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I'm learning a little French. So I was wondering if any of you folk can recommend any French songs to me. Preferably, something I can download off the internet either legally or illegaly.
posted
Your local library's a good place to check. I tried this a few years ago, and found some Xmas carols sung in French.
Actually, the hardest thing is to find French songs that you can also get the lyrics for, since that's really important...
But yeah, songs are a good way to go, I know that I've retained really well the vocabulary from the few French songs that I've memorized.
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Do you guys know of anywhere I can find a French version of Jesus Christ Superstar? Or perhaps French versions of any of the classic rock songs? (You know, the stuff I've been focusing in "Value of Beauty".) If I get my hands on that, learning French will be so, so much easier.
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I met a guy named Eric Vincent who re-does James Taylor songs in French. He has a whole album where James plays guitar and he sings. (here it is, though you'll have to buy it legally, pobrecita )
One of the best French rock stars for learning the sound of the words (he sings quite clearly and the lyrics are readily accessible) is Pascal Obispo. I like his Superflu album, but I think he's got newer ones out.
A good way to find french lyrics online is to do a Google search for the word paroles and the title of the song in quotes.
I've also got some really great French/Arabic rap recommendations if you like, but I'm still trying to figure out some of the lyrics after having done an entire term paper on them Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Je pourrais te recommander un tas de choses, qu'est- ce que tu aimes écouter d'habitude ? "Chevaliers de la table ronde" is what we call a "chanson à boire" , I'm pretty sure you must have the equivalent, those songs which tell only "drinking is good, food is good, life is wonderfull" or something like that.
[ June 29, 2004, 03:42 AM: Message edited by: Anna ]
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Phanto, I must second PSI Teleport's nomination for Francis Cabrel. The lyrics of his songs are just excellent !
As for other French-language singers:
Patricia Kaas - if you like something really French, with a touch of old.
Celine Dion's French songs, some of them are pretty good.
Florent Pagny - he has some good slow ones, as Savoir aimer, Et un jour, une femme, Chanter, and a really cool one that's called Ma liberte de penser, and he's quite easy to understand.
Zazie - Larsen, Danse avec les loops
Carla Bruni - pop, slow
Natasha St Pierre - slow
Mylene Farmer - slow
Noir Desir - pop-rock
Etienne Daho
Louise Attaque - strange, unique voice
I hope you find something you like among these. I remember when I came to France, the songs could have been in Chinese and it would have made no difference to me ! But after hearing them time and again on the radio I started to understand them. And like them - I can't stand listening to music without undertanding the lyrics, and that's one of the reasons I don't like Spanish music. The other being that it really, really... errr... sucks, IMHO... Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Plaid - I do the same thing. When I was learning the conditional, I translated "If I Had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies. It's perfect:
Si j'avais un million de dollars (si j'avais un million de dollars) Je t'acheterais une maison (je t'acheterais une maison) Si j'avais un million de dollars (si j'avais un million de dollars) Je t'acheterais des meubles pour ta maison (peut-être une jolie Chesterfield ou un tabouret) Si j'avais un million de dollars (si j'avais un million de dollars) Je t'acheterais une voiture K (une bonne automobile dépendante) Si j'avais un million de dollars (si j'avais un million de dollars) J'acheterais ton amour...
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One of the girls with whom I went to France didn't speak a word of French except for one line from a song by Manu Chao - "Je ne t'aime plus." She said it over and over and over again.
Very handy travel phrase, that.
(edit to add a participle and then decided I might as well put it in the proper place.)
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In the song, it's "je ne t'aime plus, mon amour". Which is puzzling. Now Louise Attaque exists under the name Tarmac. I love Paris Combo, Maxime le Forestier, Zebda, Stephan Eicher (only some of his songs are in French), Tri Yann, Les Têtes Raides, Mes Souliers sont rouges... There's a lot of good French music !
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Anna, I LOVE Zebda. I can't get enough! I've got their newest album Utopie d'occase and it's even better than my favorite Essence ordinaire. Next time I'm in France, we'll have to go dancing or to a concert.
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Wow. All those Annas, and all those Annies are making my head spin.
Voici la chose. J'aime la musique qui est rapide, qui est puissant, qu'est émotif. Piaf est trop comme un opéra. En bref, j'aime les chansons qui sont comme la roche classique.
(Fine, fine. I cheated and used a translator.:(But, ATM, the most complex statement I can make bymself is something like: De quoi parliez-vous quand je suis entré?
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I'd really reccommend Zebda then; the music is rather arabic/mediterranean, and some of their songs could definitely be classified as rap, but their vocals are really clear. Plus, their lyrics are really poignant and full of all kinds of great social commentary (the band is multi-racial; composed of children of immigrant families who grew up in France's banlieux.) It's great, great, great! One of their biggest hits is "Tomber la chemise"
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Which songs sound arabic? Some might very well be, but none that I'm familiar with. They do have a rather pronounced Marseillais accent, though. You'll notice they tend to pronounce silent Es at the ends of words. Thus, a word like dire takes up two syllables.
If you want to hear an incredibly thick arabic accent speaking French, see if you can find "Do the Rai thing" by IAM. It's pretty funky.
Another reccommendation if you like Zebda is MC Solaar; he's a little more subdued, but very groovy. My personl favorite album, though it's quite 90s, is Prose Combat.
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Oh, here's another tidbit for you, since you're now a Zebda lover (alright! ) -
The word zebda is Arabic for butter. Weird, you say? Actually quite clever when you know that a French slang term for a person of Arabic descent (rather, a French person of Arabic parentage) is beur, which is an inverted form of the French word Arabe in the argot slang language known as Verlan. Beur is a homonym for beurre - which means butter. So they're re-appropriating the slang term (sometimes derogatory) with which they've been labeled Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Pas d'uniformes: A lot of times it seems to be arabic/hebrew. I have no idea, btw, at all what's happening in that song, and no idea what the lyrics are, besides for it being something against uniformes .
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Next time I'm in France, we'll have to go dancing or to a concert.
