Spotify Release Info

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Track: Le canari est sur le balcon
Artist: Jane Birkin
Album: Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg

Artist Bio

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Name: Jane Birkin
Spotify Genres: chanson, french pop, variété française
Followers: 188,093
Popularity:

49/100

Biography

British actress and singer based in France since the late '60s. Born: 14th December 1946 London, England. Died: 16th July 2023 Paris, France. She was a bit of a It-girl during the swinging sixties, appearing in two of the defining movies of the era: Richard Lester's "The Knack ... and how to get it" and Antonioni's "Blow Up". She then married movie scores composer [a=John Barry] and had a daughter, photographer [a2271131]. After splitting from [a=John Barry] she relocated to France where she met [a=Serge Gainsbourg] who was himself recovering from his own split from [a=Brigitte Bardot]. One of the most legendary and sexually charged artistic collaborations of the late 20th Century followed, with Jane playing the Beauty to Serge's Beast on records, most infamously "Je T'Aime ... Moi Non-Plus" originally written for and performed by Bardot but banned by Bardot herself, in movies and in French newspapers and TV shows. They had a daughter, actress and singer [a=Charlotte Gainsbourg]. After separating from Serge at the tail end of the seventies she lived with movie director Jacques Doillon with whom she had another daughter, model and actress [a=Lou Doillon]. Her estranged mentor kept on offering her songs to record all through the eighties until his death in 1991. When Serge passed-away, Jane concentrated on her acting career, branching out in theatre and even directing a couple of movies. She came back to singing in the late nineties, first through various re-interpretations of Serge's back catalogue and then, in spite of her many declarations she couldn't even imagine singing someone else's words, with an album of collaborations with artists as diverse as [a=Bryan Ferry], [a=Caetano Veloso], [a=Feist], [a=Brian Molko], [a=Manu Chao] or [a=Mickey 3D] on 2004 "Rendez-Vous", followed by further collaborations with [a=Gonzales], [a=Johnny Marr], [a=Rufus Wainwright], [a245226], [a=Beth Gibbons] and [a=Kate Bush] on 2006 "Fictions". Daughter of [a4186910] and sister of [a2349556]. Aunt of [a2982298]. Appointed OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 2002.

Source: Discogs

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Discogs Release Info

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Release: Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin - Jane Birkin - Serge Gainsbourg
Year: 1969
Genres: Rock, Pop
Styles: Chanson

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Source: MusicBrainz

LYRICS

Avant d'ouvrir le gaz elle pense à son canari
Avant d'en finir une fois pour toutes avec la vie
Elle prend la cage et va sur le balcon
Le vent glacé de l'hiver la saisit, lui donne des frissons
Elle a ouvert le gaz et s'allonge sur son lit
Sur le pick-up elle a mis son disque favori
Déjà elle n'a plus toute sa raison
Elle voit d'étranges fleurs, des fleurs bizarres et des papillons
Tandis que sur Londres lentement descend la nuit
Sur le guéridon auprès de la fille endormie
On peut lire griffonné au crayon
Rien que ces quelques mots : le canari est sur le balcon