Mon coin de rue , Charles Trenet

[Jean Pierre]

Oula la




voila qui va faire froncer les sourcils des purs rocker et bluesman de SC

pour reproduire l'accordeon musette j'ai fait un mix entre le Melodica et un instrument issu de Band in a Box


an archetype of French chanson from the 50s beret basque little moustache, baguette of bread under the arm, cigarette in the corner of the mouth and bal musette 
It's a beautiful song by Charles Trenet on the theme of nostalgia for young years when you come back 30 years later to your town (or village) and you can't find your bearings any more everything has changed the wasteland where we used to play cowboys and Indians no longer exists buildings have replaced it

here's the translation of the lyrics (french lyrics on the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAyTZqiO_ao

I remember a street corner
Now gone
My childhood played there
I remember that
There was a stockade
A thicket of ambushes
The hooligans of my neighbourhood
Used to fight there

Now there's a café,
A brand new counter that makes an impression
A florist who sells flowers to lovers
And even at funerals

I remember my street corner
Now gone
I remember a sad evening
When my heart was without hope
I cried waiting for
A love of fifteen years
A love that was lost
Just around this corner

And since then I've travelled a lot
Too often in foreign lands
New worlds of construction and demolition
You give me visions

I think I see my street corner
And suddenly appear
I see my fence again
My friends, my slides
My two pennies of spring lily of the valley
My fifteen years... my twenty years
All that was and is no more
All my old street corner.

[Trist]

i do have a real soft spot for these kind of songs, just so quirky and lovely, i should be listening to it sitting in cafe in paris rather than rainy england,  real nice song and performance , it makes you smile, sudden ending wish was a little longer

[Jean Pierre]

It's true TRIST, it's a bit out of place...these are the songs I listened to on my parents' radio in the 55-60s, before the rock'n'roll boom...

the end is a bit abrupt , I'm going to add an accordion chorus



(My next cover will be Not fade away with the famous Diddley beat     

[Jean Pierre]

I've made the ending a little less abrupt by adding an accordion/melodica chorus.

[Ted]

So this is how the French complain about gentrification?

"This neighborhood was cool – it had character – until those rich families moved in with their flower shops and cafes! I liked it better before!"

Sounds like aging New Yorkers who remember the gritty cool of the days of "The Factory."

(BTW: Andy Warhol died 37 years ago today.)

This is not a song that I have in my Best of Charles Trenet (which is all the Trenet that I have).

What is the bass? Is that a uBass? It sounds fretless, perhaps upright? Aie! BIAB! Tricheur!

Néanmoins, cela va directement au piPod – la deuxième version.

[Jean Pierre]

Je vois que Monsieur est un connaisseur

So this is how the French complain about gentrification?

gentrification??? un mot que je ne connaissais pas jusqu'à aujourd'hui...il est vrai qu'il est issu  de l'anglais "gentrification" , en français canadien : "embourgeoisement " , on dit aussi boboisation du terme bobo (contracttion de Bourgeois- Boheme)

il y a un excellent article sur wikipedia  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification

Sounds like aging New Yorkers who remember the gritty cool of the days of "The Factory."

...j'ai appris par wikipedia que par exemple Le quartier de Harlem à New York, anciennement un ghetto afro-américain défavorisé, est aujourd'hui réapproprié par les classes aisées.

What is the bass? Is that a uBass? It sounds fretless, perhaps upright? Aie! BIAB! Tricheur!

No, it's not a U-bass...I've got a U-bass, it's fretless and I love it, but I asked a guy from Dand in a box to do it with his acoustic double bass...and he did it for free!

I don't use Band in a Box much any more, except for the drums (I'm rubbish at drums) but in this case I did everything in Band in a Box bass/accordeon/drums - I only did the melodica and guitar.

[This is not a song that I have in my Best of Charles Trenet (which is all the Trenet that I have).

This is not a song that I have in my Best of Charles Trenet (which is all the Trenet that I have)/quote]

[This is not a song that I have in my Best of Charles Trenet (which is all the Trenet that I have).


If you watch the video, you'll see me with my daughter and son-in-law (on bass, Uke U bass), both amateur musicians too.

pour Ted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5iWLyjcsf4

[Ted]

I asked a guy from Dand in a box to do it with his acoustic double bass...and he did it for free!

Ah! I don't really understand BIAB. I think of it as auto-generated accompaniment, not a collaboration platform. Alors, tu n'est pas un tricheur!

[StephenM]

you know I love it when you sing to me in french JP...
and then add that accordion... I love you man!

[Jean Pierre]

thank you Stephen... I'm going to do some old songs from the 50s and 60s, especially for you.