A short sung history of inflation

When we speak of inflation, we first think of the rise in producer prices. But inflation is also the erosion of money and, in 1926, Germaine Lix sings what is almost a lesson in economics, recalling the era of the gold franc before the First World War – the franc which was worth twenty sous and not a hundred centimes, as at the time when this song is recorded.

And we hear all the themes of the right and especially of the extreme right of the time: the currency which plummets, the foreigners who take advantage of it to buy real estate or works of art in France, the large borders open to imports… An inflation that threatens the nation.

In the second episode of These songs that make the news airing this weekend, you hear excerpts from:

Germaine Lix, When the franc is worth 20 sous, 1926

Pierre Perret, There’s no discomfort 1983

Stone and Charden, The price of matches, 1972

Georges Hamel, Inflation, 1979

Cootie Williams, Inflation Blues, 1947

Radio advertisement in the Doris Day show, 1952

Zeke Manners, Inflation, 1946

Tourbillon musette orchestra with Gallardin, As long as it costs me nothing, 1930

Maguy Fred, The far from the pèze, 1930

Stone and Charden, The price of matches, 1972


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Remember: during the summer of 2019, La Playlist de Françoise Hardy was a crossing of the musical baggage of an author, composer and performer considered as the arbiter of the elegance of pop in France.

In July and August 2017, we spent A Summer in Souchon, during which Alain Souchon guided us on a tasty walk through a lifetime of love for song.


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