Song:Les Succettes
Album:Gainsbourg...Forever
Serge Gainsbourg was the bad boy of French music. Here he is best known for the 1969 hit Je t'aime with Jane Birkin. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Gainsbourg was notorious for songs like Les Succettes which he wrote for France Gall. He recorded it himself on the album he recorded with Birkin. He was born Lucien Ginsburg Apr. 2, 1928 in Paris. His parents were Russian Jews who fled to Paris after the 1917 Russian Revolution. When he got into music in the late 50s he changed his name to Serge Gainsbourg as a tribute to the artist Thomas Gainsborough. He also thought that Serge seemed more Russian than Lucien. Early on he worked with Juliette Greco and others. But he had his first success when his song Poupee de cire, poupee de son sung by 16 year old France Gall won the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. He wrote France's next single Les Succettes (Lollipops). The song was a big hit. France thought the song was about a girl enjoying lollipops. She was mortified when she discovered the song was actually about oral sex. The same thing happened when Gainsbourg tried to record Je t'aime with Brigitte Bardot. When she refused to allow him to release the song, he recorded it with Jane Birkin and it was a worldwide hit. The album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg was a big success. Gainsbourg recorded his own version of Les Suceettes on the album. Gainsbourg continued to have success in France in the 70s. This 2CD budget comp covers his entire career. Gainsbourg smoked five packs of unfiltered Gitane cigarettes a day. He continued to do this after suffering a 1973 heart attack. Health problems forced him to slow down in the 80s. And his relationship with Jane Birkin ended in 1981. He was banned from TV after appearing on a couple of talk shows drunk. But he continued to produce albums for Jane Birkin, Vanessa Paradis and Isabelle Adjani until he died on Mar. 2, 1991 at age 62. Here's Serge Gainsbourg performing Les Succettes 1969.
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