SONG: La Javanaise
ARTIST: Juliette Greco
YEAR: 1963
Listen to it here:
THE SONG:
“La Javanaise” was written by Serge Gainsbourg for Juliette Gréco and recorded by both of them in 1963, and both recordings were the B-sides on their respective 45s. The song came about in a very French way – during a summer evening in 1962, Gainsbourg and Gréco were listening to records and drinking champagne, and the next day Gainsbourg sent the song to Gréco. The song itself is very Gainsbourg-ian, the title playing a pun on the Parisian java dancing and the javanaise style of speaking, turning the song into a word game.
THE ARTIST:
Juliette Gréco was born on February 7th 1927 in Montpellier, France. Her parents didn’t want her and made sure she knew it, with her mom telling her ‘you ain’t my daughter’. She and her sister were raised by their grandparents until their passing, and the girls moved in with their mother in Paris. When she was 11 years old she became a ballerina at the Opéra Garnier, but when WWII started, the family fled to the south of France. The family joined the Resistance and when their mother was arrested in 1943, the sisters moved back to Paris, but were captured, tortured and imprisoned by the Gestapo. By 1945 the family was released and the girls moved back once again to Paris, while their mother moved to Asia. Post War years saw Juliette embrace La Vie Bohème and she took acting lessons, acting in plays and on radio shows. She became friends with Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Jacques Prévert, gaining the nickname La Muse de l’existentialisme. In 1949 she began an affair with Miles Davis and they decided to keep their relationship purely as ‘friends with benefits’ given their careers were in different countries, and Davis didn’t want to damage her reputation due to them being interracial. Also in 1949 she began singing in cabarets, and had a steady docket of film roles. She continued to sing until her farewell tour titled Merci in 2015. Gréco passed at the age of 93 on September 23, 2020.
FACTOID CORNER:
Gréco also had an affair with Quincy Jones, and Miles Davis was apparently quite annoyed for years after he found out.
Gréco had 3 rhinoplasties during her life.
KELLY’S REVIEW:
Holy, this may be one of the most French things I’ve ever listened to! Serge Gainsbourg is ALL over this – the lyrics, the melody, the chord structuring, the sprechstimme parts of some of the verses. It takes me back to visiting Holly in Paris when she lived there – walking along the Seine and admiring all the riverside artists and vendors, stopping at a café to sit outside, drink a café latte and watch the beautifully dressed women, unbothered with their hair or anyone around them, glide by in their pumps. Juliette’s voice was surprisingly deep and husky, like she lives on a steady diet of black coffee and Gauloise cigarettes. But I think the timbre of her voice is part of what makes it sound so French? Like she’s not a great singer. She sounds like an actress who wanted to put out an album with her songwriter buddy. But I don’t mind it. The instruments are fine – guitar, drums, harp? And a flute? The rhythm reminds me of the Flight of the Conchords French parody song Foo de Fafa (look it up). The backup singers are such a strange, ghoulish sounding addition to a pun song about loving each other for the duration of a dance, definitely an odd choice! I have to admit, due to my love of French things from this era, I will keep an eye out for any Juliette Gréco during my digs!
HOLLY’S REVIEW:
Wow. How totally French. The fact that it’s in 3, the ethereal background ladies, the dark, husky voice of Juliette Greco, the way that some phrases are just a short hop from being sprechstimme (speech-song), this song just places you directly at a cafe in Paris, sitting on a mildly uncomfortable wicker chair, sipping a cafe au lait, with a carafe of water on the table, people watching. All that being said, do I like this song? To be honest, I’m not sure. It feels a little bit dated to me, but it is nice to hear a different instrumentation – we’ve got some guitar, bass, and drum kit but we also have flute, some strings, vibraphone, and possibly harp. Juliette Greco’s voice to me is always a bit of a mystery. It feels like she’s very good at husky mid-range/low range singing, though her tuning is sometimes a bit iffy. I have no idea what her range or tone would be like if she had to project more, or sing in a higher range. The melody is tonally pretty close together, making it easy for Greco to slip in and out of speaking and back to singing. In the end, I like this song fine. I won’t be seaking it out, but it’s fine.
Average mark out of 10:
Holly: 7/10
Kelly: 8/10
Other notable versions of this song:
Serge’s version!
Iggy Pop! Because why not?
Listen with us!
Link to 1,001 Songs to Hear Before You Die spotify playlist:
Holly & Kelly Music Review 