Hi fellow forum members,

This time something completely different: a french chanson...

Rue du Nord

I was experimenting with the BIAB horn section RT's and came up with the idea of creating a French song.
It's loosely inspired by Serge Gainsbourg's very distinct 'pop chanson style' back in the 70/80s. I watched a documentary/film about him a couple of years ago which was very interesting (here in Europe the song: 'Je t'aime, moi non plus' was a big hit).
Anyway, it was a real challenge for Anne-Marie and myself to sing in French and make it really sound like... French.
Although we are European, our (Dutch) language is completely different from French. Writing lyrics in that language also took quite an effort.. where would we be without Google translate. But that didn't completely cut it, the lyrics were also revised by forum members Cavalier Blanc and FredM, thanks guys! (Check out the English translation below every French line in the lyrics).

Hope you like it, as always comments are welcome!

Rob


Song specifics:

Style is _SPOPTTS.STY (SlowPop16 w. Trumpet & Sax[65RS])

908:Bass, Electric, SmoothBallad Ev16 065
1762:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Pop16thsArp Ev16 085
2297:Trumpet, Rhythm SlowPop Ev16 065 (1TrackHornSection)
2296:Sax, Tenor, Rhythm SlowPop Ev16 065 (1TrackHornSection)
542:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dreamy Ev 085
508:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dire Ev 085
1256:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm
2334:String Quartet, Rhythm PopChamber Ev 085
RealDrums PraiseWorshipSlow16ths^5-a:HS4, b:H24


Lyrics:

Rue du Nord
(Northstreet)

Je pense à la jeune fille, qui se promenait ici ce jour-là
(I'm thinking of the young girl who walked here that day)
Ses longs cheveux bruns tombaient sur les épaules
(Her long brown hair falling over her shoulders)
Elle vient d'avoir 17 ans et vient d'arriver dans la grande ville
(She just turned 17 and it's her first day in the big city)
Dans la rue les hommes, qui la croisent, la devisagent
(In the street men passing by, stare at her)
Mais elle pense encore à lui, elle lui parlait cet après-midi,
(But she's thinking of him again, he spoke to her this afternoon)
Il demandais "Vous n'êtes pas d' ici?"
(He asked: "you're not from around?")
Puis il parlais d'un cafe, où il vient souvent,
(Then he talked about a café he often visits)
Peut-être ce soir .... dans la rue du Nord
(Maybe she'll meet him tonight.... in North Street)

Le vieil homme s' arrête pour acheter des fleurs pour sa femme
(The old man stops at the store to buy his wife some flowers)
Aujourd'hui, c'est le jour de leur mariage, il ne l'a pas oublié
(Today is their wedding day, he didn't forget)
Quand il arrive, elle va à sa rencontre, mais elle a l'air coupable
(When he arrives home his wife walks up to him, but she has a guilty look)
Il y a des larmes sur les fleurs et elle avoue qu'il ne est plus le seul
(Tears fall on the flowers as she admits that he hasn't been her only lover)

Dans la panique il marche vers sa voiture,
(In panic he runs to his car)
Il ne voulait pas savoir, le téléphone, des voix étouffées
(He didn't want to know, the secret phone calls, the whispering voices)
la vitesse de sa voiture, une ombre , un cri, la voiture freine
(The speed of his car, a shadow, a cry, the car stops)
il est arrive a la rue du Nord
(He has arrived on Northstreet)

Les longs cheveux bruns, dans un flaque,
(her long brown hair in a puddle of rain)
son visage blanc, ses yeux ne regardent rien
(Her pale face, her blank stare)
Il ne poura pas la voir ce soir, Il attendra en vain ......
(He won't be seeing her tonight, he will wait for her in vain)
la jeune fille, dans ce petit café... de la rue du Nord
(for the young girl, in that small café.. on Northstreet)

Rob and Anne Marie,

That was different for you, the French accent sounded OK to my British ears!

The song brought back memories of my 2 day stay in the Gare Du Nord in the '70's when a strike meant all trains were delayed back to Calais. An exiting and eventful few days LOL. So I listened to the song running through the memories; most enjoyable.

The song ended too soon, which is a good thing so I pressed play again!! and looked at the video this time !!! and got a totally different vibe on the song, wonderful!

thanks for sharing

Alyn

Hi Rob and Anne Marie.

Très bonne chanson et très Serge Gainsbourg, mais aussi très triste.

Où est mon kleenex?

ROG.

Rob and Ann Marie
I really love your creations. I was reading the lyrics (the English ones. I cant speak a word of French) and trying to work out the link between the young girl and the old man.
Wonderful wonderful production as usual.

Fascinating, interesting and beautiful song and video production. Stellar mix on this one and a nice blending of the dreamy and acoustic guitars. I enjoyed this a lot.

Charlie

Charlie grabbed the word first - "Fascinating."
We read the lyric (English) and then watched
the video and got quickly pulled into the whole
ambiance. You have an amazing ability
to create these atmospheric pieces and
hold the listener/viewer from the first note
until the last.

The effects on the stills and vids work perfectly.

Gotta send this on to a french speaking friend!

Enjoyed it.

J&B

Hi Rob and Anne-Marie,

just beautiful.

Guenter

R & AM
A very well presented piece. quite different, and emotional, and thoughtfully put together.

The video really worked nicely too.
Best
Trevor

As usual: wow. Steller in all aspects.

Rob and Anne-Marie,

This is really excellent - different and fresh. Really enjoyed it.

Bob

exactly! So very different and fresh!

It would be one thing if you simply had a never-ending river of inventive new ideas.. which seems to be the case... but the fact that you so relentlessly do justice to each new theme is just amazing to me! Whereas some of us are just hobbyists who have cool software (I speak mostly of myself), nobody could ever deny that the two of you are true creative people who know how to tell stories in an audio-video presentation!

The intro, with brass, sounded so professional to me, like intros I've heard in classic top-notch songs.. I think the intro is my favorite part.

But the very concept was already a home run before you ever started working on the execution of it! There was so much that had to come together here... the idea, the lyrics, the translation, the vetting of the translation, the pronunciation, the composition... all of which you nailed!

But in some ways, this is not far from your recurring theme of relationship-based story telling. This song speaks of two different relationships, both of which ended in disappointment for various reasons.

If there is anything more marketable than love songs, it would have to be songs about failed love. Your man-woman song writing team gives you a unique insight into love from both perspectives, so you have a real advantage pursuing this market.

As videos for your songs go, I tend to be surprised by the creative approach taken, and how it varies from song to song. Sometimes you pick one aspect of the song, and develop the whole video around that theme... like the owl and the spider videos. This time, you let the video provide a visual account of the song. Arguably, a less artsy video in some ways but without a doubt, one that maximizes the story's impact. I thought it was one of the best videos yet in terms of composition, style, attention to storyline detail, and sophistication. In the same sense that the song itself shows mastery of music-making software, the video also shows mastery of the video editing software. It left me with the feeling that I had just watched a short indie film at Cannes.

If I were a real music critic, I would have to give this song a standing ovation... for me, it works very well on so many levels that it clearly deserves recognition. Y'all are onto something here... keep up the amazing creative work or play or however you would describe what you do!

Thanks Alyn,

Nice that just listening and listenening and watching gave you different vibes!
Don't hesitate to do that again!

Anne-Marie

Bonjour ROG,

Merci beaucoup. Voici les Kleenex:


Nous voulions écrire une chanson mélo.

Rob and Anne-Marie

This is such a pretty song! I had looked at the tracks used a few times because I kept looking for the atmosphere pad then figured out it is Anne. I liked the way the dual panned guitar started the song then stayed in the forefront throughout except during the vocal. Also like how the trumpet and sax were blended, Just gorgeous ear candy throughout. Sometimes it's the lyrics, sometimes the musicianship but most of the time it's the arrangement or production sound. In this case it's the sound.

Ouah ...i m very proud to contribuate a little to your work

this song is fascinating

Rob and Anne-Marie...

This is simply beautiful.

A very professional sounding production. The guitars are perfect. Nice(!) use of the horns. The vocals are really well recorded (and beautiful).

Simply beautiful.

floyd

Rob and Anne-Marie,

Like Floyd said, this is simply beautiful. Your versatility is amazing. I have to say, I like everything I have heard you do! This is no exception.

Steve

Hi Rob and Anne-Marie, firs time I listen to any of your songs. This is just beautiful.Great production and sounds. Superb vocals. I'm hooked.

Mike B.

That was an exdcellent listen for me. What emotion that little melody carries. The presentation and the mix were superb! Thank you.

RichR

Beautifully clear and crisp. Conveyed a wonderful atmosphere and the video is delightful!
Sounds totally professional to me. Cheers.

Hi Josie,

Thank you so much.
And... there was no link between the young girl and the old man except for the car accident. It is a story about an unfortunate coincidence.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thank you Charlie!

Hi Janice and Bud.

Thank you for your kind words and thank you for your response on YouTube!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Thanks Guenter!

Hi Rob and Anne Marie,

This takes me to the beaches of southern france, a terras with a pastis, and your music to complete the picture.
Your chanson is perfect, not to mellow (wich could easily have been)
Rob, your vocals are up to their ususal high standards.
Anne Marie, what you added to the vocals are those typical female etheric oohs and aahs that this needs. The chorus with the octave above... perfect!
In about 5 weeks I'm heading to the Saint Tropez region, I promise to take your chanson on board!

A la prochaine

Fred

Thank you Trevor!

Rob & Anne-Marie

Thank You David!

Super job! wonderfully smooth mix and use of the horns, great ballad both lyrics and melody! great song!

Thanks Bob, appreciated!

Hi Pat,

Well, well well.... blush, blush
Thank you for all these compliments!
Indeed, we try out all kinds of different styles, both as well as the songs as the videos are concerned.
A French song was quite a challenge for us. Rob was a bit too modest about how we translated the song. It was not completely Google Translate that did it. We both learned French at school, back in the times education was still at a very high level in the Netherlands, which is not the case anymore . So we "adapted" the Google sentences to our own knowledge. And then Jean Pierre and Fred prevented us from making some mistakes!

Thanks for the standing ovation, we take a bow!

Anne-Marie

Thanks a lot Jim!
Nice to read I sound like an Atmosphere pad! Next time we'll post the RT's we'll do it like this:
000 Atmosphere pad, AM

Anne-Marie

Thanks Jean Pierre, both for the compliments as well as for your help!

R & A-M, This is just a fascinating listen. The spoken word part really sets up the whole piece. A very beautiful production in all aspects. An aural as well as visual treat. Very much enjoyed. Tom

Thank you Floyd!

The horn section sounds pretty 'non' Biab in this song we think. But then again this shows the versatility of the program.
After that it took a little trial and error to get the right guitar real tracks for this song.

Thanks again!

Rob & Anne-Marie

Thank you Steve!

As we already told Floyd, the horn section, in combination with the chords already gave such a distinct almost 'not' Biab sound to this, that I was kind of surprised myself.
Such a completely different sound. Nothing like I had heard Biab do before. Of course then the real challenge was to create something different with this 'song wise', haha.

regards,
Rob

I can only echo what's been said so far.
Beautifully done.

Josie

Hello Mike,

We're glad you finally listened to one of our songs. You must've missed out on about 40 of them before
Thank you for the very positive comments!

Rob & Anne-Marie

Thank You Rich!

Rob & Anne-Marie

Thank you RichMac!

Rob & Anne-Marie

Hello Fred,

Thanks for your very nice reply! I'm glad we could reproduce that French sound.
I also very much like Anne-Marie's oohs and aahs in this song. Jim thought it was an atmosphere pad, haha.
Speaking of which, it would be nice to create a user track of these. But it's pretty hard to create them in a way that they sound balanced with every chord. we already tried it with a guitar but didn't quite succeed.....
Have fun in Saint Tropez!

Regards,
Rob