Call 'm sweet nothings: the meaningless hummings, almost babylike noises singers sometimes make instead of singing actual words. It might be to imitate an instrument, it might be filler. It's what the compilation Dou da dou is all about, featuring mostly songs with titles like Dou da dou, Zoïzoï and Hum! Hum! Those three examples are posted here, together with the liner notes:
Michèle Richard - Dou da dou.
Daughter of the French Canadian musician Ti-Blanc Richard, singer, TV hostess, actress Michèle Richard started taking ballet and piano classes at the age of four. By the age of sixteen, she had already appeared in more than 450 TV shows. Hers would then be one of the most impressive careers in the Canadian pop music industry. with the release of over 70 singles and 30 albums. Virtually unknown on this side of the Atlantic, she sang Dou da dou in 1970. A splendid song with a killer melody, it was taken from the original soundtrack of the movie L'explosion, and had been penned by Henri Salvador.
France Gall - ZoïZoï
A meager footnote in France Gall's extensive career, happening right after her productive collaboration with Serge Gainsbourg and just before the new start with Michel Berger would provide. Zoïzoï was released in 1970 and has, amazingly, never met the slightest succes. It remains however the most sought-after recording in France Gall's discography: this extremely rare single now generally commands over 200 euros among collectors.
Françoise - Hum! Hum!
Françoise Deldick (pictured) started her career as an actress in the late fifties, and played in numerous films, including Le President, La Derobade and Le Bar du telephone. She made the headlines by climbing the stairs of the Cannes Festival of 1960...riding a horse. Alongside her acting career, she recorded half a dozen singles in the sixties. Released in 1968, the very sexy Hum! Hum! is a cover from Mickey & Sylvia's 1957 Love is strange.
I just bought a book on this subject. It's called "Le dictionnaire des onomatopées dans la chanson" (written by Alain Pozzuoli).
BeantwoordenVerwijderenhttp://www.ingenieurduson.com/cgi-bin/boutique/boutique.cgi?s=livre&id_livre=212
Arno from Belgium also steps in the long tradition of nonsense lyrics, with titles such as 'Oh La La La', 'Ratata', 'Ye Ye', 'Viva Boema', 'Ugh Ugh'. Even with his proper lyrics sometimes you get they impression they were thrown together last minute with only one precondition: rhyme. Often this works out well, for instance with TC Matic's 'Putain Putain': In those cases Arno (who stutters in real life) elevates his artless lyricism to a new level, and his expression can do very well thank you without the confines of proper words with a universally understood meaning. It is more the sound that seems to interest him. But on the flipside, in other cases such as 'Lola Etc.', the result can be somewhat embarrasing lyrically speaking. But at least his delivery is always unquestionably top class.
BeantwoordenVerwijderenRoger Grund