2023-08-23 17:00:06
COLUMBIA (SOURCE : DISCOGS.COM)
Find all the episodes of the series “One song, two versions” here.
Wednesday November 19, 1986, Paris. At the National Assembly, by a militant and malicious act, a peaceful commando including Jack Lang, then former Minister of Culture and deputy (PS) of Loir-et-Cher, Charles Trenet and Rachid Taha distributes to the deputies a 45-rpm of Carte de séjour, a French rock band formed in 1980 in the Lyon suburbs. Musicians from the second generation of immigrants: the brothers Mokhtar and Mohamed Amini (bass and guitar), Rachid Taha (vocals), Djamel “Jess” Dif (drums) and guitarist Eric Vacquer. On side A of the disc there is an energetic reinterpretation, oriental rock style, with guitars, darbouka, oud and lyrics repeated identically from Sweet France, one of the most famous songs by Charles Trenet (1913-2001).
Written in 1943 on music composed by his pianist, Léo Chauliac, it will not be recorded by Trenet until 1947, because before he was considered a Pétainist. On a tempo embroidered with sunny swing, with piano, vibraphone, muted trumpet and acoustic guitar, Trenet sings in a tender voice the beautiful carefreeness of childhood and coos of love for his dear country of France: “Yes I love you / In joy or in pain. » Words which can read an ironic allusion to the mockery of which he is the victim then. In 1945, Trenet will leave for the United States, tired of the accusations of collaboration which condemn him to eight months of inactivity at the Liberation (sentence reduced to three months), while having had to prove that he was not Jewish, after an article published in the weekly I’m everywhere in 1944.
Symbol value
The singer will not really return until 1954. « Sweet France is the song of the youth of a generation spoiled by war, the song of the passage from joy to melancholy, precisely the nostalgia of the pre-war period, analyzes Serge Hureau, director of the Hall de la chanson, in Paris. Undoubtedly the song of a deep Trenet, to be placed next to The Mad Complaintthis treasure from 1945.”
Metamorphosed by Rachid Taha (1958-2018) and his comrades, the piece became, in 1986, a cheerful ritornello in tone and intention, recorded for 2 et ½, the second album of Carte de séjour. This recovery will have symbolic value, in a context where, after the March for equality and against racism in 1983 (known as the “March of the Beurs”), the fight against the government’s plan to reform the nationality code and those who want to question the right of the land makes sense. Trenet had seen this diversion of his song with a good eye. “He was delighted with the impact of the proofreading by Residence permit”, comments the producer and publisher Gérard Davoust, president of Editions Raoul Breton, representing the bulk of Trenet’s catalog.
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