The author, composer and performer Didier Barbelivien is the exceptional guest of Le Monde d’Élodie all this week. He indulges in going back in time with five of his must-have songs written for others or for himself. His last and ultimate album as a performer was released in October 2022.
The author, composer and performer Didier Barbelivien is the exceptional guest of Le Monde d’Élodie all this week. Since 1970 he has written and composed over 2,000 songs. His last album, Didier Barbelivien, which he presents as his ultimate album as a performer was released in October 2022. For five days, at almost 70 years old, he retraces the thread of his life by evoking his memories around some of his collaborations such as with Julien Clerc, Gérard Lenorman, Christophe or even Johnny Hallyday.
franceinfo: It may seem surprising to announce: “I will no longer sing, but I will continue to write for others”. So the others are a driving force for you?
Didier Barbelivien: I said I don’t make records anymore. I’m going to sing on the stages of France because I love it. I no longer enjoy recording records.
You have done quite a lot in this career. You have written for others, but also for television. I would like us to make a small parenthesis with cartoons. There are credits which have become cult, which rocked the childhood of many generations. I think about Captain Harlock and to San Ku Kai. Did you enjoy working on songs that have become cult today?
I loved that. At the time, I couldn’t know. Above all, it seemed impossible to me.
The credits of Japanese soap operas like ‘Albator’ and ‘San Ku Kaï’, we owe them in large part to my collaboration with Éric Charden who was at least as crazy as me!
Didier Barbelivienat franceinfo
One day, Eric Charden said to me: “Didier, I received some videotapes, we’ll take care of Japanese cartoons“. I said to myself: that’s it, it’s the end and we’re watching Captain Harlock And San Ku Kaihe tells me : “It is exciting“. I don’t know how we’re going to do it, Captain Harlock with the rhymes in “gold”, it is not won. As for San Ku Kai, the rhymes in “ouch”, then there! And finally, we got into the game, we went to the studio, we had fun writing and producing all that. And it’s not that 20 years, 30 years later, they have become very important credits for a generation that was raised with these two cartoons.
Even today, they are essential. One of the greatest encounters you have had will happen later, it’s the one with Gérard Lenorman. There is a starting point which is very old. It’s a first 45 that you bought, a Bob Dylan record, I Want You. Afterwards there was Unfailing Friendships by Jean-Marc Roberts. And it made you want to write a song called Michele ?
It is more complicated than that. I meet, but there, I was in second, Jean-Marc Roberts, who becomes my classmate. He sits next to me all day and I think to myself, I’m dating a genius. I will get to that much later Michele because I write about our high school years. And how to say? Before it materialized into a song, one day, performed successfully by Gérard Lenorman, I was simply writing what I was doing. My first fiancée at the time, Florence, whom I was going to wait for at Saint-Lazare station, who was at the Lycée rue du Rocher, a little lower than the Lycée Chaptal, whom I dropped off at the Lycée before joining my classes at high school. It was our daily life to live like that.
There’s gonna be a song before, that’s And I sing. It has always matched with Gérard Lenorman!
Yes, because Julien Clerc arrived in 1968, he is very important. And then in 1970, came this boy I knew a little, not well, Gérard Lenorman, with a song called He. I take myself in admiration, in love for this singer and the years pass and one day, I say to myself: I should write songs for this boy who pleases me enormously. And me, I bring my songs to Jean-Jacques Souplet, his producer. And one day he said to me:We are going to make Gérard Lenorman listen to this song“. It is called The witch at the time. It’s the same song with a completely different chorus. And then one evening, I’m at CBS dropping off new songs and the door opens and Gérard Lenorman enters the room. And there, it’s as if Paul McCartney had entered the studio. Jean-Jacques said to him:You’re on the right track, here’s Didier Barbelivien“.
“Gérard Lenorman says to me: ‘Ah, it’s you ‘The witch’! The chorus, it’s not going at all. He goes into what becomes the chorus of ‘Et moi je chante’. I’m fascinated, I find that’s beautiful.”
Didier Barbelivienat franceinfo
Gérard Lenorman asks me: “Do you know how to play the piano?“Of course, and I sing the song. I get to the end of the verse and there he puts his hand on my shoulder and he says to me: “Listen‘ and he goes off into what becomes the chorus of And I sing. I am fascinated, I find it magnificent. He tells me : “Well, well, you see, there, it’s not that complicated“and he flees. And I, I go back to Jean-Jacques’ office and he says to me: “So how did it go ?“I replied: he left, he sang me something that sounds magnificent to me, but already, I don’t remember. Jean-Jacques said to me: “It’s not serious“. If it’s serious! How are we going to find the song? “Don’t worry, him, if he sang it to you twice, he’ll never forget it”. And it was true.
Didier Barbelivien will be in concert on November 2, 2023 in Bressuire, the 5th in Marseille, the 8th in Lyon, the 12th in Lille, the 26th in Toulouse, the 1ster December in Tours, etc.