Paris (AFP)
Does the audience always know what they're humming? The book "The lesbian underwear of the song" offers a new echo to 40 titles, unearthed over a century, between explicit words, encrypted or appropriated by homosexuals.
One way to remedy a certain invisibility. An example ? The televised retransmission of a concert by Juliette Gréco in 1972. Two pieces, "Déshabhab-moi" and "Vieille" are accompanied by a white square, warning to sensitive souls. But not the "Penguins", which denounces homophobia with a metaphor of "ugly penguins" yet clear.
"It's as if the subject of the song did not exist", comments to AFP Pauline Paris, composer and performer, co-author of the book (editions iXe) with Léa Lootgieter, journalist and LGBT activist.
The latter notes "a lack" around lesbian themes in music, yet "universal" support while work exists for cinema or literature. "When we talk about interlope music, male homosexuality is approached; but apart from Mecano + A woman with a woman + there is nothing for girls," she adds. "I lacked lesbian models in the song," bounces Pauline Paris.
- "Joe the cab" -
The idea for the book became more precise when the two young women wrote a column on a song with a lesbian underside for "Gouinement Monday", a radio program co-produced by Léa Lootgieter. The book, illustrated by Julie Feydel, offers a playlist to download. The whole is a wealth of information, on an erudite and playful tempo, peeling works of lesbian and non-lesbian artists.
There are the obvious words of "Maman a tort" (1984) sung by Mylène Farmer - "Three, the nurse is crying / Four, I love it" - and the ambiguity of the "Fingers" sung by Françoise Hardy - " When I teach you / On my fingertips ", in the album" La question "(1971) conceived with Tuca, Brazilian guitarist" openly lesbian "as the authors write.
And the particular case of the tube "Comme un hurricane" (1986) by Stéphanie de Monaco. "We are both 34 years old with Pauline, we knew this song from afar. But we were told that it had become a lesbian anthem at the time. Oh well? We listened to it again," says Léa Lootgieter . The vision of the clip is enlightening. "At the end she meets her double, in masculine", underlines the journalist.
There is sometimes a little-known story behind a hit, like "Joe the Taxi" by Vanessa Paradis (1987). "Joe" is Maria-José Leao Dos Santos, organizer of lesbian evenings. In the 1980s, she was also a taxi driver for "Le Privé", a club on the Champs-Élysées. Between two races, she dances among the customers and when we need her, we call her on the microphone: + Joe. Joe the taxi +. Among the regulars of the place, there is Etienne Roda-Gil, author of the lyrics of the song, as revealed by the Nouvel Obs.
- "Monocle and hard collar" -
"Les below lesbiens ..." is also a dive into the history of a community that has long been forced to advance masked.
The signs of recognition over the ages are thus listed: "Monocle et col dur" as in Juliette's song (1993), mauve color (mixture of blue and pink, evoking the confusion of genres), left ankle bracelet, etc. As well as places of refuge, with an appendix to cabarets, in particular, like "Le Monocle" run by Lulu de Montparnasse in the 1930s.
Without forgetting the pioneers like Damia, singer of "The chain" (1919), who at the time was the only one to speak about her female adventures in the press, as exposed by the authors. Impossible, of course, to be exhaustive. "We missed + Break in the mirror + (composed by Serge Gainsbourg and interpreted by Isabelle Adjani-Jane Birkin for a TV show) blows Pauline Paris. But there is a Facebook page dedicated to the book, if people who have read it other ideas, they can send a link. "
For a volume 2? "The lesbian tops of the song? Why not," laughs the singer.
© 2019 AFP