Georges Brassens

Georges Brassens (1921-1981)was a French singer and songwriter. An iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his simple, elegant songs and articulate, diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France's best postwar poets, and won the national poetry prize. In addition, he set to music poems by many well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon, Victor Hugo, Jean Richepin and others. He rarely performed outside his own country, and his lyrics are hard to translate, though attempts have been made. He began his career in the 1940s, and his songs over the years covered themes from friendship ("Les copains d'abord", which was really about a boat of that name; "Chanson pour l'Auvergnat" and "La cane de Jeanne" for Marcel and Jeanne Planche, who befriended and sheltered him; and others) to whimsical semi-autobiography ("La mauvaise reputation") to near-pornography ("Le gorille" which got banned for a while), as well as many other topics. He died of cancer in 1981, having suffered health problems for many years.