Requiem pour un c

Are there songs by Serge that can't be sung by a girl? Requiem pour un con springs to mind, but there are at least two female versions of this bitter, angry revenge-song Serge wrote for (and sang in) the 1968-movie Pacha, with Jean Gabin. See that great scene here. To me, the song is a speech on a funeral of a major asshole, read by someone who finally sees his chance to get even. Ofcourse, girls can feel that emotion just as well, both Zazie and Vanessa Paradis did credible live-renditions. [There's another female version by Japanese hipsters EPO, but that one's a little on the weird side] Still, the song suits men better. It's probably the pounding beat, and the way you have to sing it, with clenched jaw and fists. Here are versions by Mick Harvey (in English), Franz Treichler, Martin Solveig, Brian Molko+Françoise Hardy+Faultline and Doudou Masta, plus a remixed version by The Orb, the 1991-remix (issued right after Serge's death), a Spanish cover by Bunbury, and the instrumental hommages by the Bill Wells Octet and Folk Implosion.
UPDATE: FFF and L'Affaire Louis Trio added. And who are these guys?
By the way, Florent Pagny's very dramatic version is also added.
Another UPDATE: Thanks to Patrick (and Natashka), another real good female version is added, by the Quebecoise Marie Chantal Toupin.

Original:
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con
Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con (1991 remix)
Female:
Zazie - Requiem Pour Un Con (merci jean-luc)
Vanessa Paradis - Requiem Pour Un Con (see video on YouTube)
Marie Chantal Toupin - Requiem Pour Un Con (yousendit-link)
French covers:
Florent Pagny - Requiem Pour Un Con (merci Dennis)
EPO - Requiem Pour Un Con
Franz Treichler - Requiem Pour Un Con
Martin Solveig - Requiem Pour Un Con
Doudou Masta - Requiem Pour Un Con
L'Affaire Louis Trio - Requiem Pour Un Con (merci Dennis)
FFF - Requiem Pour Un Con (merci J-L)
English covers:
Mick Harvey - Requiem For A C
Brian Molko, Françoise Hardy & Faultline - Requiem For A Jerk
Spanish:
Bunbury - Requiem Por Un Cabron
Remix:
The Orb - Requiem Pour Un Con
Instrumental:
Bill Wells Octet - Requiem Pour Un Con
Folk Implosion - Serge

Belinda

Remember the Bonnie & Clyde-post from a couple o'weeks ago? The guys @ Stereogum located another cover-version, by none other than Belinda Carlisle. Check!

Megaupload

I got a few emails from people who had trouble downloading songs via Megaupload. Oddly, Megaupload doesn't have a how-to-instruction. Check the comments to this post to find out how to use Megaupload.

Blahblahblah. We're back to normal procedures.

Grace

Third contribution to his series on Girls Singing Wiz a French Accent, by Roger Grund

There are many ways to say goodbye in French. So it comes as no surprise that many ‘leaving songs’ feature in the French songbook, each taking a particular angle. In Gainsbourg’s Je suis venue te dire que je m’en vais the singer casually informs his lover of his decision to leave, ‘and your tears are not going to change a thing’. Jacques Brel on the other hand in Ne me quitte pas, begs his lover to stay, and, in a delirous case of amour fou, makes impossible promises to support his plea. Yet again, Pars, written by Jacques Higelin and released in 1978, takes an opposite stance, with the singer urging his (or her) lover to leave immediately and not come back: ‘Alors pars, et surtout ne te retourne pas’. In a David Lynch-ian way, the deceptively simple lyric of Pars hints towards a complex story that the listener only starts to uncover.
Grace Jones, the Jamaican-born model-turned-singer gave exposure to Higelin’s Pars to the wider world on her 1980 album Warm Leatherette (in the same way that Jo Lemaire opened a new audience to Serge Gainsbourg with her iconic version of Je suis venue...). Musically, we hear the Island Records studio band in its prime, with a central role for the fluid yet polygonal rhythms of Sly and Robbie. On Pars the fusion of chanson and slow reggae, previously attempted by the ubiquitous Gainsbourg, is a near-to-perfect. Grace Jones, who at the time of her disco version of Piaf’s La vie en rose was regarded as an opportunistic disco queen, approached Serious Artist status on the strengh of her outstanding version of Pars. And her French is good as it gets for a non-native French speaker…

Grace Jones - Pars
Jacques Higelin - Pars (merci Wouter)

Axelle (5)

Shocking news: Axelle Red thinks of putting her career on hold. For good. Reasons aren't very clear (is has something to do with the music industry today, and the way music is consumed, so to speak). Which means that Jardin Secret (songs were previewed here before) is her last album. If so, she's out with a bang. Because my-oh-my, what a brilliant album this is. Her French Soul really blossomed while recording in Memphis (she sang in the booth were Al Green used to stand), her lyrics are upclose and personal and musicwise there's nothing to complain. This really is uncut Soul, people. It's hard to pick one song, but the very tender, almost childish Papillon caresses places I never thought could be reached by a song.

Axelle Red - Papillon

Marine

Yes, it's Marine Bercot, not Martine - makes me think of Rupert Pupkin. She doesn't whistle while showering, regards Jesus as her hero and her favourite movie is Breaking the Waves. Marine has always written, be it letters, stories or songs. She's a trained pianist, had her own folktrio and wrote the songs Emmanuelle Seigner sang in the movie Backstage. Les Amants (2005) is her first soloalbum - that is to say, her name's on the cover, but Charly Mercier's guitar is very prominent, and he wrote almost all songs on the album together with Marine. Les Amants is recommendable if you're into Joni Mitchell, Ricky Lee Jones and their peers. Mostly acoustic, with added strings, and very introspective lyrics. Two songs are more upbeat, which is good for the albums tends to get a little boring. Still, her Barbara-like voice is certainly no pain on the eardrums.

Marine Bercot - Les Noces de Menthe
Marine Bercot - Les Amants

Sophie

It's sunday. You've just woken up, see the grey skies and the drops of rain on your window. You're thinking of fixing a breakfast brunch for you and your s.o., whilst quick checking your favourite blog. You download a song, and while making coffee that song plays. It's a gentle bossanova, sung by clear voice. Suddenly, the sun peeks through the window, there's a rumble from the bedroom and just before the bread jumps from the toaster, you re-play the song. Somebody whispers something sweet from between the sheets. You're smiling.

Sophie Cappere - Un Touche de Bonheur (megaupload)

(More Sophie via Jamendo. Merci á René)