Je t'aime... moi non plus: Difference between revisions

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"'''Je t'aime... moi non plus'''" ([[French language|French]] for "'I love you…you... me neither"') is a 1967 song written by [[Serge Gainsbourg]] for [[Brigitte Bardot]]. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best -known version as a duet with EnglishBritish actress [[Jane Birkin]]. Although this version reachedtopped numberthe onecharts in theBirkin's UK—thenative United Kingdom, the first foreign-language song to do so—andso, and number two in Ireland, it was banned in several countries duebecause toof its overtly sexual content. In 1976 Gainsbourg directed Birkin in an erotic film of the [[Je t'aime moi non plus (film)|same name]].

In 1976, Gainsbourg directed Birkin in an erotic film of the [[Je t'aime moi non plus (film)|same name]].

==History==

The song was written and recorded in late 1967 for Gainsbourg's then-girlfriend, [[Brigitte Bardot]]. After a disappointing, witless date with Bardot, she "phoned and demanded as a penance" the following day<ref name="theguardian/Simmons/Gainsbourg">{{cite news |last1=Simmons |first1=Sylvie |title=An extract from Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes by Sylvie Simmons |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/02/culture.features |access-date=21 November 2022 |work=[[the Guardian]] |date=2 February 2001 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="978-0-306-81183-8">{{cite book |last1=Simmons |first1=Sylvie |title=Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful Of Gitanes |date=19 September 2002 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81183-8 |language=en}}</ref> that he write, for her, "the most beautiful love song he could imagine"; that night, he wrote "Je t'aime" and "[[Bonnie and Clyde (Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot song)|Bonnie and Clyde]]".<ref name=evene>{{cite news|url=http://www.evene.fr/musique/actualite/je-t-aime-moi-non-plus-gainsbourg-birkin-1819.php|title=Chanson cul(te) Je t'aime moi non plus|last=Durand|first=Mathieu|date=February 2009|work=Evene|access-date=4 August 2010}}</ref> They recorded an arrangement of "Je t'aime" by [[Michel Colombier]] at a Paris studio in a two-hour session in a small glass booth;. theThe engineer William Flageollet said there was "[[heavy petting]]".<ref name=simmons>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/feb/02/culture.features|title=The eyes have it|last=Simmons|first=Sylvie|date=2 February 2001|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=4 August 2010|___location=London}}</ref> However, news of the recording reached the press, and Bardot's husband, German businessman [[Gunter Sachs]], angrily called for the single to be withdrawn. Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release it. He complied, but was not pleased: "The music is very pure. For the first time in my life, I write a love song and it's taken badly."<ref name=simmons/><ref name=rfi>{{cite web|url=http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6305.asp |title=RFI Musique - - Serge Gainsbourg |access-date=8 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528081900/http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6305.asp |archive-date=28 May 2009 }}</ref><ref name=bardot>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Barnett|title=Brigitte Bardot: a biography|year=2006|publisher=McFarland|isbn=0-7864-2515-6}}</ref>{{rp|92}}

In 1968, Gainsbourg and the English actress [[Jane Birkin]] began a relationship on the set of the film [[Slogan (film)|''Slogan'']]. After the end of filming, he asked her to record "Je t'aime" with him.<ref name=simmons/> Birkin had heard the Bardot version and considered it "so hot".<ref name=telegraph/> Birkin has stated that "I only sang it because I didn't want anybody else to sing it", jealous at the thought of Gainsbourg sharing intimacy in the recording studio with someone else. Gainsbourg asked her to sing an octave higher than Bardot, "so [she'd] sound like a little boy".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/shuttlextra/4678474.Birkin__Much_more_than_a_bag/|title=Birkin: Much more than a bag|last=Lloyd|first=Albertina|date=17 October 2009|work=Kidderminster Shuttle|access-date=4 August 2010}}</ref> This version was recorded in an arrangement by [[Arthur Greenslade]] in a studio at [[Marble Arch Records]].<ref name=simmons/> Birkin said that she "got a bit carried away with the heavy breathing – so much so, in fact, that I was told to calm down, which meant that at one point I stopped breathing altogether. If you listen to the record now, you can still hear that little gap."<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/6269958/Jane-Birkin-interview.html|title=Jane Birkin interview|last=Walden|first=Celia|date=13 October 2009|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=3 August 2010|___location=London}}</ref>

There was media speculation, as with the Bardot version, that the recording documented unsimulated sex, to which Gainsbourg told Birkin, "Thank goodness it wasn't, otherwise I hope it would have been a [[LP record|long-playing record]]."<ref name=simmons/> The recording featuring Birkin was released as a single in February 1969.<ref name=evene/> The single, which [[Philips Records|Philips]] relegated to its subsidiary [[Fontana Records|Fontana]],<ref name="evene" /> had a plain cover, with the words "forbidden to those under 21" ("{{lang|fr|Interdit aux moins de 21 ans}}").<ref name=zwerin/>

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When the version with Bardot was recorded, the French press reported that it was an "unedited recording" of physical intimacy ("{{lang|fr|[[wikt:audio vérité|audio vérité]]}}"). ''[[France Dimanche]]'' said the "groans, sighs, and Bardot's little cries of pleasure [give] the impression you're listening to two people making love".<ref name="simmons" /> The first time Gainsbourg played the song in public was in a Paris restaurant immediately after he and Birkin recorded their version. Birkin said that "as it began to play all you could hear were the knives and forks being put down. 'I think we have a hit record', [Gainsbourg] said."<ref name="simmons" /><ref name="telegraph" />

The songsounds culminates in [[orgasm]] soundsmade by Birkin; mostlycaused becausethe ofsong this,to it wasbe banned from radio in Spain, Sweden, Brazil, the United Kingdom,<ref name="omm" /> and Italy,<ref name="italy" /> banned from radio play before [[Watershed (broadcasting)|11 pm]] in France, and not played by many radio stations in the United States.<ref name="evene" /> The song was officially denounced by the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] and its newspaper, ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'';<ref name="omm">{{cite news|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/the10/story/0,,1487369,00.html|title=The 10 most x-rated records|last=Spencer|first=Neil|date=22 May 2005|work=Observer Music Monthly|publisher=Guardian Newspapers|access-date=3 August 2010|___location=London}}</ref><ref name="italy">{{cite book|last1=Cheles|first1=Luciano|last2=Sponza|first2=Lucio|title=The art of persuasion: political communication in Italy from 1945 to the 1990s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vy1NMicVUEEC&pg=PA331|year=2001|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=0-7190-4170-8|page=331}}</ref> one report even claimed that the Vatican had excommunicated the record executive who released it in Italy.<ref name="zwerin" /> Birkin said that Gainsbourg had called the Pope "our greatest PR man" in response.<ref name="telegraph" /> In Italy, the head of their record label was jailed for offending public morality.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/jane-birkin-actress-and-singer-dies-aged-76-snwhcm3ql | website=The Times | title= The Times Register: obituary Jane Birkin, English-born singer and actress |date=17 July 2023 |access-date= 28 October 2024 }}</ref>

Birkin said in 2004 that, "It wasn't a rude song at all. I don't know what all the fuss was about. The English just didn't understand it. I'm still not sure they know what it means."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/aug/15/popandrock1|title=Serge needed all the love he could get|last=Solomons|first=Jason|date=15 August 2004|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|access-date=3 August 2010|___location=London}}</ref> When Gainsbourg later went to [[Jamaica]] to record with [[Sly and Robbie]], they initially did not get on well with Gainsbourg, but their mood changed immediately upon learning that "Je t'aime" was his work.<ref name="simmons" />

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== Cover versions ==

The song has been frequently covered in the years since its release. In 1969, the Hollywood 101 Strings Orchestra released a 7-inch record single (on A/S Records label) with two versions: the A-side featured a fully instrumental recording while the B-side had sexually suggestive vocalizations done by Bebe Bardon.<ref name=hypo>{{cite web|url=httphttps://wwwjulianweaver.hypo.ionet/index.php?aid=6je-2taime-moi-non-plus-a-maintes-reprises.html|title=je t'aime moi non plus: a maintes reprises transcript|last=Weaver|first=Julian|date=14 February 2003|work=hypojulianweaver.ionet|publisher=Resonance FM|access-date=414 AugustFebruary 20102025}}</ref> The first covers were instrumentals, "Love at first sight", after the original was banned;<ref name=hypo/> the first version by a British group named Sounds Nice (featuring Tim Mycroft on keyboard) became a top 20 hit.<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|title=The encyclopedia of popular music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xx71AAAAMAAJ&q=Love+at+first+Sight|edition=3|volume=7|year=1998|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-333-74134-X|page=5049}}</ref> (The group's name "sounds nice" actually represents the two words [[Paul McCartney]] said when he heard this instrumental cover of the song).)

The first parody was written in 1970 by Gainsbourg himself and {{ill|Marcel Mithois|fr}}. Titled "Ça", it was recorded by [[Bourvil]] and [[Jacqueline Maillan]], Bourvil's last release before his death.<ref name=hypo/><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA75|title=Paris|last=Way|first=Michael|date=5 September 1970|magazine=Billboard|access-date=5 August 2010}}</ref> Other comedy versions were made by [[Frankie Howerd]] and [[June Whitfield]], [[Judge Dread]], and [[Gorden Kaye]] and [[Vicki Michelle]], stars of the BBC TV comedy ''[['Allo 'Allo!]]'' in character.<ref name=hypo/>

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Cervantes' record label Butterfly Records released the disco rendition as "Je t'aime" by an all-female disco group Saint Tropez in August 1977,<ref name="Cervantes interview"/><ref name="AJ Jr Disco King"/> the first disco rendition of the song,<ref>{{cite book |first1=Alan |last1=Jones |first2=Jussi |last2=Kantonen |year=2000 |chapter=Hot Shots |title=Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/saturdaynightfor0000jone/page/93 |lccn=00-038065 |page=[https://archive.org/details/saturdaynightfor0000jone/page/93 93] |isbn=1-55652-411-0 |publisher=Chicago Review Press }}</ref> as part of the album of the same name, ''Je T'aime'' (1977). Prompted by the minor success of Saint Tropez, a year later in 1978, Casablanca Records released<ref name="Cervantes interview"/><ref name="AJ Jr Disco King"/> the Summer and Moroder duet rendition of "Je t'aime" in a 15-minute version for the film ''[[Thank God It's Friday (film)|Thank God It's Friday]]''.<ref name=film/> The Summer–Moroder rendition was produced by Moroder and [[Pete Bellotte]].

A non-lyrical rendition of the song was played at the tail end of the [[2024 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony]].

== See also ==

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[[Category:Serge Gainsbourg songs]]

[[Category:Brigitte Bardot songs]]

[[Category:UK Singlessingles Chartchart number-one singles]]

[[Category:Number-one singles in Norway]]

[[Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland]]

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[[Category:Obscenity controversies in music]]

[[Category:Songs banned by the BBC]]

[[Category:1967 neologismsquotations]]

[[Category:Quotations from music]]

[[Category:Music videos shot in France]]