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Les sucettes
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Les Sucettes
| cover = Les sucettes Single.jpeg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = France Gall
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| genre =
| length =
| label = Philips
| writer = Serge Gainsbourg
| producer =
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"'Les Sucettes'" ("Lollipops") is a French pop song written by Serge Gainsbourg and first recorded by France Gall in 1966. One of Gall's biggest hits, it was an unusually risqu song for its time, although she has said she was unaware of the fact when performing it.
Meaning
"Les Sucettes" is, on the surface, a y-y-style song about a girl named Annie who likes aniseed-flavoured lollipops; much of the lyrical content plays up the homonyms of "Annie" and "anis" (aniseed).
But Gainsbourg's lyric also contains playful double meanings referring to oral sex, such as a line about barley sugar running down Annie's throat. The very noun for 'lollipop' in French, "sucette", is the substantivised verb "sucer", sucking so that the title and the refrain ("Annie aime les sucettes", Annie loves lollipops) are far more evocative in French than in the English translation. A possible translation to preserve the innuendo would be "Annie loves suckers". The song also features a direct 'double entendre', stating that Annie has lollipops "pour quelques pennies" (for a few pennies), which can also be heard as "pour quelques pnis" (for a few penises).
Music video
A film clip for the song was directed by Jean-Christophe Averty for the TV show 'Au risque de vous plaire' (lit. "At the Risk of Pleasing You"). It featured props playing on the sexual references, with lollipops that were somewhat phallic rather than the traditional circle shape, interspersed with cutaways of young women suggestively sucking on lollipops.
Another video was filmed, featuring Gall herself in a schoolgirl uniform inside a house, singing the song.
Reaction
Gall has said that she did not understand the double meaning of the song when she recorded it at age 18.[http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6153.asp France Gall biography at RFI Musique] , accessed 25 June 2007. By Gall's account, she did not realize until later why the filming of the clip attracted so many visitors to the set.
Gall was said to be extremely upset upon finally learning the truth about the song's double meaning "mortified, hiding herself away for weeks, refusing to face anyone".Simmons, Sylvie (2002). 'Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes', , page 44. Gall said that she had sung Gainsbourg's songs "with an innocence of which I'm proud. I was pained to then learn that he had turned the situation to his advantage, mocking me."
In a 2001 television interview, Gall said that she felt "betrayed by the adults around me."
Gainsbourg called the song "the most daring song of the century" in an interview with the magazine 'Rock and Folk'.
Covers
Kim Kay version
{{Infobox song| name = Les Sucettes
| cover = Kim Kay - Les sucettes.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Kim Kay
| album = Hits!
| released = 2000
| recorded = 2000 at Sterman & Cook Studio
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Eurodance
| length =
| label = EMI
| writer = Serge Gainsbourg
| producer =
| prev_title = a plane pour moi
| prev_year = 2000
| next_title = Open Your Heart
| next_year = 2001
| misc =
}}
Belgian Eurodance singer Kim Kay recorded a cover of "Les Sucettes" that released in 2000 on EMI as the fourth single and as well as the opening track from her only compilation album, 'Hits!' (2000). The single was produced by Phil Sterman and Lov Cook.
Track listing
Other covers
* Gainsbourg recorded his own version, with a psychedelic arrangement, on the 1969 album 'Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg'.* The song was performed by Luce as a contestant on the eighth season of the French TV singing competition 'Nouvelle Star' in 2010.
* The song was covered by the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion in the album 'Les Fleurs du Mal', released in September 2012.
See also
*France Gall
*Serge Gainsbourg
References
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