Hi all,
In this song, the french lyrics are written with alexandrines.
An hemistiche is half of an alexandrine.

https://soundcloud.com/christian-devienne/les-hemistiches

RD FunkHalfNotePulse
RT 1434 Electric Bass
RT 2634 Electric Guitar
RT 1570 Electric Guitar
RT 2636 Solo Electric Guitar
Loop Cowbell

Here's a translation in English :

Hemistiches

It took me time to get on the train
who led my verses to these Alexandrines.
This constraint is intentional and may seem sterile.
Is poetry an useless art ?
The hemistiches are scrolling . You like it or you don't care.
Language, you clear it. Sometimes you fall in love with it.

This is, you will say, only an exercise in style.
Words are like flowers fertilizing their pistils.
It's a mind game that aims to pick
and articulate them before writing them.
The hemistiches are scrolling . You like it or you don't care.
Language, you clear it. Sometimes you fall in love with it.

Nice...cool vocal and that solo guitar works very well!

J&B

Thanks Janice and Bud,
I always appreciate your kind comments. Christian

Nice vocals and love the upbeat rocky melody.

Thanks Belladonna for your comment especially singing isn't my strong point. Christian

Chris,
1st off GREAT title and a marvelous way to acknowledge collaboration.
The descending lines of the melody are intriguing in the way they hint at minors and sadness.
The guitars are quite chunky but they work.
Good work.

Hi rayc,
Perhaps, the intriguing effect of the melody is strenghtened by the second chord which is diminished. Christian

Very nice to hear this kind of a blues song having intriguing chording with some French flavors. Very good use of the guitars in the arrangement.

Janne

Hi Chris,

Wow, this is an amazing and truly wonderful song!

It is SO French... which got me to think about what it is that make French music special. You seem to make melodies in a different way than other "western" people do... I mean... if somebody had played this song for me and I didn't know who made the song, I would for sure have said it was a French composer, because the sound, the scale of the melody is so typical of French music.

Your track reminded me of Edith Piaf - and also of "Libertango" by Grace Jones (who of course were very inspired from Piaf).

So what defines typical French music, Chris? (You can answer in French if you want - I can read that).

Thank you for sharing!
Will

Nicely sung and produced. I love the lyrics - especially:

This is, you will say, only an exercise in style.

Singing may not be your strong point, but it sounds good to me.

Thanks Janne, Will and David.
I don't know what defines typical french music but I can try to answer for my songs. For each song, I try several melodic lines until I find the good one. It must be melodic but with some surprises depending on the chord progression. Each song must find its specific atmosphere. Even without lyrics, the melody is designed to tell a story. Christian

Hi Christianm

that's a really nice one with some very good chord progressions. Love the way you handled the solo guitar RT. I really enjoyed the listen.

Chears,

Stefan

Danke vielmals, Stefan.
Here's the chords progression :

Ab7 - G7 - Cm - Cm

Cm - Cm - Cdim - Cdim
Fm - Bb7- Cm - Ab7/G7
Cm - Cm - Fm - Fm
Ab7 - G7 - Cm - Cm ......

it's not just the chord progression which is good... it is the way you made the melody... it is challenging in a good way, it is bold, adventurous, moody, sad and very fulfilling in a strange way. Enjoyed my second listening even more. What a great song!

Will

Yes Will,
The melody is very important too !
For this one, I've used 10 times the same note at the beginning of each musical phrase. It's to strengthen the obsessional aspect of the melodic line. And the melody moves like climbing down the stairs...... Christian

Loved it, Chris! Love the chord progression and your singing is really good on this. That was a real sweet listen!

Alan

Thanks Alan,
I've made efforts on this song to sing approximately in tune ! Christian

"Each song must find its specific atmosphere. Even without lyrics, the melody is designed to tell a story. Christian"

Hello, there, "Chris37"...

The poet within you has become inflamed with creativity lately . When composing songs, which comes first? The poetry, or the music?

Regardless, "Les Hemistiches" is what we call a "jam" here in America. It has all the instrumental elements to make it rhythmically and melodically appealing to those of us who dig the "funk" !!!

The melody is gloriously retro-souding in that it possesses a sense of intrigue and danger that would satisfy your above-quoted requirement for your songs to have a "specific atmosphere", and that they should "tell a story".

Thank you for posting the translated lyrics, "Chris37". They express perfectly your love affair with language!

Sincerely,

LOREN

Thanks Loren,
I can't say what comes first when I write a song !
Sometimes lyrics inspire me a melody and the reverse is also true.
The starting point is always the desired atmosphere for a song. Christian

Hi all,
Here's a new version of this song.
Thierry Fraisse is singing.

https://soundcloud.com/christian-devienne/les-hemistiches-avec-thierry-fraisse