Serge Gainsbourg

Olivier Julien is Associate Professor at Sorbonne Université, France, where he teaches the history and musicology of popular music. A permanent member of the IReMus research group (Sorbonne Université/CNRS) and a member of the editorial board of Volume! La revue des musiques populaires, he is the editor of Sgt. Pepper and the Beatles: It Was Forty Years Ago Today (2009 ARSC Award for Best Research in Recorded Rock and Popular Music) and Over and Over: Exploring Repetition in Popular Music (with Christophe Levaux, Bloomsbury, 2018).Olivier Bourderionnet is Professor of French at the University of New Orleans, USA. He teaches courses on contemporary French literature and culture, on pop culture and the cultural industries. His book Swing Troubadour. Vian, Brassens, Gainsbourg: les Trente Glorieuses en 33 tours (2012) examines the transformation of post-WWII France through the prism of popular music and the impact of jazz on French chanson. Bourderionnet has also published numerous articles touching on a broad variety of topics such as music in the interwar period, music and film and French Hip-hop culture.

• List of figuresNotes on contributorsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: From Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the Sorbonne: The Emergence of Gainsbourg StudiesOlivier Julien, Sorbonne Université, France, and Olivier Bourderionnet, University of New Orleans, USAPart I Deconstructing the Gainsbourg Persona“Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde”: Gainsbourg in the Mirror1. The Hidden Beauty of the UglyJeremy Allen, Journalist, UK2. Gainsbourg over Piaf: The Gendered Pantheon of Chanson Artists in French Music BiopicsIsabelle Marc, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain“Yellow Star”: Gainsbourg & Jewishness3. “Dieu Est Juif”: Disappearing and Reappearing Jewishness in Serge Gainsbourg’s CareerJonathyne Briggs, Indiana University Northwest, USA, and Nick Underwood, The College of Idaho, USA4. “Le Sable et le Soldat”: Serge Gainsbourg, Jewishness, Masculinity, and the Quest for LegitimacyFrance Grenaudier-Klijn, Massey University, New Zealand“Vu de l’Extérieur”: Gainsbourg’s International Reputation5. Contention and Consensus: Posthumous Press Coverage of Serge Gainsbourg in the UKChris Tinker, Heriot-Watt University, UK6. The Critical Song of Serge GainsbourgCaroline Kennedy, Goldsmiths University London, UKPart II Words and Music“Du Jazz dans le Ravin”: The Beginnings7. Boris Vian’s Visionary Criticism of the Early Work of Serge GainsbourgMarianne Di Benedetto, Independent Scholar, France8. Fallen on Deaf Ears: Confidentiel’s Visionary Blend of Jazz and ChansonOlivier Bourderionnet, University of New Orleans, USA“Là-Bas C’Est Naturel”: Gainsbourg & World Music9. “Latin” Gainsbourg and the Parisian Nightclub Scene Sue Miller, Leeds Beckett University, UK 10. Gainsbourg and Musical Crossover: Issues in Sound Categorization and Stylistic Appropriation in the Study of Gainsbourg PercussionsDanick Trottier, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada 11. Gainsbourg in a Reggae Style: The Esthetics, Economics, and Politics of Aux Armes et Cætera Marc Kaiser, Paris 8 University, France12. Gainsbourg and the Other: A Postcolonial Reading of Gainsbourg PercussionsAurélien Djebbari, DJ, France, and Elina Djebbari, Paris Nanterre University, France“L’Impression du Déjà-Vu”: Local Inspiration & Francophone Legacy13. Charles Trenet’s Influence on Serge Gainsbourg: Swing, Irony, and PoetryClaire Fraysse, Sorbonne Université, France14. Singing Gainsbourg at the Time of the Yé-Yé (1962–6): The Perpetual Provocateur and His MusesAndreas Bonnermeier, University of Bayreuth, Germany“Qui Est ‘In’ Qui Est ‘Out’”: Gainsbourg & The British Invasion15. “Extrêmement Pop”: Gainsbourg and Swinging LondonKirk Anderson, Wheaton College, Massachusetts, USA16. “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus.” Jane Birkin and the English Preference of Serge GainsbourgPeter Hawkins, University of Bristol, UKPart III Beyond Songwriting“Arts Majeurs”/“Arts Mineurs”: Intertextual Perspectives17. Cargo Cultist: How Serge Gainsbourg Pioneered SamplingDarran Anderson, Independent Scholar, UK18. “Un Amour Peut en Cacher un Autre”: Serge Gainsbourg through the Prism of TranstextualityOlivier Julien, Sorbonne Université, France19. Serge Gainsbourg and the Romantic PianoNathalie Hérold, Sorbonne Université, France“Les Dessous Chics”: Gainsbourg & Musical Analysis20. Evil twin? The Poetics of Duality in Serge GainsbourgCatherine Rudent, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France21. “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus”: A Songscape AnalysisThomas MacFarlane, Independent Scholar and Musician, USA“En Relisant Ta Lettre”: Gainsbourg & Literature22. Evguénie Sokolov: Fake Genius, Genial FakerChristophe Levaux, University of Liège, Belgium23. Gainsbourg as a Dandy: Image and Literary InfluencesMickaël Savchenko, Independent Scholar, France“Des Flashes et des Eclairs”: Gainsbourg & The Moving Image24. L’Eau à la Bouche: Gainsbourg at the Forefront of the “Nouvelle Vague”Jérôme Rossi, Université Lumière Lyon II, France25. “Cargo Culte”: How Gainsbourg’s Melody Film Invented a New Long-Form Audiovisual LanguageAlex Jeffery, Independent Scholar, UK26. Gainsbourg for Sale! Serge Gainsbourg and AdvertisingPhilippe Cathé, Sorbonne Université, FranceReferencesIndex

A provocative and pungent artist like Gainsbourg hobbled with academic footnotes and impersonal hedging? This book could have been a curate’s egg. But solid research and fresh insight make it more like an egg by Fabergé.