The song "Je t'aime" surfaced on the airwaves last week following the death of its star performer Jane Birkin at the age of 76. I don't know enough about her to comment on her career, suffice to say the English actress went on to captivate France.
Unfortunately the song is still with us. For some reason I never appreciated it and not because of any puritanical streak. It was just an extremely dreary tune and hasn't improved with age.
It was released in 1968 and just about everyone must have heard Birkin's duet with Serge Gainsbourg. At the time it caused quite a stir in Britain, breaking quite a few taboos which don't really need explaining here. Well, okay there was lots of grunting, groaning, gasping and moaning and a few tantalising French words which sounded sexy even if they weren't.
It was educational too and certainly contributed to British schoolboys brushing up on their French.
In all its wisdom the BBC banned the song which of course made it even more popular and it became the first banned song to reach No 1 and also the first foreign language song to achieve that.
Its full title was "Je t'aime…moi non plus" (I love you… me neither) and from the moment I heard it I didn't enjoy the dirge-like tune dominated by an organ that sounded like it was being played at a funeral.
It had actually been recorded the year before by Brigitte Bardot and Gainsbourg but Bardot hated it so much she persuaded him not to release it. Bardot's more subdued version did eventually surface in 1986 and can be heard on YouTube.
Pole dance
"Je t'aime" became a familiar sound in Bangkok's bars, nightclubs and discos in the 1970s. Thai DJs seemed almost obliged to put it on when a slow number was called for and Patpong's pole dancers were left to their own devices as to how to interpret the song. They had fun with it too and it invariably involved lots of giggling.
Judging from the Je t'aime restaurants that have surfaced throughout Thailand it is quite likely the song can still be heard regularly in the kingdom.
More moaning
Another song that was to feel the wrath of the censors for similar reasons to Je t'aime was Donna Summer's big disco hit "Love to Love You Baby" released in 1975. It was Summer's first success but she came under fire for all the simulated sexual moaning that accompanied the song.
The BBC got in on the act again with another ban, noting with considerable outrage the extended 16-minute version contained "23 orgasms".
A strong Christian, Summer was a bit embarrassed by the whole thing although she was quite happy that it became a big hit which was to launch the Disco Queen's career. She eventually refused to sing it in concert after South American audiences became a bit too excited and started storming the stage whenever she performed it.
The controversy about the song was really a lot of fuss over nothing, although the publicity didn't do Summer's sales any harm.
Thriller in Manila
I always associate "Love to Love You Baby" with my first visit to the Philippines where it was a huge hit and you heard it from the moment you landed in Manila. But it wasn't just the capital city. Wherever you went, from Zamboanga to Cebu, from Davao to Tacloban, you would hear the strains of Summer's song.
On subsequent trips Summer's influence was very much felt. She was an icon and for a few years it was common to see Filipinas with the Disco Queen's hair-styles and wigs.
A piece of cake
One of my favourite Summer songs is her 1978 version of "MacArthur Park", sometimes irreverently called "the baking cakes song". It suited her voice and became her first No 1 hit in Nov 1978.
It had been recorded a decade earlier by the unlikely figure of Irish actor Richard Harris. Despite his vocal cords being stretched to the limit Harris did quite well, although some critics thought it was rubbish.
The song is about the end of a love affair (aren't they all?) and contains some memorable lyrics by songwriter Jimmy Webb. Who could resist the following:
"Someone left the cake out in the rain/ I don't think I can take it/'cause it took so long to bake it/and I'll never have that recipe again/Oh no!"
They don't write lyrics like that these days.
Barry's best-seller
MacArthur Park gained a certain notoriety thanks to Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs published in 1997. In his excellent weekly humour column for the Miami Herald Barry got a bigger than expected response when he wrote about songs he hated. So he held a reader's poll of worst songs, out of which came his best-selling book.
Barry pointed out that to qualify, the songs had to have once been popular and at least 10 years old.
Topping the list was the Harris version of MacArthur Park. Runner up was the awful "Yummy Yummy Yummy, I Got Love In My Tummy" by the Ohio Express, while Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" came third.
Long-time Post readers may recall that in the 1980s we carried Barry's syndicated column every Sunday. They were among the funniest humour columns I have ever read.
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