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"'''Je t'aime… moi non plus'''" ([[French language|French]] for "I love you… me neither") is a 1967 song written by [[Serge Gainsbourg]] for [[Brigitte Bardot]]. In 1969, Gainsbourg recorded the best known version with [[Jane Birkin]]. TheAlthough the duet reached number one in the UK, theUK—the first foreign-language song to do so, andso—and number two in Ireland, butit was banned in several countries due to its overtly sexual content.
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 girlfriend, [[Brigitte Bardot]]. After a disappointing, witless date with Bardot, the next day, 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" and 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; the 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reached the press and Bardot's husband, German businessman [[Gunter Sachs]], was angry and called for the single to be withdrawn. Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release it. He complied but observed "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 when they met on the set of the film [[Slogan (film)|''Slogan'']]. After filming, he asked her to record the song with him.<ref name=simmons/> Birkin had heard the Bardot version and thought it "so hot".<ref name=telegraph/> She said: "I only sang it because I didn't want anybody else to sing it", jealous at the thought of his sharing a recording studio with someone else. Gainsbourg asked her to sing an octave higher than Bardot, "so you'll 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> It was recorded in an arrangement by [[Arthur Greenslade]] in a studio at [[Marble Arch Records|Marble Arch]].<ref name=simmons/> Birkin said 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 they had recorded live sex, to which Gainsbourg told Birkin, "Thank goodness it wasn't, otherwise I hope it would have been a long-playing record."<ref name=simmons/> It was released in February 1969.<ref name=evene/> The single had a plain cover, with the words "Interdit aux moins de 21 ans" (forbidden to those under 21),<ref name=zwerin/> and the record company changed the label from [[Philips Records|Philips]] to its subsidiary [[Fontana Records|Fontana]].<ref name=evene/>
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