Marie, Myriam, Meriem
A work by Françoise—very well done in terms of both the text and the performance—that brings to mind her novel *I Wasn’t Born to Die*. It would still deserve a different musical accompaniment, though 🙂
Les Stances
A song by Christiane Rochefort, written for the French Women’s Liberation Movement.
Requiem pour un pédé
A poem by Lacenaire from the early 19th century—that is, between 1820 and 1836, before he was guillotined.
De Lacenaire
A poem by Lacenaire from the early 19th century—that is, between 1820 and 1836, before he was guillotined.
A Federico Garcia Lorca
On August 19, 1936, the great Spanish poet Federico García Lorca was murdered in a field near Granada by fascist militiamen, who were acting in their usual manner. It is said that he was shot, but the controversy over the circumstances of his execution continues to this day.
Les 3 Cigarettes
In the same vein as *Soir de bataille*, this short poem tells the story of a young boy who is about to be shot—probably for lacking the zeal to slaughter the enemy, or for leaving the trench only to be mowed down by machine-gun fire…
Soir de bataille
Poems written in the slang of the trenches in 1914. It’s a safe bet that he got this from his father, who found himself caught up in that bloodbath and returned from the front in 1916 with his lungs ravaged by poison gas.
La Cigale et la Fourmi
Perhaps the most famous of all French poems—one that has been the delight (or the terror!) of many generations of elementary school students—Françoise offers us a 20th-century slang version following a classic French translation.
Sur le pont de Morlaix
A hoisting song. This type of work song served very specific purposes: coordinating collective efforts during maneuvers—such as raising an anchor (hauling it in with the windlass) or hoisting or furling a sail. They also boosted the morale of the crew, who performed a difficult and dangerous job, and served as a collective memory. A…