Pardon My French
by Norman Bates

Favourite français artists et their meilleurs works à my avis.

100; c'est a bit short; désolé Julien Baer, Syd Matters, Monsieur Saï, Mathématiques modernes, Sapho, St Germain, Noir désir, Yeti Lane, Angil, Klub des loosers, De Crécy, et beaucoup more.
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Bien... Si Bien 
Compilation
Bourvil is more famous today for his humorous parts in countless French comedys of the 50s and 60s, and for his part as a policemean in Melville's Le Cercle Rouge. He was, however, a good singer too, generally playing the part he had trained in cabaret, i.e. the village idiot. But he could also sing this ("C'était bien" - "It was good", a melanchory memory of when the narrator used to dance with his girl):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXV-1ZebdBs
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
2005
Appears in:
Rank in 2005:
None
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None
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Boris Vian was a poet, a novelist, a trumpet player, and a singer. He was an early influence on young Gainsbourg. He sang wrily humorous songs with incredible class, and no technique at all. Brilliant.
"Je bois" ("I drink"), where Boris enumerates the reasons why he drinks (including the wondrous "Pour oublier ma gueule / To forget my face")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhdgLe57F4Y
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1956
Appears in:
Rank Score:
214
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Aznavour had an incredible span in the early sixties, with brilliantly orchestrated music hall chanson and wonderfully crafted simple cruel lyrics. Check also "Il Faut Savoir" (1961), or any good best-of compilation.
"Monsieur est mort" (Monsieur is dead), Monsieur being the rich gentleman who employed the narrator.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0esjuxFTLM
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1961
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17
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4. (5) Up 1
L'intégrale 
Compilation
A mathematician teacher, Lapointe was also a no-nonsense lyricist, spitting his hilarious plays on words and sounds at frightening speed and with his cruel, implacable absurdous logic.

"Saucisson de cheval" (Horse sausage) is utterly untranslatable, but it's great :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9HshYGmMCA
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1998
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None
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None
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He wrote the music to Godard's Le Mépris and countless other beautiful scores.

"Camille" (from Le Mépris, 1963)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ3yN0m5Gk0
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
2000
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None
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None
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Jo Privat was a "musette" accordion musician, meaning he played dance songs for popular bars along the rivers of the Parisian countryside. He was also a close friend of the Reinhardt family (he covers "Minor Swing" and "Nuages" in this lovely LP), which is why you can see him and his band bringing a copy of the vinyl to Django's widow in her caravan on the cover of "Manouche Partie". There couldn't be a French music chart without "musette" and accordion.

"Java Manouche" ("java" was a very popular dance in "bals musette", "manouche" means "gipsy")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZp0TaO3YmU
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1961
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7
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When he began singing, around 65-66, Dutronc sounded like the French version of a garage chanson singer. Check it out :
"Et moi et moi et moi" ("And me, me, me")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJm4Ul7hO68
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1966
Appears in:
Rank Score:
115
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"Psyché Rock" people ! Jerk by Colombier, weird electronic sounds by electro-acoustics pioneer Henry, choreography by Béjart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOqfWj0HqNE
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13
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Countless bizarre avant-pop soundtracks. Here, a sample from La Scoumoune featuring Belmondo :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8RJ7xjigmo
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank in 1998:
None
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None
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This is from one of Brigitte's first LPs on Saravah, a collaboration with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Brigitte always remained impossible to categorize, all her 70s work, solo or with her companion Areski Belkacem, must be listened to. Adventurous and poetic.
"Comme à la radio" (Like on the radio)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVuCaVUda0s
[First added to this chart: 11/03/2012]
Year of Release:
1969
Appears in:
Rank Score:
431
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Climber Up 11 from 58th to 47th
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Pardon My French ratings

Average Rating: 
92/100 (from 19 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
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08/25/2025 13:18 Johnnyo  Ratings distribution  2,67480/100
 
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03/18/2018 17:47 jnfbn  Ratings distribution  30996/100
 
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12/03/2017 21:55 Onater  Ratings distribution  45690/100
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100/100
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12/21/2015 00:16 mostlymor  Ratings distribution  4589/100

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This chart is rated in the top 1% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 91.9/100, a mean average of 95.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 94.8/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 6.4.


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Pardon My French comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 17 comments |
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From 03/18/2015 14:58 | #137208
thanks for writing down all the notes and for sharing these albums Norman.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/13/2014 16:10 | #126892
Je pensais connaitre un peu la chanson francaise, mais en fait j'ai encore plein de choses à découvrir. Merci pour ce classement très documenté !
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 10/29/2014 23:05 | #125751
Excellent. Impressionnant. Grosses recherches. De Roubaix dans le Top 10, j'en chialerais :-)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 08/20/2014 23:58 | #119872
An excellent and educational chart! Thanks for introducing me to Françoiz Breut, Kas Product and many other artists.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/08/2014 13:26 | #114020
Hier j'ai enfin écouté "Remué" de Dominique A. Sublime !
C'est uniquement grâce à toi que je suis allé dans la section Variété Française et je t'en remercie ;)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 11/08/2013 00:34 | #91150
My time to use this to discover French stuff.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 08/26/2013 08:37 | #84526
spectacular list.
So many artists I don´t know (mayby nobody outside france?!)
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 07/18/2013 13:04 | #81832
Ah bah alors là pour le coup, jmen fous j'écris en français. Boby Lapointe et Bourvil dans le top 10 quoi ! \o/ Trop trop bien!
Je te met 90 parce qu'il manque à mon sens AU MOINS un des 3 suivants : Brassens, Brel ou Ferré. Mais bon sinon, au poil ce classement.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 07/02/2013 19:51 | #80296
You are awesome. Thank you, Sir.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 06/14/2013 21:17 | #78872
I'll definitely check out her albums from that era. The intro of "Point" reminded me of the one to "Eight Days a Week", kinda the same stormy uplifting guitar. Don't know if it's just me.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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