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==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; 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reached the press, and Bardot's husband, German businessman [[Gunter Sachs]], angrily called for the single to be withdrawn.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 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>
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