Every day, a personality invites herself into the world of Élodie Suigo. This week, Julien Clerc, author, composer and singer is the exceptional guest of Le Monde d’Élodie. He looks back on the highlights of his career through five of his cult songs.
Julien Clerc is half a century of songs, concerts, love of a loyal audience now made up of several generations who have fallen under the spell of the artist he is. It is told all this week through five episodes, five titles that have become essential. After releasing a 26th scrapbook: earthlingJulien Clerc is on an acoustic tour with the show Happy Days in which he covers songs by artists like Barbara, Bécaud and Trenet.
franceinfo: Between Étienne Roda-Gil and you, it’s a great collaboration, but also a great friendship. A title sums up this relationship well: If we sangreleased in 1972. One like the other, you had only one obsession, I have the impression, it was indeed that of singing and making others sing.
Julien Clerc: Yes, I’m going to tell you not too loudly that I still don’t really know what this song is about even 50 years later. I think he’s talking about cooking, about someone who’s stuck in their kitchen. Finally, at the same time, it is clear and at the same time not really. And that’s all the art of Roda-Gil and it’s incredible that the performer and composer of this song admits to you today that he doesn’t really know what it’s about.
At least it’s honest!
Yeah, but that’s okay because my heart understands what it’s about and I think it’s typical Roda-Gil.
In Roda-Gil’s texts, there are images that allow everyone to understand the songs in their own way. I think everyone tells their own story.
Julien Clercat franceinfo
Your agent decided, at some point, to advise you to change authors, to look for something else. This is where you will actually work, especially with Jean-Loup Dabadie and Maxime Le Forestier from 1976.
Yeah, let’s say he had a different brief.
Looking back, how did you experience this separation with Roda-Gil?
No, but it was not a separation! Simply, Étienne, what he wanted was for us both to be on a record already. Even Maumau (Maurice Vallet, editor’s note) bothered him.
He was very exclusive.
Very exclusive. Besides, he was a bit condescending to Maurice.
With everyone, even with Françoise Hardy!
Yes. So we imposed a person on him in addition to Maumau, if you will. Of course he didn’t take it very well, but it wasn’t a real separation. There is a real separation, a little later, I don’t even know why. We often argued and then afterwards, we met again. The only record where we were both face-to-face was for Useful in 1992.
What is indeed marked by a beautiful reunion, that is a certainty. Jean-Loup Dabadie was obvious to you?
That is to say that the first texts that Jean-Loup Dabadie gave me surprised me because I had been used to Roda for 15 years. There, they were different angles. It was also the brief that had been given to Dabadie, simpler things, more understandable, to say more “I”. If I remember correctly, the first song was called: I am not well and then Women, I love you. And it’s true that with Jean-Louis, we wrote some very popular songs.
Was it hard to say “I”?
No, in the end, it wasn’t difficult. Say : “Women, I love you“was a bit.
Miou-Miou took it the wrong way!
Yes. She said to me: “Woman… I love you.“
This had the merit of being clear!
But even, going back to not understanding a song, I learned afterwards that My preference had been written by an angry friend. I only discovered it much later.
My preference is a must-have song.
Yes. This is music that I wrote before the text. I still don’t know how the harmonic suite came about. Frankly, it’s a funny sequel. It’s my way of composing. At the beginning, I have two or three chords, then there is a melody which is born and after, it is the melody which leads. And so, I try to find the chords that go with the melody that I invent as I go along. It’s a chance to have written this stuff, but I still don’t know where it comes from.
Finally, what does Women, I love you ? Because when your name is mentioned, it sticks to your skin.
It’s funny because ‘Women… I love you.’ is a song that was imposed on me by the public.
Julien Clercat franceinfo
Yes, it sums up my life as a singer very well. That is to say, I come out of 15 years of Roda-Gil and frankly, I find that too much to say : “Women, I love you.“Almost obscene. So I did the song, but afterwards, I didn’t want to record it anymore. Luckily the producer was English, he didn’t understand French, but he had seen the strength of the song and told me : “No, but it’s not!“So I recorded it. And then the time passed. The song was taken over by advertising, taking on another dimension at that time. And then it was taken over by karaoke. age and all of a sudden, I became in tune with what I was singing. Today, of course, I sing it completely liberated, with great pleasure.
It’s true that this song has allowed many couples to form anyway!
I don’t know, but so much the better!
Julien Clerc will be, among others, on March 4, 2023 in Vittel, on March 9 in Gap, on March 18 in Cap d’Agde, on April 25 in Boulogne-Billancourt, on April 6 in Bollène, on June 29 in Bayonne, on June 30 in Bouillargues etc…