The French Connection: La reine est morte, vive la reine...

I had planned to compile an album of my favorite tunes from Françoise Hardy for this blog for a while, but never got around to it, and now Hardy forced my hand by, well, dying. So here it is, 22 tracks from throughout her career. Et il y'a tant de belles choses dedans...

What can I say about Hardy that I haven't already mentioned yesterday? Not much, really. I haven't talked much about the fact that for a couple of years, she was one of the most stunning women of her era. She was - and stayed - a beautiful woman, and like Emmylou Harris gained another level of attractiveness  when her blonde hair turned silver. Back in the days she would turn the heads of folks like Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger, but a less famous colleague from showbiz captured her heart. She was married to fellow French star Jaques Dutronc and the mother of second-generation music star Thomas Dutronc.

So, what about the songs you say? You can see even in the earliest selections here, how melancholy is the name of Hardy's game. Her first big success "Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles" from 1962 she portrays a young girl who is deeply unhappy, alone and without someone who loves her while everyone around her (the titular all the boys and girls...) knows some happiness. It immediately separated Hardy from the "Yé-Yé"-pack, even if her record company didn't believe in the song, placing it last on a four track EP after three lighter hearted and more upbeat songs. (In France in the 1960s, most songs would come out as part of four track EPs instead of singles with an a- and b-side). 

"Le Temps De l'Amour" from later the same year is ostensiby a happy song about how during the time for love for young people they forgot how romantic entanglements can hurt, but Hardy doesn't sing it as a happy song. There is a weariness and sadness beyond her young years in these vocals, that despite what the lyrics say, she knows that the 'time of love' will end badly. Hardy always knew that everyone's time of love would end badly some time...

Her life-long topic of song might have been best summarized by the song title "Il N'Ya Pas D'Amour Heureuse" ("There is no happy kind of love"), but she was wrong of course. The love for her son no doubt kept her going in the tough years towards the end.  As she sings in "Tant De Belles Choses": L'amour est plus fort que le chagrin...Love is stronger than grief...let it be so...