dorindaletitbe · @dorindaletitbe
2nd Aug 2011 from Twitlonger
#RSA
Here is a little back ground on Singer,Rodger Jouret/Plastic Bertrand
The man who sings the song @Craigyferg opened with last night from Grand Ole Paris'!
Plastic Bertrand: An 1
Plastic Bertrand - An 1 Well, his real name, apparently, was Roger Jouret, and he's probably the fourth most famous Belgian. He had one hit worldwide - Ca Plane Pour Moi. With its infectious matching of jaunty vocals to hard driving guitar riffs, and three (count em) chords, it swept all before it in the summer of 1978.
This accompanied a stunning debut album, the punk classic An 1. (Year one, or volume one). Except it wasn't really punk, and neither was he. By all accounts, it was a piss-take, or an attempt to cash in on the current craze for all things punk. But if, like me, you were 11 years old and knew none of this, it didn't matter. It was my first introduction to the new wave, and if it took a dodgy Belgian and a bunch of session musicians to introduce me to the Buzzcocks and the Pistols, well, it was enough.
There were a lot of rumours about old Plastic. There still are. Did he actually sing on his big hit? (Probably not - that was producer Lou Deprijk, who also wrote most of the songs.) Did he have any talent at all? (Possibly, but investigations are still continuing.) What became of his big comeback in the 1990s? (One appearance on Channel 4's late-night Eurotrash seems to be the extent of it.)
There's an interesting interview with Lou Deprijk on the Frites website. It's in French, but it does feature an unusual interpretation of Ca Plane Pour Moi!
An 1: the music
Short but sweet. Eleven tracks, many pure pop genius, a few unlistenable trash.
Le Petit Tortillard play MP3 clip
Bambino play MP3 clip
Naif Song play MP3 clip
Ca Plane Pour Moi
Sha La La La La Lee
Pognon Pognon Dance Dance
5-4-3-2-1
Pogo Pogo play MP3 clip
Wha! Wha! (Je suis un chien, nous sommes des chiens, vous etes des chiens) play MP3 clip
Solo Naif Song
I've added short extracts from some of the songs, to give a flavour for those yet to taste the mindless naivety that was Plastic Bertrand. Click on the after the titles, above. These are very low quality MP3s, to keep the file sizes down - and they're all under 30 seconds, under the copyright rules of fair use. (That said, the whole LP is available via the Lost in Tyme blog. Nothing to do with me, guv.) You can now get it legally via iTunes, if you do that sort of thing.
Lyrics, in French and English, to some of the songs are available here.
According to the sleeve of 1980's Grands Succes, Roger found himself disagreeing with the "no future" ethos of punk, whilst still liking the sound. The result was An 1, with its driving, relentless, and frankly monotonous, chords coupled with sometimes inane, sometimes innocent lyrics about trains, butterflies, mandolins and farmyard animals. Often the words were chosen for their sound rather than any intrinsic meaning, a process that reached its apogee with ...
Ca Plane Pour Moi - means This Life's For Me. It's official, it says so on the sleeve!Ca Plane Pour Moi
Of course this is the famous one. And deservedly so. Loads of people have covered this, but none better than "Plastic". Or Lou. Whoever actually sang it, it's an anthem for a generation. If only they could understand it. Listen to an MP3 sample
I remember playing it to a friend, who was heavily rooted in classical music, as part of an argument over passion v musicianship, to show how much energy mattered in music. He just looked at me open-mouthed. "But there are only two notes!" And then a moment later: "Now there's only one. How can it be music?" And I just nodded and grinned. "Exactly."
There was also an English version, Jet Boy Jet Girl, by Elton Motello (aka Alan Ward) . There's some debate as to which came first, but the backing track is identical, by virtue of the fact they shared the same musicians (more on the sequence of the sessions - they also recorded a version as Bad Boy Bad Girl by Lou's latin-disco outfit Two Man Sound). What I do know for certain is that the lyrics of Jet Boy are far filthier ... Listen to an MP3 sample | More on Motello | even more. This English version also gained notoriety by virtue of a cover by Captain Sensible of the Damned.
A fellow called Benny also did a German version, Bin Wieder Frei. Can't say it's an improvement, but the lyrics are here. You can still get it on a German 70s compilation - listen to a clip from Amazon. There have been many, many other cover versions, including Sonic Youth, Presidents of the United States of America, Leila K (her site includes the video), an electro-techno take by David Carreta, electro pioneers Telex, and, apparently, an Australian acoustic version from My Friend the Chocolate Cake. I don't know if it's ever been covered in Dutch, but you can certainly get Dutch lyrics. It is, of course, available as a MIDI file, and a karaoke backing track. You can even, god help us, get it as a ring tone.
Lou Deprijk was the man behind the sound - read an interview on www.frites.beLots of sites have the lyrics for this classic, including this one! But no one can explain exactly what they mean ... Some believe that it's just a stream of gibberish, choosing words that sound vaguely "rock'n'roll", while others suggest that it's a particular form of Parisian street slang popular among the youth of the 1970s. Whatever.
Court cases in 2006 and 2010 reopened the question of whose song Ça Plane Pour Moi really was - it seems now to be definitively Lou's (he wrote it, he sang on it), but with Plastic claiming ownership by association. Again, whatever.
There is a theory that the lyrics to Ça Plane ... can't be translated into English. Having tried, I'd have to agree. A basic attempt, from Google via my rusty schoolboy French, is on my lyrics page. If anyone with a knowledge of French slang cares to correct me, I'd love to know!
Yam! Bam! mon chat Splash
Git sur mon lit a bouffe
sa langue en buvant tout mon whisky
quant a moi peu dormi, vide, brime
J'ai du dormir dans la gouttiere
Ou j'ai eu un flash *
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
En quatre couleurs *"
Allez hop! un matin
Une louloute est venue chez-moi
Poupee de cellophane, cheveux chinois
un sparadrap, une gueule de bois
a bu ma biere dans un grand verre en caoutchouc
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Comme un indien dans son igloo
Ca plane pour moi ca plane pour moi
Ca plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ca plane pour moi
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Ca plane pour moi
Allez hop! la nana quel panard!
Quelle vibration!
de s'envoyer sur le paillasson
Limee, ruinee, videe, comblee
You are the King of the divan!
Qu'elle me dit en passant
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
I am the King of the divan
Ca plane pour moi ca plane pour moi
Ca plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ca plane pour moi
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Ca plane pour moi
Allez hop! t'occupe t'inquiete
touche pas ma planete
It's not today
Quel le ciel me tombera sur la tete
et que la colle me manquera ****
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Ca plane pour moi
Allez hop! ma nana s'est tiree
S'est barree enfin c'est marre a tout casse
L'evier, le bar me laissant seul
Comme un grand connard
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Le pied dans le plat
Ca plane pour moi ca plane pour moi
Ca plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
Ca plane pour moi
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
Ca plane pour moi
Ca plane pour moi ca plane pour moi
Ca plane pour moi moi moi moi moi
And now for something completely different...
The English Lyrics
Wham! Bam! my cat Splash
lies on my bed with his tongue puffed out
by drinking all my whisky.
As for me, not enough sleep, drained, persecuted,
I had to sleep in the gutter
where I had a flash
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
in four colours
Allez-oop! One morning
a darling came to my home,
a cellophane puppet with Chinese hair,
a plaster, a hangover,
drank my beer in a large rubber glass
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
like an Indian in his igloo
This works for me, this works for me
This works for me me me me me
This work for me
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
This works for me
Allez-oop! The chick***, what a gas!
what a vibration!
to be sent on the door mat
filed, ruined, drained, filled
You are the King of the divan!
she says to me in passing
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
I am the King of the divan
This works for me, this works for me
This works for me me me me me
This workss for me
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
This works for me
Allez-oop! Don't mind, don't worry
Don't affect me
It’s not today
that the sky will fall on my head
and I'll be without glue
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
This life’s for me
Allez-oop! my chick has gone away,
flew away, finally had enough, to break
the sink, the bar, leaving me alone
like a complete jerk
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
I've put my foot in it
This works for me, this works for me
This works for me me me me me
This workss for me
Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
This works for me
This workss for me, this works for me
This works for me me me me me