More of a playboy than a rogue, Jacques Dutronc was one of the coolest French artists of the sixties. Still active today, he is better known as a film star and husband of yéyé girl extraordinaire, Françoise Hardy. All-time favourites include “Les cactus” and “Les gens sont fous, les temps sont flous, a song I translated into English for a film as “People are crazed, the times are a haze”. Just the title seems to sum up the sixties pretty well. Another notable song is the slow number “Le petit jardin” (The little garden) from 1971, a song which tells of an evil building contractor ready to destroy a Paris park for profit way before the green movement came into existence. On a more modern note, “On nous cache tout, on nous dit rien” (see album cover) has a very groovy sound and is all about media deception.

Originally from the UK, Petula Clark is probably the most successful artist in both her native country as her adoptive country, France. Singers with cute French accents were all the rage, but even today, Petula remains the leader of the pack. Other English-language singers that come to mind are Jane Birkin, Blossom Dearie, April March and Nanette Workman (read my article about her at Filles Sourires).

Her style was also very prim and proper, which endeared her to an enormous audience. Her most well-known hit has to be “Downtown”, recorded in French as “Dans le temps”, which like many other hits can be heard on Radio Oh la la.

I’ve added more Paris Combo to the playlist. They are part of my excursion into more recent music, while remaing faithful to the Oh la la sound. Occasionally, you can catch some tunes close to chanson and sometimes, you’ll hear more modern sounds, such as the jazzy ones of Paris Combo.

On a different note, I’ve added some music by Tony Roman and Nanette Workman and Les Double Six.