Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg is arguably the Francophone songwriter whose contribution to the international appeal of French popular music has been the most significant in the post-war era. Sampled by Beck, De La Soul, Massive Attack and Fatboy Slim, remixed by Howie B. and David Holmes, translated by Mick Harvey, and covered by Iggy Pop, Donna Summer, Portishead, Madeleine Peyroux, the Pet Shop Boys and Franz Ferdinand, his music has crossed borders in a way no other modern French-language singer-songwriter's has.
The interdisciplinary approach of Serge Gainsbourg: An International Perspective engages in a dialogue between musicology, film and media studies, literature, cultural studies, gender studies, and more, revealing the broad scope of Gainsbourg's impact in and outside of France, from the late 1950s through today. Bringing together a large selection of scholars from across the world, this collection of 26 chapters emphasizes his unique position in French culture, covering issues such as his musical influences and collaborations, esthetics and form, his experimentations with disciplines other than music (mainly film and literature), not to mention the conversation at play between high art and mass culture in this artist's multifaceted body of work.

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 figures
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: From Saint-Germain-des-Prés to the Sorbonne: The Emergence of Gainsbourg Studies
Olivier Julien, Sorbonne Université, France, and Olivier Bourderionnet, University of New Orleans, USA
Part I Deconstructing the Gainsbourg Persona
"Docteur Jekyll et Monsieur Hyde": Gainsbourg in the Mirror
1. The Hidden Beauty of the Ugly
Jeremy Allen, Journalist, UK
2. Gainsbourg over Piaf: The Gendered Pantheon of Chanson Artists in French Music Biopics
Isabelle Marc, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
"Yellow Star": Gainsbourg & Jewishness
3. "Dieu Est Juif": Disappearing and Reappearing Jewishness in Serge Gainsbourg's Career
Jonathyne Briggs, Indiana University Northwest, USA, and Nick Underwood, The College of Idaho, USA
4. "Le Sable et le Soldat": Serge Gainsbourg, Jewishness, Masculinity, and the Quest for Legitimacy
France Grenaudier-Klijn, Massey University, New Zealand
"Vu de l'Extérieur": Gainsbourg's International Reputation
5. Contention and Consensus: Posthumous Press Coverage of Serge Gainsbourg in the UK
Chris Tinker, Heriot-Watt University, UK
6. The Critical Song of Serge Gainsbourg
Caroline Kennedy, Goldsmiths University London, UK
Part II Words and Music
"Du Jazz dans le Ravin": The Beginnings
7. Boris Vian's Visionary Criticism of the Early Work of Serge Gainsbourg
Marianne Di Benedetto, Independent Scholar, France
8. Fallen on Deaf Ears: Confidentiel's Visionary Blend of Jazz and Chanson
Olivier Bourderionnet, University of New Orleans, USA
"Là-Bas C'Est Naturel": Gainsbourg & World Music
9. "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 Percussions
Danick 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, France
12. Gainsbourg and the Other: A Postcolonial Reading of Gainsbourg Percussions
Aurélien Djebbari, DJ, France, and Elina Djebbari, Paris Nanterre University, France
"L'Impression du Déjà-Vu": Local Inspiration & Francophone Legacy
13. Charles Trenet's Influence on Serge Gainsbourg: Swing, Irony, and Poetry
Claire Fraysse, Sorbonne Université, France
14. Singing Gainsbourg at the Time of the Yé-Yé (1962-6): The Perpetual Provocateur and His Muses
Andreas Bonnermeier, University of Bayreuth, Germany
"Qui Est 'In' Qui Est 'Out'": Gainsbourg & The British Invasion
15. "Extrêmement Pop": Gainsbourg and Swinging London
Kirk Anderson, Wheaton College, Massachusetts, USA
16. "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus." Jane Birkin and the English Preference of Serge Gainsbourg
Peter Hawkins, University of Bristol, UK
Part III Beyond Songwriting
"Arts Majeurs"/"Arts Mineurs": Intertextual Perspectives
17. Cargo Cultist: How Serge Gainsbourg Pioneered Sampling
Darran Anderson, Independent Scholar, UK
18. "Un Amour Peut en Cacher un Autre": Serge Gainsbourg through the Prism of Transtextuality
Olivier Julien, Sorbonne Université, France
19. Serge Gainsbourg and the Romantic Piano
Nathalie Hérold, Sorbonne Université, France
"Les Dessous Chics": Gainsbourg & Musical Analysis
20. Evil twin? The Poetics of Duality in Serge Gainsbourg
Catherine Rudent, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France
21. "Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus": A Songscape Analysis
Thomas MacFarlane, Independent Scholar and Musician, USA
"En Relisant Ta Lettre": Gainsbourg & Literature
22. Evguénie Sokolov: Fake Genius, Genial Faker
Christophe Levaux, University of Liège, Belgium
23. Gainsbourg as a Dandy: Image and Literary Influences
Mickaël Savchenko, Independent Scholar, France
"Des Flashes et des Eclairs": Gainsbourg & The Moving Image
24. L'Eau à la Bouche: Gainsbourg at the Forefront of the "Nouvelle Vague"
Jérôme Rossi, Université Lumière Lyon II, France
25. "Cargo Culte": How Gainsbourg's Melody Film Invented a New Long-Form Audiovisual Language
Alex Jeffery, Independent Scholar, UK
26. Gainsbourg for Sale! Serge Gainsbourg and Advertising
Philippe Cathé, Sorbonne Université, France
References
Index