(Je T'aime Moi Non Plus) X 20

As you might have expected from my post last week, I have moved ahead with due process and there are currently about 1 GB of Gainsbourg mp3's living on my hard drive. I'm trying to listen to the "Gainsbourg a Gainsbarre" box set chronologically. As I write this, I'm moving through the mid-60's (almost all of his pre-'66 work is new to me) and he's morphing from the jazz-pop and cha-cha-cha styles into the swinging 60's pop he became better known for (the yé-yé/bubblegum stuff that he wrote for other singers isn't on here -- just the stuff he performed himself) with a fascinating foray into world music along the way.

I also stumbled upon a compilation of "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus" covers. Some are sincere and faithful to the mood of the original, such as the cinematic Barry Adamson and 101 Strings versions. It was incredibly weird listening to the Mick Harvey rendition because it's done in English. Harvey's albums of Gainsbourg covers are fairly well-regarded, in part due to his fine translations. Since French isn't my first language, I think I'm partly shielded from the lyrical content. Hearing it in English brings the song closer to home somehow -- it's the difference between watching a sex video and drilling a hole through the wall to peek in on the neighbours. Also, Mick Harvey's voice feels very dispassionate here (maybe it's the cadence of the English lyrics?) although his duet partner Anita Lane sounds ravishing.

Of course, any over the top love song with weepy strings and heavy breathing is ripe for ridicule as well. This leads to Judge Dread's "Lola"-channeling reggae version, Frankie Howerd and June Whitfield bickering old couple in bed version, and Gå Runt Show's demented Fraggle Rock version.

The Cibo Matto version is completely asexual (and therefore nearly unlistenable), while the Hot Butter and Electronic Concept Orchestra versions are very touching and bare no trace of any novelty value which might have been expected from them. But the best cover of them all wasn't even on this compilation. Rather, I happened upon it quite by accident -- a sleek, sexy, organ-driven two minute reggae rendition by Byron Lee and the Dragonaires!