Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes

by Sylvie Simmons

Biography of French icon best-known abroad for his No. 1 duet with Jane Birkin, "Je T'Aime". Lover to Bridgit Bardot, Gainsbourg was also a successful songwriter, composer, novelist, actor, artist, drunk, director, screenwriter, lover and intellectual. The man who famously told Whitney Houston "I want to f*** you on live television is also an inspiration to a new wave of musicians, including Beck, Sonic Youth and David Holmes.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Biography Memoir, Pop Culture, France

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled upon this in a filing cabinet just now. I inhaled this book back in 2008, took its wayward magic into my lungs and held it. Historically I haven't read much about performers. Perhaps I was simply struck by the novelty of it all. Serge's televised encounter w/ the late Whitney Houston was astonishing as was his less than cereberal time in Yugoslavia. Beyond such, Gainsbourg was an unflinching artist, one compensating for his own insecurites and baggage. He stormed across borders and perforated genres. His mark on music is unmistakable. This biography illuminates each theme with artistry and is a remarkable survey of his life as well.

[Tyler McGaughey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great portrait of the brilliant Serge Gainsbourg, who elevated filth to the level of cosmopolitan art with his music. The book could have been twice as long and I wouldn't have been bored; I guess I'm just fascinated by lecherous Europeans. My favorite passage describes how a young Serge, who was dating Salvador Dali's assistant at the time, broke into Dali's place and fucked her in his all-black living room: he "left the apartment with...a future wife on his arm...a small black-and-white picture stolen from Dali's porn collection of two young girls eating each other out, and a reinforced belief that Surrealism was the finest artistic movement there ever was." Unbelievable.

[Andrew Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

The greatest French composer of the twentieth-century not named Olivier Messiaen! Warning: anyone immune to the charms of French culture should probably leave right now. This is a short biography, but one fully packed with information about Serge and his music. Letting you know everything of worth about the man, Simmons does a great job with extraordinary material and leaves no stone unturned. I daresay that anyone who hasn't heard a note of the man's music could still walk away having been entertained by its many stories. Simmons craft as a storyteller and talent as an interviewer make this book very compelling reading. The many strange entries in his musical oeuvre can be a challenge, but Simmons details the reasons and circumstances for them so rest assured that you won't be baffled for long. A new respect for Jane Birkin is imparted by the book's end so consider that another reward for reading the book. All in all, a good resource for anyone intrigued by one of the more eccentric geniuses of modern musical culture. Imperfect man, impeccable composer.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what I jotted down while reading this:
- Hooked up w Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughter in Salvador Dali’s appt and stole a piece of art when he left
- Spent 13 hrs in a Colombian jail for flicking his cigarette over his shoulder and lighting the restaurant on fire (the restaurant was made of highly flammable bamboo)
- He’s still posthumously being sued over some of his songs
- Smoked 3-5 packs of Gitanes/day
- Didn’t step foot on stage for 13 years after getting booed
- Real name is Lucien Ginsburg
- Burned 500 francs on live tv to demonstrate how much he had to pay in taxes and how that money wasn’t going to the poor, but was going towards nuclear programs. The remnants of that burned bill sold for €24,750 in 2011
- Held porn watching get togethers w Salvador Dali (highly illegal at the time)
- Je t’aime moi non plus was banned by the Vatican and copies were snuck into Italy covered by Maria Callas slip covers (the scandal only made the song more popular)
- Ordered himself a platinum Cartier star in order to exercise the rejection of the Jewish star he had to wear as a teenager
- Couldn’t drive
- Gave 300£ to one of his taxi drivers who was missing a tooth and told him to get a false one put in but to make sure it wasn’t too white (drew him a pictures of how the tooth should look)
- Wrote the album War and Farts for François Hardy’s husband (Guerre et Paix / Guerre et Pets)
- Had an alter ego who misbehaved that he named “Gainsbarre” which emerged after Jane left him
- Told Whitney Houston on live tv that he wanted to fuck her (Major Gainsbarre moment)
- Left Jane’s room completely untouched after she left him
- 30 children dressed up as him and sang to him and he cried
- Released a reggae version of the French national anthem, which angered military veterans who confronted him at his concert where he decided to sing the original anthem instead, but gave them the middle finger
- Disliked cops, but befriended a bunch of them while working on his album “You’re Under Arrest” and convinced them to give him their badges, holsters, and guns (he collected those sort of things). He also went to the station to drink with them bc they were the only people up at 4 am when he wanted to drink.
- Died from the same thing his dog died from (cirrhosis of the liver)
- Jane buried her beloved munkey with Serge
- Everyone describes him as the untranslatable French word “pudique” (modest, reserved, discreet, shy about things that are personal or intimate)
- His home, which he always treated as a museum, is now a real museum (who’s going with me?!)

[Ross Maclean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sparky overview of the life and career of a fascinating man and the legendary image he cultivated alongside his body of work. It absolutely zips along with scarcely a chapter a piece devoted to what seem, from the outside, life-defining events and oeuvre-defining works — but it doesn’t feel lacking. It avoids salaciousness when, well, let’s face it, the material presumably easily lends itself to it and instead forgoes intense detail in favour of giving us a flavour of his contradictions. The level of access is great and while, obviously, it suffers a bit from having been written posthumously so the voice of the central figure feels marginalised in favour of lovers and collaborators. But Jane Birkin, especially, provides beautiful, honest insight and conveys a sense that even if access to Gainsbourg had been possible, it still might have left things no more illuminated. Simmons knows how to write engaging, propulsive prose even if the odd parenthetical aside derails the flow sometimes. A strangely sweet and sedate testament to such a provocateur but his verve bleeds from the page almost as much as the fug of cigarette smoke.

[Lennert Coorevits · Rating 4 out of 5]

concise and to the point, factual with a glimpse of Simmons' own reflection. Might be a bit too short although it hits all the important marks in his life. Would've loved some deeper digging on some albums or events.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best music biography I've read in a decade and best book I've read in many months. It helps that the subject matter is intensely interesting.

I picked up this book when I was doing a project of putting together all the original tracks of the songs covered in 4AD's "This Mortal Coil" releases. How I missed Gainsbourg given his lifetime output, esp. the 1970s and 80s up until his death in 1991 I have no idea. He's a fascinating character: think Leonard Cohen doing gypsy music meets jazz, funk, reggae and rap meets The Sex Pistols... and that just touches on it. I won't go into more detail; just read the book.

Skip the intro/forward - the author tries too hard to be that combo of hip/smart/connected/educated and falls flat. It turned me off from getting into the book for a year. There's a few hiccups where the French translation is wrong or repeated or minor things like that, but it's written by an obvious fan and moves along at a good clip, well-researched and never getting bogged down in too much detail. This might be the only other fault in that it's a bit brief in places, but it's highly entertaining from start to finish. Whether or not you know Gainsbourg, I recommend it.

[Alice Catriona · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthwhile read for any Gainsbourg fan

A fascinating insight into the life of French pop's ultimate icon. Despite growing up on ye-ye pop followed by a teenage obsession with the music of Serge Gainsbourg, then a hell of a lot of time and money spent collecting Gainsbourg related records... I knew relatively little about the man himself. As a confessed Francophile I was only really aware of the fairly negative image of Gainsbourg portrayed by the UK press. It has been fascinating to get a wider picture complete with interviews with Jane Birkin, Sly and Robbie and the always fabulously no holds barred words of Marianne Faithfull. Not the most in depth biography, but a comfortably quick read; I couldn't put it down and finished it in an afternoon. Pour yourself a black coffee, grab a pack of Gitanes, and get ready for a rather interesting read.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the moment the best biography in English on the great songwriter and pop artist Serge Gainsbourg. Sylvie Simmons did a really nice job in telling his essence and story.

In 2009 my press TamTam Books is going to be putting out a 600 page bio on this fascinating figure. Written by Gilles Verlant, "Gainsbourg" is really going to be something.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this the best I'm going to get for an English-language bio of S.G.? I really hope not...This one is fine -- hits all the major moments of his life and career, and seems to have at least the tacit approval of Jane Birkin -- but its like a 30-minute History Channel doc...no context, no depth, and no lyrics translated. Solid but I want more.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was nice to read the backstory of ol' Serge. I've ben listening to his records for years but he'd sort of become this mythical poet/barfly/gentleman and so I needed to really find out the basic story. It's not a bad read if you love the records.

[Eric Cecil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda shoddy, really. Made me want to smoke, though.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s unfashionable for a biography to be filled with gossip. The biography is ridiculed and rejected if every single little bit of information hasn’t been properly referenced, researched and cited. While it is true these biographies are informative, they sacrifice the fun of reading about an idol of yours or an interesting figure. Sylvie Simmons biography of Serge Gainsbourg, A Fistful of Gitanes, doesn’t lose anything, and what it may lack in solid truths it makes up for in hero worship. Why else read a biography?

Simmons style of writing is extremely refreshing. The book is linear, but it jumps around occasionally to get a perspective on the events from someone who has lived them, maybe Jane Birkin, maybe Bardot, maybe Francoise Hardy, maybe Gainsbourg himself. It is also pleasantly attentive to anecdotes such as the famous basket-tipping and Seine-jumping scene, the Whitney Houston incident, Lemon Incest etc. Other biographies may have mentioned these, but would probably be more interested in dating back the lineage of Gainsbourg’s dog eight decades and presenting it in a carefully curated family tree. Simmons knows that readers of her book will be worshippers of Gainsbourg, and she gives them the prayer they want.

This is a story of cigarettes. There was probably no better smoker on earth than Gainsbourg. Sylvie Simmons makes sure we know this, and makes sure we know that this is one of the reasons we should love Gainsbourg. Not only is smoking yourself to death for the sake of art an extremely existential and Dadaistic act, but worshipping someone who killed themselves through self-abuse is about the biggest middle finger to the world you can offer. It’s happened through history and it’s been belittled, but isn’t it fun to live vicariously through our idols, and what better life to live vicariously through than Gainsbourg’s?

A Fistful of Gitanes has been called gossipy and piecemeal and inaccurate and incomplete, but it is the kind of biography Gainsbourg would have loved knowing was written about him, an unapologetic ode to an extremely prolific, hilarious, heroic and artistically brilliant personality.

[Joe Loftus · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was thirteen years old, or at least I think I was (fourteen seems too old but twelve far too young) I went to my aunties house after school. Always did. She's riddled with dementia now. We used to sit there and talk about everything. Whatever everything was when I was closer to twelve than I was fourteen. I used to work my way through a full packet of digestives and maybe half a dozen cans of diet coke. Amazingly I looked great back then and now, though I no longer demolish digestives and coca cola, I look like a sack of shit. Well maybe not that bad but hey.

Anyway. Point of the story is that at some point during our usual 3:30pm on a Tuesday going to Jose's after school, I walked through to the kitchen to get another can of coke when I spotted a pack of Cuban cigars on top of the keyboard. I can't remember exactly what I did but I imagine I deliberated over all the possible conclusions that could take place if I were to steal one of the cigars. I was almost certainly nervous but when I left Jose's that night I had a cigar in my pocket and when I got home I lit it in my room while playing L'anamour by Serge Gainsbourg.

That was my first ever experience of smoking. Another time, perhaps it was before or after that, I bought a cigarette off Budgie Brown before ripping it up when I got home as I was too scared to smoke it. If only I stayed that way.

I knew I had to listen to Serge while losing my tobacco virginity. Even then I had known his name forever. My father used to play Serge to me in the womb. I adored him. But only now have I got to understand him thoroughly.

A must read for any Gainsbourg fan.

[Gruia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading about his personal history helps understanding the man's work. But shining a light on his human imperfections makes Serge less of a god. The biography demystifies him a bit and I now feel guilty for looking behind the curtain. Fortunately it is a quick read.

Annoyed note to Simmons: "reins" in Je t'aime... moi non plus does not mean kidneys, but - in this context - hips

[Rgrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am totally late to the party with Gainsbourg and have only recently started listening and boy is it an amazing listen and I feel a big influence on most of my listening from the underground 80s and 90s music scenes internationally. This book is a great read and insight into the man and so well written I am interested to see what else Sylvie has done.

[Holger Haase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A legend in his homeland. In the English language territories he is mainly just known as the 'enfant terrible' behind JE T'AIME, MOI NON PLUS, yet there is so much more to know about Serge Gainsbourg and this book provides an excellent introduction.

[Antonio Depietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

the man the myth

[Pontus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Felt that the actual biographical component was slightly lacking, but the subject matter is fantastic

[Stijn Schellinck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, to the point, biography of an interesting artist. Nothing more nothing less.

[Rick Runderkamp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mooi inkijkje in het leven van het enfant terrible van Frankrijk. Meerdere schandalen vanwege provocatie en meer dan alleen een zanger van 1 bekend nummer (buiten Frankrijk).

[Cora Bastiaansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Over het interessante leven van Serge Gainsbourg. Helaas iets meer een opsomming van feiten, dan een boeiend verhaal.

[Megan Dabs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any fan of Gainsbourg should pick this up. Quick. Emotional. Still leaves a bit of mystery to the man. What part of him was Ginburg, Gainsbourg, or Gainsburre?

[Filippo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Da grandissimo fan di Serge Gainsbourg, direi che quest'opera è piuttosto dettagliata sulla sua vita

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in the back of the car over the past three days. Literally couldn’t put it down, I LOVED it. The first half is so absurd and obscene it's comedic. If it were fiction, it would be shocking, but the fact that it isn’t only makes it more gripping. It’s mesmerizing to watch the first fifty years of his life teeter between Gainsbourg's wit and genius provocation, and his self-imposed threat of collapse. And when things do fall apart, the way he revels in the chaos is unsettlingly intoxicating. Jane’s anecdotes feel mythical, and their lifelong bond is inspiring. I think my next read will be Munkey Diaries. I see a lot of Serge’s peculiarities and perspectives in myself so it was an unexpectedly self-affirming read. The final chapters serve as a sobering reminder of the cost of such extreme hedonism. Still, even in his lowest moments, his relentless commitment to his persona and legacy as an artist feels disconcertingly heroic and honest. His life reads like a masochistic poem of his own creation. My only wish is that it were longer and some parts were more detailed.

[Kim Bonfils · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great artists are not merely superior craftsmen, but so unique, they stand aside from all their contemporaries. Serge Gainsbourg was one such artist.

I noticed this book got some bad reviews - mainly from French and international Gainsbourg afficionados - to whom most of the content will be common knowledge.

But as a relative newcomer, I was pleasantly surprised by this short and easily-read biography. It was unfortunately written after Gainsbourg's death - the author never met him - and it is clearlt intended as an short and entertaining summary of his life and work. It is certainly not the definitive biography - Simmons herself recommends Gilles Verlant's "Gainsbourg" for that. Biographies in Paperback: Gainsbourg

The author quotes generously from her interviews with people who knew Serge - Jane Birkin, not least - and paints a clear picture of the kind of man Gainsbourg was: Restlessly creative, painfully shy, yet devil-may-care - and maybe most surprisingly, a devout family man. In fact, I can't remember reading any other musician's biography (and a heavy-drinking French musician at that) that doesn't imply any sort of infidelity.

The only disappointment in the book is the treatment of Serge's work itself. Being no Paul Morley, Simmons doesn't indulge in wordy descriptions of Serge's music - and maybe just as well. Of course music needs to be listened to, rather than read about - but if you don't know the music in advance, this book hardly does much to encourage you.

And of course, there are the lyrics. Serge's punny French wordplays (think triple entendre rather than double) are notoriously un-translatable. Though Simmons should get credit for giving it her best shot when needed.

Still, this book offers the perfect companion to a set of Gainsbourg cds - eiter a good compilation or the massive complete works box set. The music is like nothing you ever heard - and the book offers some fine insights into the enigmatic man behind the work.

[Andrew Tattersall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable and well-written book on such an important person in the life of a country I lived in for eight years yet never really knew. I felt this book brought him to life for me, explained why he was important, why I should get to know his music, and more importantly his words, better and I will try to do so over the coming year. I have already started to listen to him. This book has made my life better, at the end of the day the only judgement of whether a book is worthwhile or not. So far it is Sylvie 2 on that score.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quintessentially and adorably Serge. Rereleased on kindle.

The man, his demons and his darlings and many stops between.
So you say that you like Lenny Cohen but have never heard of Serge...you ARE lacking.

If you have no intention of checking him out...tant pis...my disregard for you grows.

As a plug....friend and sometime Bad Seed Mick Harvey is about to release the third in a series of serge songs in English. The first two being Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants and there is the film Gainsbourg....really you have no excuse unless knuckles dragging along the ground makes life difficult

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining, yet unfulfilling biography of Gainsbourg. I like a little more of an attempt at unbiased writing with these and Simmons was too much of a super fan to make this happen. It was pretty informative though. Serge was your typical egotistical songwriting master with a pretty big penchant for self-destructive tendencies. I mean, multiple bottles of wine, 60 cigarettes, and one meal per day? Ouch.j

[Maharsh Shah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only giving it 4 stars because the enigma that Gainsbourg was made it an exciting read. For such a celebrated personality, it is quite amusing that such a brief biography in the English language exists. I think one needs a lot many more pages to encapsulate his life in detail. I wish the book was more visceral and went further in detail with the man's soul. Falling in love with his music is an added bonus. Otherwise purely on the merit of the writing I'd give it a 2 star rating.