These party songs. “Initials BB”, because it’s not just Serge Gainsbourg who loves Brigitte Bardot

This winter break, we explore love – all forms of love. Today we ask ourselves if, when a singer falls in love with a screen star, it is very different from the love of all his admirers in the cinemas?

This very beautiful woman, dressed only in her high boots and a perfume, she is a very real woman, even if her identity is a little coded in the chorus.

The initials BB are obviously Brigitte Bardot, that Serge Gainsbourg sang in 1968 – a song saturated with musical and literary references, but also with allusions to what is not really a secret for attentive readers of the celebrity press of the time. For example, he says that on her fingers she wears the mark of slaves – that is, the wedding ring of a married woman. Because Brigitte Bardot did not want to leave her husband to continue living her romantic passion with Serge Gainsbourg.

In this episode of These party songsyou hear

Serge Gainsbourg, Initials BB, 1968

Sacha Distel, Brigitte, 1958

Adrien Lamy, When I leave the cinema on Sunday evening, 1932

Dario Moreno, Brigitte Bardot, 1964

Léo Ferré, The 400 shots, 1961

Bertrand Burgalat, Bardot’s Dance, 2012

Bob Dylan, I Shall Be Free, 1963

Elton John, I Think I’m Going To Kill Myself, 1972

Kali Uchis, Tyrant, 2017

Serge Gainsbourg, Initials BB, 1968

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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.