17 1) Origins and grounds for the trio ………………………………………………… 17 2) The trio and the study of chanson ………………………………………………. 21 B – Three singers with no obvious connections ………………………………… 24 1) Personal relationships between Brel, Brassens, and Ferré ……………………… 24 2) Three different styles ……………………………………………………………. 28 C – Brel, Brassens, and Ferré in the broader cultural context ………………… 34 1) Influence of post-war intellectual thought ………………………………………. 35 2) A period of transition for song and music ………………………………………. 41 D – The myth Brel-Brassens-Ferré ……………………………………………… 46 1) The 6 January 1969 interview …………………………………………………… 46 2) Barthes and the ‘concept mythique’ ……………………………………………… 49 Chapter 2: How to analyse chanson? Theoretical Approaches A – The nature of song ……………………………………………………………. 61 1) The oral dimension ………………………………………………………………. 61 a – Song as oral poetry ……………………………………………………... 63 b – Physical dimension of the song …………………………………………. 70 • Body and voice ……………………………………………………………………. 70 • Physical communication with the audience ……………………………………….. 75 2) Song and heritage ………………………………………………………………… 82 a – Song and its resonance …………………………………………………. 82 b – Song and social position ………………………………………………... 89 i B – The reception of songs in the 1950s and 1960s ……………………………… 97 1) A cultural crisis: young people and music ………………………………………. 97 a – Social context: youth and counterculture ………………………………. 97 b – Music and Salut les Copains ……………………………………………. 101 2) Music industry and celebrity …………………………………………………….. 107 a – Mass production and its practical implications ………………………… 107 b – The commodification of song …………………………………………… 109 c – The artist and celebrity ………………………………………………….. 111 Chapter 3: The media appeal of Brel, Brassens and Ferré A –The public profiles of Brel, Brassens and Ferré …………………………….. 117 1) Ferré ……………………………………………………………………………… 117 a – Ferré the anarchist ……………………………………………………… 119 b – Ferré the romantic poet ………………………………………………… 123 2) Brassens ………………………………………………………………………….. 129 a – Brassens the man ……………………………………………………….. 130 b – Brassens through his songs ……………………………………………… 135 c – Brassens the songwriter …………………………………………………. 139 3) Brel ……………………………………………………………………………….. 142 a – The early years ………………………………………………………….. 143 b – The 1960s ………………………………………………………………... 145 B – Brel, Brassens, Ferré, and their public ………………………………………. 153 1) The public ……………………………………………………………………….. 153 2) The mediated audience …………………………………………………………… 158 a – Performance locations ………………………………………………….. 159 b – The press ………………………………………………………………... 160 c – Television and radio …………………………………………………….. 163 3) The assumed listeners of the songs ………………………………………………. 165 C – Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………... 170 1) Brel, Brassens, Ferré, and celebrity ……………………………………………… 170 2) The media appeal of Brel, Brassens, and Ferré …………………………………... 176 ii Chapter 4: The myth Brel-Brassens-Ferré and the post-war construction of French identity A – Post-war cultural debates and the trio Brel-Brassens-Ferré ………………. 180 1) The mechanism of the trio’s ‘Frenchness’ ………………………………………. 180 2) Frenchness in the post-war context ……………………………………………… 189 a – A definition of Frenchness ……………………………………………… 189 b – Post-war debates and French identity ………………………………….. 194 c – France’s attitude towards America : consequences on post-war chanson 200 3) The trio as an embodiment of symbolic revolt …………………………………... 205 B – Reconciling traditionalism and non-conformism …………………………… 214 1) Memory and the image of a timeless France ……………………………………. 214 a – War in the songs of Brel, Brassens, and Ferré …………………………. 214 b – War as an obsessive spectre ……………………………………………. 219 c – Nostalgia for an idyllic past …………………………………………….. 221 d – Picture of a taditional France …………………………………………... 225 2) Coping with modernity: Brel-Brassens-Ferré as a link with traditional French value ..…..………………………………………………………………………….. 228 a – The trio as ‘solidly Third Republic’ …………………………………….. 228 b – They embody the conservative values of a patriarchal society ………… 237 c – Brel-Brassens-Ferré as a picture of ‘True France’? …………………… 244 • A symbol of Franco-French chanson ……………………………………………… 244 • The trio and cultural democratisation: three self-made Parisians …………………. 247 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………... 255 Bibliography and References ………………………………………………….. 261 iii Acknowledgements: First, I would like to thank the supervisors of this thesis who have supported me throughout the different stages of the project: Alastair Duncan guided me during the first year of my research, Bill Kidd’s insight on post-war French society has been very inspiring, Claire Boyle helped me keep focused while I was writing the thesis and, finally, David Murphy guided me and encouraged me throughout the final stages and dedicated a lot of time to reading and rereading many versions of this thesis. My thanks also go to the Arts and Humanities Research Council for granting me a postgraduate postdoctoral award, to the School of Languages Cultures and Religion of the University of Stirling for awarding me, for two consecutive years, a postgraduate bursary, and to the Funds for Women Graduates, for the award of a Foundation Main Grant. These have enabled me to concentrate fully on my research and to complete the thesis within the time limit. I would also like to express my thanks to all my colleagues from the School of Languages Cultures and Religion at the University of Stirling, and to all my friends and family who have supported me and encouraged me throughout this project. In particular, I thank my friends Mathilde, Nathalie, and Alison, my sisters Valérie, Ana, and Vanessa; I am particularly grateful to the latter for having assisted me in my research at the Pompidou centre on a number of occasions. Finally, I would like to express special thanks to my parents, Marc and Florence, who have supported me in many ways throughout years of studies, and to my husband, David, who has proofread every page of this thesis and whose encouragements have proved an invaluable support. iv Introduction Jacques Brel (1929-1978), Georges Brassens