Alain Souchon has been helping us since the 70s with titles that evoke memories, no matter how old we are. He is a major figure in French song, a landmark, engraved in the hearts of the French with: I’m ten years old, Never happy, Hello Mom Bobo, Can, Jim’s ballad, When I’m knocked out..
He released a best of: (New collection, with 57 very well-known titles or a little less.
franceinfo: What does this box represent for you?
Alain Souchon: It represents my professional life. Yves Simon used to say: “Songs are an emotional calendar“, that is to say that all life is spelled out by memories of songs. When I made my communion, that was it … Etc … It is like that and it is enough wonderful, it’s nothing, the songs, but it fits in the head and it’s nice.
It’s not nothing because it accompanies us, they remind us of specific moments. Do you remember the first song you heard? Who created an emotion for you?
It accompanies us. I remember the first time I heard Georges Brassens singing “With my little bike, I looked like a jerk“I thought it was great that someone talks like that, like we used to talk at school.
He would have been 100 years old and his songs are still relevant today. This is somewhat your case. When we listen to your songs, we realize that you are always in tune with the times, that you have also told us great stories. What’s a good song for you as a songwriter?
You need an air that is like a firefighter’s “pimpon”, that is to say, you turn your head and say: “Oh it’s nice“, we strain our ears and then we necessarily listen to what she says. And if, in addition, she tells something that transports you, the song is very successful.
What is your view on your entire repertoire, on the fact that people sing your songs at the top of their lungs in each of your concerts?
We are lucky to be a popular singer. It is certain that this meeting that we have with the people who applaud you when you arrive, it is a sensation, it makes as if we were important or beautiful. Everything is artificial, but it’s nice.
“A concert is a date of friendship.”
Alain Souchonto franceinfo
The starting point is I’m ten years old. This is the first song of this best of. What place does it occupy in your life?
The meeting with Laurent Voulzy. I wouldn’t have met him, I wouldn’t have had success, probably because I’m not a very good musician. And the fact of having met, that made sparks. Compared to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it’s the same thing less planetary, it’s very pleasant.
When he talks about you, he says the same thing. It really is a mirror effect. He talks about you like a brother.
Yes that’s it. We are the brothers.
There are your children on this album with the song The sailor, Ours and Pierre Souchon. They have been with you for quite a while. You started with The Pink Soldier. You have a relationship, a tenderness that is quite incredible between you.
“My sons are talented, so I exploit them, take advantage of them!”
Alain Souchonto franceinfo
I’m glad that they have fun in life doing things that interest them and making a living.
And they, they also have this need to be close to you?
I do not know. It is above all I who need them, to be close to them. The children of singers have fathers who are gone all the time, on tour or in the studios. And above all, it’s a job that locks you in on yourself because it’s a bit of an artist’s job. We are not great artists like Van Gogh, but we are artists. We take pleasure in ourselves, in our outlook on the world. So that isolates you a bit from the rest and even from the family so you have to be careful.
Why the cover of the song The sailor with your sons?
Because it is a very simple sailor’s song, that is to say that it is made to be sung with several people in a bar in Brest. Because this place, over there, the Iroise Sea, at the end of Brittany, is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Do you realize what you mean to people? Every time someone tells you what you stand for them, you seem embarrassed!
No, no, but anyway, I can see what people like Serge Gainsbourg or Georges Brassens mean to me. I dare not tell myself that I represent the same for others, but maybe a little. And so, I know that for me, these are people that I find extraordinary.
Right now I’m on a tour, and I can see when I arrive, people are applauding, it’s great. And then I start with my guitar, alone and I sing Hello Mom, Bobo and everyone sings with me. Sometimes there are 10,000. It’s exhilarating. I tell myself how lucky I am. It’s true.
Are you happy today?
Yes, because I have a family that makes me very happy, then I am lucky to be healthy. I have happy moments, yes!