Gainsbourg & Bardot: Bonnie and Clyde

People tend to have strong feelings about this video, or at least that’s been my experience. They either love it or they hate it. Needless to say, I’m in the former group. As a foreigner something about it is very “French” to me, though the song is about two Americans and that strange instrument is Brazilian. At the same time the song doesn’t seem to me as old as it is, sounding like something much closer to our time, perhaps the 90s. It’s possible I like it because I heard it as a child. Listen for these lyrics, and how they play with the rhythm:

Il faut croire
Que c'est la société
Qui m'a définitivement abîmé

or these:

Dans les trois jours
Voilà le tac tac tac
Des mitraillettes
Qui reviennent à l'attaque

What do you think of it?

(Note that one of the Youtube commenters was kind enough to provide an English translation. )

Podcast: La danse des mots

From Radio France Internationale comes a half-hour program and podcast all about the French language: varieties spoken around the world and in history, the evolution of spelling, Francophone literature, and much more. Around 100 episodes are available to listen to on the RFI website or to download via iTunes. This is the sort of thing you should burn to a CD and listen to in the car on your commute, or put it onto your mp3 player for the bus or train ride. The more French you hear, the more you absorb!