The perpetual quarrel over the “good” song

This week’s controversy surrounding Aya Nakamura reminds us that the song was better before… always. And the heritage of our popular culture bears the trace of the constant regrets of a song from the good old days, and in every era.

We have been hearing the same criticisms for a long time. Aya Nakamura this week, Maurice Chevalier in 1928, in this song by Perchicot which does not directly quote the biggest French star of the interwar period, but everyone at the time understands who is being targeted.

And besides, we may have forgotten it, but Maurice Chevalier, almost a century before Aya Nakamura, exported the French language throughout the world, and for several years he was the highest paid actor in Hollywood, in a series of films somewhat forgotten today, but terribly profitable at the time. And no one really remembers who Perchicot was, who criticized Chevalier for being too little French.

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

Perchicot, The French song, 1928

Aya Nakamura, Djadja, 2018

Edith Piaf, The Owls, 1935

Celine Dion, Piaf would sing rock, 1991

Johnny Hallyday, The Good Times of Rock’n’Roll, 1979

Jane Ares, French song, 1927

Vincent Delerm, Fingers full of sepia, 2006

Miossec, Song of the good old days, 2012

Yves Montand, Dead leaves, 1949

Aya Nakamura, Evil, 2022

You can also follow the news of this column on Twitter.

And you can also find the podcast on this link Behind our voices, with the writing and composition secrets of eight major artists of the French scene, Laurent Voulzy, Julien Clerc, Bénabar, Dominique A, Carla Bruni, Emily Loizeau, Juliette and Gaëtan Roussel.