Now this is a story all about how In the summer of 2002, my family decided to go for a vacation in the Maritimes. Renting a motor home, we hit up New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (by mistake), PEI, Nova Scotia (this time on purpose), and then drove home through the States.
But on the way out east, we drove through Quebec - and I, being the curious young lad that I was, took advantage of this opportunity to listen to French music on my Walkman.
I've long since forgotten most of the Franco-pop (truth be told, I'd forgotten almost all of it by the end of the trip), but one song has remained indelibly stamped in my head - specifically, the line "vroom vroom vroom, avec mon Harley".
Fast-forward to (approximately) late 2006. On a whim, I decide to run that line through Google - as I have unsuccessfully a few times in the past - and see if anything comes up. For once, it does - I learn that my mystery Quebecois song is "Avec Mon Harley" by Mario Benjamin.
So I start talking to a fellow from Quebec who knows a thing or two about where to find pirated music. I ask him for some Mario Benjamin, specifically that song. After a good bit of searching, his response is "are you sure this Mario Benjamin person really exists?". I plead my case, but the Internet music piracy community is being of little help.
Suddenly, he comes to the conclusion that "this is just a cover of a Serge Gainsbourg song! Luckily I have the entire Serge Gainsbourg discography. >_>"
A few minutes pass.
"It turns out that Serge Gainsbourg has six songs about Harley Davidsons."
"Including one called Harley David Son Of A Bitch!"
He sent me that one. Not what I was looking for (it was, in fact, NOT a cover of a Gainsbourg song), but it has been on my computer - and iPod - ever since.
That's the end of the story, but it's not the end of the post.
For after a while of laughing at the, well, complete and full representation of the 'sleazy French pop' genre, I delved into a bit more of Gainsbourg's life story.
In the 50s and 60s, Serge Gainsbourg was one of the most well-known pop singers in France - and not particularly insane, yet. He sung a duet with (and dated) Brigitte Bardot, no small accomplishment.
But as time went on, Gainsbourg became more and more eccentric - his music got creepier (singing a duet called 'Lemon Incest' with his then-twelve-year-old daughter), and his public appearances became quite controversial. He once burned a 500-franc note on live television, and also had a relatively well-known encounter with Whitney Houston (warning, foul language).
Let's get back to the music, though. I mentioned that all this started (my knowledge of it, anyhow) with Harley David Son Of A Bitch. Here's the song:
Some time later (I have no idea what timescale we're working with here), an unsuccessful British punk band known as the Bollock Brothers decided to cover this Gainsbourg ditty.
If you listened to the original (above), you'd notice one immediate probably for the Bollock Brothers - aside from the titular line, the song is entirely in French. No problem, they decided, we'll make up some English lyrics! And unlike the French version, ours will rhyme!
Or at least off-rhyme. Sort of. While trying to make the song rhyme wasn't a bad idea...everything else about it was. Their cover was laughably horrible in every way possible. Here it is:
Catchy though, n'est-ce pas?
--Ryan
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