so, there i was using YouTube as a serious and sober tool for research regarding an extremely dour and scholarly article you will read in next month’s Plan B (hopefully thru half-moon spectacles) when i met someone who, well, click here and see for yrself…

her name was Barbara, although she was born (Jewish, in just-about-to-be-occupied Paris) Monique Serf. at ten, she had to go into hiding, and was abused by her father, who wd leave after the war. the song above is ‘Nantes’ (which is where all this transpired) and the lyrics concern an estranged child called back to their father’s death bed so he can make his peace. the almost crippling internal tension of the situation plays out through Barbara’s muted, controlled, but extraordinarily expressive performance as she - like so many of the great French chanteuses - shows the complementary acting ability that made them icons. for all the lyrics, as rendered in hebrew by an admirably casually bare-chested guy (english in subtitles) click here.

bonus: here’s ‘ma plus belle histoire d’amour’, which was, i gather, her biggest hit, trading death for love and stark piano for cafe ambience.