Best French Songs of the 1960s

You may thing this odd – I don’t speak French and I am way too young to know these songs.

But these are the songs of my childhood. French music was still influential and very much enjoyed in ’60s South Vietnam. Songs from this era were ‘carried over’ to Melbourne by my family and I heard them almost every day growing up. It must have reminded my folks of happier times.

Recently, in Saigon I was in a lovely cafe which controversially had a playlist of exclusively French songs from pre-Communist days. It somehow felt like home. It was there that I penned this list of French favourites:

La Boheme – Charles Aznavour (1965)
An easy start. This is a masterpiece of French chanson and the man’s signature song for a reason – it’s brilliant!

Le Temps De L’amour – Francoise Hardy (1962)
Sung by one of the world’s most beautiful women, then and now. Many 60′s Vietnamese singers have emulated her sound (because it’s a gorgeous).

La Plus Belle Pour Aller Danser – Sylvie Vartan (1963)
The string riff is sublime; dat-dat-dah-duh (dut-dut-dut-dut). It was a big hit in Vietnam and there is a fantastic cover in French and Vietnamese by Thanh Lan.

L’amour Est Bleu – Vicky Leandros (1967)
One of the most recognisable songs in the world thanks to the Paul Mauriat orchestra cover. There is a melancholy bliss in the original that Mauriat misses. My favourite Leandros is Apres Toi from 1972.

Capri C’est Fini – Herve Vilard (1965)
Recorded when he was only 19, Vilard was uber cute (in a Ferris Bueller kind of way) and suffering from a broken heart. Ah, young love; I’m sure he got over it!

La Nuit – Salvatore Adamo (1964)
Adamo has an unmistakable voice. When he modulates the ‘uuooo’ it sends pleasurable shivers down the spine. Another fav is Mes Mains Sur Tes Hanches with the catchy la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la (yes, that’s 9 la’s). 

Garde-moi La Derniere Danse - Dalida (1961)
This song is fine, but I’m adding Dalida just so I can mention her song with Alain Delon Paroles, Paroles from 1973 (it was played at every single family gathering!).

Aline – Christophe (1965)
This song has been doing the dance remix circuit since the late 90′s, bizarre, but it goes to show that a good song can go a long, long way!

Et Maintenant – Gilbert Becaud (1961)
Before Shirley Bassey got her delicious chops on this hit (aka What Now My Love), Gilbert ‘Monsieur 100,000 Volts’ Becaud was already raking in gagillions in royalties for his recording in French.

Dans Le Temps – Petula Clark (1965)
Last but not least, I could not be a gay man and talk about ’60s music without paying tribute to the fabulous Petula Clark (and who doesn’t love Downtown?!).

The Dangers of Being Gay in Uganda

The BBC doco World’s Worst Place to be Gay? had quite an unexpected impact on me.

The one-off show follows BBC1 Scott Mills’ travels to Uganda as he to speaks to everyday people to discover the extent of homophobia in the country – he’s searching for the reasons why Uganda tried to introduce a death penalty for homosexuality.

An outstanding moment was when Mills met a group of gay and lesbian people living together in a slum; hated by their community, rejected by their families, and constantly harassed and beaten – they remain resilient. One brave Ugandan gay man declared:

We are born gay, we shall live (as) gays, we shall die (as) gays.

While we now know the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill proposing death for gay and lesbian people has not be instituted, the hatred has not passed since Mills’ visit. His interviewees said gays should be hanged and have “everything bad… done to them”. Indeed, some Ugandans take matters into their own hands, administering beatings or worse, such as ‘curing’ lesbianism with rape.

Like 1.5 million other people, I have signed the Avaaz Petition that condemns the bill and any future iteration of it. To change the mindset of the majority of the Ugandan community is a complex issue; but great things can be achieved with small steps – the first step is to watch Mills’ documentary and the second is to sign the petition.

A Brief History of Vietnam

They say ‘history is written by the winners’.

I have difficulty finding decent resources on past Vietnamese leaders, because of this adage. Vietnamese history has undergone so many rewrites under various regimes that it’s sometimes difficult to pick the heros and villains of Vietnamese culture. Even gods and goddesses fall in and out of favour depending on the government of the day.

Vietnamese people are a hardy and resilient; in the blood of my people is the lineage of centuries of accomplishment through hardship. We have defeated Imperial China (twice), stopped the Mongol hordes at our doorstep (twice) and taken on the greatest world powers of their time including the French, Japanese and Americans.

While every time we have retained our country, each battle and war sees part of history destroyed. Also during the period in which we are dominated by the stronger power, our culture is eroded. Raiders pillage treasures; reformers burn libraries and ‘defenders’ bomb cities from above.

Also, of the remaining books, publications could suffer from poor translation from old Chu Nom script (based on Ancient Chinese) to modern Vietnamese; even poorer translation from Vietnamese to English; or worse rewrites to suit a contemporary political agenda. Truly, history is written by the winners.

How Do You Measure A Year?

This year many of my life long dreams came true.

I’ve had many people say “oh, you’re so lucky” because I’ve spent 6 months travelling, free from work. I have a standard response to that compliment now, borrowed from Walt Disney;

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

Well, it’s the time of year that people compile best of lists, and so too have I. I want to share the important moments of the last 12 months. I am pretty lucky to be living my dreams, but remember you can be too. Just believe in yourself and your ability to make the impossible possible.

January

My personal theory of ‘Back to Zero’ took me to a space of exponential growth. Having planned for three years, I found myself financially free, my professional and private life was balanced, and having rejected material possessions I was unburdened. I had the means to live my dreams. I also unlocked the door to healing and began recovering from the sex abuse I survived as a child (survivor, not victim).

February

I vividly remember the hot, sexy man sidling up to me, shaking my hand while staring deep into my eyes. I almost spontaneously cumbusted when I met and interviewed porn star Brent Corrigan at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. As a bonus, I also made it onto his website. Oh yah, I’m on a porn website (check it out here)!

I almost didn't recognise him with his clothes on!

March

A two year radio project came to a natural end. One of my last interviews for my program The Fool and The Opera was with world renowned conductor Richard Bonynge. I was deeply moved when he also invited to attend a masterclass. It was a great honour.

April

I helped co-ordinate Australia’s first same sex formal for Minus18. I spoke with a girl who told me she was so excited because her girlfriend couldn’t go to her ‘real’ school formal, but they were coming our event together. During the formal, when performer Jessie Upton sang acoustic Somewhere Over The Rainbow the two girls, in tuxedos, slow danced. I cried over how utterly beautiful it was.

May

I farewelled the folks of JOY 94.9, the gay and lesbian community radio station that I’d worked at for over 5 years.  I remember when I joined I was an over-eager young kid of little more than 21. It was the right time to leave because I learnt all that I could and I was aching for new adventures. I left the station, still, an over-eager young kid.

Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke - Lynda Barry

June

My media mentor Addam Stobbs passed away and my world was a little sadder. At Addam’s funeral, I held hands with my dear friends Petro and Micah and I remember never wanting to let go. I know it’s from Addam’s lessons that I’ve drawn my most powerful quote, “Gays don’t deserve tolerance. We deserve respect, equality and love.”

July

I hopped on a A380 with my eye on the horizon. Over five months I saw Singaporean soldiers dance in formation, re-learnt to speak and write Vietnamese, sat in on a real Japanese tea ceremony in Tokyo, kitted myself out in hot Korean clothes, walked along the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and met a British prince.

September

I celebrated my 27th birthday by flying to Tokyo. My happiest moment was hearing the sound of the cicadas and warning alarms at a local train station. The sounds were exactly as they are in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, the very show that made me fall in love with Japan when I was a mere teen. It took over a decade, but I made it to Tokyo.

October

On the tenth hour of the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, at an outdoor cafe near Hoan Kiem Lake in flawless deep-southern accent Vietnamese, I ordered drinks for my southern American friends. Some I’d met days earlier, others that very day, but we had one thing in common, we were there to enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime festivities for Hanoi’s 1000th birthday.

November

When I was 12 I pretended I was born in Britain and had a posh accent. I’ve always wanted to be part of the world of David Attenborough, Blackadder and Bond (more recently Skins, Harry Potter and Bond). Now, I can happily proclaim I live in the city where it all happens; London.

December

Sitting in a production meeting at my new job, my heart skipped a beat when a colleague mentioned ‘BBC World Service’ and again when I saw a household name from British TV and Hollywood show pop up in my email. I find myself working for a major UK media producer with very recognisable names. I’m still amazed by this!

The Hoberman sphere is impressive when open, similarly your heart is most impressive when open to your dreams.

Dan Vogue 101 – The Basics

By The Rivers of Vinh Long (sung to the tune of Rivers of Babylon)

It’s time for an introduction!

The basics are; I’m Melbourne born, 27 years old, of Southern Vietnamese heritage (I speak Viet with a heavy Can Tho accent) and was born in the year of the pig (my oinker traits are loyalty, honesty and stubborn optimism).

I studied marketing at the University of Melbourne and worked in radio at JOY 94.9. I love photography, writing and drawing. I rock climb for the mental challenge, tinker on the piano to annoy others and my obsession is international food; I love weird foods from different cuisine cultures (eg. scorpion, rat, tortoise, dog, snake, etc.).

I adapt quickly and often find myself guiding fellow travellers in towns I’ve only just set foot in. Ironically, I have no internal compass and you’ll often find me with rotating maps to match the direction I am facing (thank goodness the iPhone solved this problem, now you’ll find me constantly figure-eighting my phone).

Six months ago, I quit my job and prepared to set sail for the world. Three months ago, I left my home to tour the world with my heart set on seeing Saigon, Tokyo, Seoul, London, Paris and Rome (as a bare minimum). With no return ticket, I plan on travelling for at least 2 years.

So far, I’ve seen Singapore, Tokyo and the entire coastline of Vietnam. Next week, I’ll fly into Seoul, Hong Kong then London. The most magical thing of all is to see the same sun set in different cities (and clouds seem different everywhere I go).

Up until recently, my greatest phobia was to be in a foreign country with no friends, job or money (my parents are immigrants to I think I inherited this from them). When my wallet was pinched in Hanoi I was forced to face that fear, and walk into it.

Before I left Melbourne, I was interested in a guy my friends nicknamed ‘North-West’. He checked to see if I’d be a suitable boyfriend by asking me for a list of 10 things that make me great. I wrote one, but didn’t share it with him because I felt he should discover it for himself.

Yesterday when I re-read the list I laughed at how ‘inside the square’ my life once was. I wouldn’t write those 10 things now. I don’t think I could be restricted to 10 either –  I need 101, or even more! I guess while travelling, what I’ve learnt is to trust and believe in myself.

I am who I am, and that makes me happy.

The Study of Dragonflies and Saigon

The study of dragonflies contains just as much mystery as the study of Saigon

I thought I loved entomology, but recently discovered this is not true.

My natural enemy is the mozzie therefore I hate entomology (insects, and the study of). What I’ve meant all along is I love etymology (etymos ‘true’ and logia ‘study of’) – the true origin of words.

Etymology is a nerdy pursuit, but when travelling can help you fumble your way through other languages. I know some Chinese, French and even Japanese because when each of those countries controlled Vietnam, they influenced our language. For example, the Vietnamese pho originates from the French feu (fire).

English is a second language to me, so I’ve always been fascinated by Western words and phrases. Growing up, I guessed meanings of words based on their context, or consulted my dictionary and phrasal verbs guide.

The latter helped me understand otherwise nonsensical sayings like, “the cat’s out of the bag”. I used to wonder who put the cat in the bag in the first place? Was it the same person who decided there’s “no room to swing a cat”? These were difficult phrases to understand from a Vietnamese point of view (we would have eaten the cat).

To a Vietnamese person there is an expectation that every word meaning has a direct meaning, even names. Introduce yourself as Mr. Meunier, Moulin, Mueller, Molenaar, Molinaro, or Molnár we expect you to know you once descended from millers. To Vietnamese people names have straightforward meaning. Most of the time.

Not even the best etymologist can shed light on the origin of the name Sài Gòn. Used informally since 1620, no one really knows where the the word Sài Gòn came from. Scholars can’t decide if it’s Sino-Vietnamese, Cantonese or Khmer and, therefore, what it really means. Any of the six theories below could be true*:

1. Ceiba tree (Sino-Viet for ceiba cây gòn, 12 metre tall cotton trees common in ancient times)
2. Forest of ceiba (Cantonese sài / wood and Sino-Viet gòn / cotton, but it’s rare two languages combine and syntactically it should be gòn sài)
3. Wood Forest (imagined from the Cantonese sài for wood and gòn for tree)
4. Embankment (the Cantonese name for Chợ Lớn is Tài Ngôn which means embankment)
5. Ceiba forest embankment (this throws theories 1 through 4 together)
6. Forest kingdom (suggests a translation from the former Khmer name for the city; Prey Nokor)

While there is a common thread, we’ll never know for sure what the true origin is. The etymological quest for the origin of Sài Gòn is like my entomological ones in this city. When I try to photograph a dragonfly (the natural predator of the mozzie), you can only get so close before they fly off. The thing you want gently buzzes away, just out of reach.

*summary based on Sài Gòn by Hữu Ngọc.