“There’s no album coming, but just talking about it almost makes me want to write again”

The author, composer, lyricist, musician and singer, Francis Cabrel is the exceptional guest of Le Monde d’Élodie Suigo from July 1 to 5, 2024. Through five of his most emblematic songs, this discreet artist, with a rare voice, opens up about his almost 50-year career.

Francis Cabrel, it’s more than 45 years of career, 14 studio albums, eight in public, five compilations and hundreds of concerts. Author, composer, lyricist and musician, he has become an artist who counts in the landscape of French song. With his claimed Southern accent, Francis Cabrel has known how to impose himself with this musicality that has seduced millions of ears. He has also known how to take us by the hand, to dress our memories with songs like: Little Marie (1977), The ink of your eyes (1980), The lady of Haute-Savoie (1980), We will have to tell them (1987), Blowpipe (1989) or again Bullfighting (1994), which are now no longer his alone, but also ours. This artisan tube maker received franceinfo at his home in Astaffort, a founding place that has always been part of him and his creations, in particular that Astaffort Meetings a link with young artists, authors, composers, performers like his daughter Aurélie, who lives there and created the Baboo Music label under which her latest single was released, A piece of Sicre .

franceinfo: Your titles have become classics of French song. The one that inspired and guided you so much with Bob Dylan, discovered on the radio when you were only 13 years old. What does this category: French song, mean to you?

Francis Cabrel : I have boundless and limitless admiration for French song. I get really angry when I see French artists singing in English. It makes me tense because I think we have a language that is fabulous, that has so many nuances, so many ways to pronounce it and also to knead it. I think it is a great source of pride to be a French singer, precisely.

Five decades at our side, 70 years not so long ago, and at the same time, I have the impression that your outlook has never changed. This is what we discover in A piece of Sicre.

I hope nothing has changed, that I am still as passionate. Well, I am certain of it since I am inside my passion every day. When I think back to the one who listened Like a Rolling Stones for example, I was 14 or 15 years old, and the shock that it gave me, well, I am still in the same admiration for the thing sung, in fact. The thing sung in French since I am French and I love literature and all the great predecessors have carried us and always show us the example, since La Fontaine, Victor Hugo, etc. With all the inspirations that I claim, indeed American, especially English, we can manage to do something worthy.

There is a word that sticks to your skin, it is freedom. Are you a free artist? Have you always been?

It’s complicated to be free in this profession which has so many constraints that you still have to know how to overcome. I overcome the constraints with as much freedom as possible.

“I seem freer than I am.”

Francis Cabrel

to franceinfo

This is the first time that your daughter Aurélie has produced you with Baboo Music on this single. A piece of Sicre. You have always preserved your family, even if you tell it through your songs and now, you highlight it. Is there a time for everything?

There is a time for everything and she has also proven herself. She asserts herself as someone who has authority in the field of publishing, production. With her small label, she fights like a lioness for these young artists to exist. My idea was to also put a spotlight on this kind of work. And it’s always the same, notoriety must be useful for something. At Voix du Sud, the story of these writing meetings is also “What should I do with my fame? Hey, let’s take advantage of it. I’m going to call all my friends in the industry and we’re going to help these young artists, each in turn.“. And there, it’s a little label on which I put a light so that my life has served something.

When we listen A piece of Sicrewhat is obvious is that your voice doesn’t move. There is always this little sparkle in your eyes. We imagine you singing. There is always this accent, of course, but there is always this musicality, this love for others. So, what is your view on this career?

Yes, I have to take stock today. I don’t quite have 50 years of career, 45 easy, but 50 is approaching. I am very happy with what happened to me because it is really a continuation, I am not saying of coincidences, but of situations that I did not imagine at all. From year to year, it was surprises! What am I going to do now? Look, I write songs and it goes well. I have to do another one and so on. There was no preconceived plan. I thought it could stop at any moment.

“My 50th year of career is approaching and now the story continues. When I meet people who talk to me about how they see my repertoire, I am really touched, quite deeply.”

Francis Cabrel

to franceinfo

Again and again is the title that sticks to your skin. Every time we talk about you, we take stock because we say songs again and again, concerts again and again. Is there an album coming?

There is no album coming out, but just talking about it almost makes me want to write again. I have no ideas. I don’t have a little notebook with sentences in advance. I’m starting from scratch. But I also really like that, that is to say that I don’t present myself as someone who reuses strings, half a song that is seven, eight years old. No, no, I have nothing, I’m starting from scratch and it’s this challenge that interests me.

Is there a song that sticks with you the most throughout this journey?

I think that nostalgic as I am, melancholic, romantic, I think thatOctober is the one that suits me best because I really like the colors of autumn. The countryside becomes magnificent, it is adorned with red, yellow. There is still a little green, but it is yellowing, fading. I find it truly marvelous. All the landscapes of our country are at their peak of beauty. And then because it is a time when we come closer together, when it starts to get a little cooler. So the idea of ​​coming closer together, among ourselves, going back to our small family unit, I really like it.