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Chick Habit: a transcreation
I love kooky europop and, when lurking around the backwaters of last.fm, that’s normally what I’m cruising for. One of my current favourite tracks is Laisse tomber les filles. Written by the legendary Serge Gainsbourg and first recorded by France Gall, the song is an immense piece of 1960s French pop. Slightly coquettish, with hair of a friziness that it’s impossible to find on modern “slebs”, France Gall is demonstrates her fabulous “too-cool-for-school-itude” as she nonchalantly chants her sing-song lyrics to the camera, accompanied by an infectiously danceable song – complete with “wah wah wahs”. The lyrics are addressed to a guy who’s a bit of a player. The speaker – who appears to have been a victim of his games at one point – admonishes him, telling him to leave his philandering ways before they bite him in the arse.
In 1998, the song was given a new life by Californian artist April March. A musician and a cartoonist, her music is strongly influenced by 1960s French pop and frequently sings in French. Not only did she cover Gainsbourg’s song but she re-created the song in English as Chick Habit.
In addition to retaining the exuberance – “wah wah wahs” and all – from the original, March re-imagines the song’s scenario, giving the female speaker a lot more punch. The unnamed intended audience of the original becomes “Daddy”, with all its ironic suggestion of a man who thinks he’s all that, in March’s rendering. Gainsbourg’s playground-style ‘You can’t play fast and loose / With an innocent heart’ is reworked as ‘Oh, how your bubble’s gonna burst / When you meet another nurse / She’ll be driving in a hearse’ – compact and funny, it’s imagery like this that recalls March’s background working as a cartoonist on Ren and Stimpy! Through a mix of idiom and Nancy Sinatra-influenced imagery, the speaker becomes a femme fatale with a wicked sense of humour à Kill Bill. It’s no surprise Tarantino used the track over the end-credits of Death Proof.
All three versions are amazing and well-worth a listen. If you’re interested in the words, I’ve included Gainsbourg’s original lyrics, my literal translation of the French and March’s transcreation on the next page. (Read my last post on transcreation.)
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