If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you. (Oscar Wilde)
In times of bad taste, bad culture, bad music, and lack of sense of humor, let’s make a point with: The Beautiful South, a successful and extraordinary English pop group formed at the end of the 1980s by former members of Hull group The Housemartins - Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. After a band meeting on January 2007, they decided to split. A pity for the music scene.
In der Tageszeitung Die Welt kommentiert Manuel Brug den Putsch des Halbschwestern-Duos Katharina Wagner und Eva Wagner-Pasquier:
“Man kann sich wunderbar ausmalen, wie seifenopernähnlich es jetzt hinter den Wahnfried-Kulissen zugehen wird. Denn der bis auf das schwarze Schaf Gottfried plötzlich wiedervereinte Wolfgang-Stamm triumphiert wohlmöglich nun doch über die Linie Wielands in Gestalt von dessen zu spitzzüngiger Tochter Nike.” Zum Artikel.
Im Gespräch mit dem Hamburger Abendblatt kontert Nike Wagner:
“Um in der Führungskrise in Bayreuth weiterzukommen, sucht der Stiftungsrat nach einer Lösung des politischen ‘Durchwinkens’. Man beugt sich dabei weiterhin den Forderungen des greisen Wolfgang Wagner. Ohne Rücksicht auf künstlerische Erwägungen.”
Ci-dessous quelques séquences de films de la grande époque du grand dialoguiste français Michel Audiard, dont le style incomparable nous est si familier, et les dialogues prodigieux taillés sur mesure pour les monstres sacrés du cinéma français d’après-guerre, autrement dit le triumvirat de l’excellence: Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, Lino Ventura.
von Narcisse Caméléon, Ressortleiter Deppologie der HIRAM7 REVIEW
Kultur ist vor allem Einheit des künstlerischen Stiles in allen Lebensäusserungen eines Volkes. Vieles Wissen und Gelernthaben ist aber weder ein notwendiges Mittel der Kultur, noch ein Zeichen derselben und verträgt sich nötigenfalls auf das beste mit dem Gegensatz der Kultur, der Barbarei, das heisst: der Stillosigkeit. (Friedrich Nietzsche)
“Everybody’s Darling is Everybody’s Depp”, sagte zu Recht der brillante Politiker und begnadete Polemiker Franz-Josef Strauß. Und tritt grandiös schlagfertig nach: “Ich halte viel von Bescheidenheit, doch manchmal halte ich es auch mit Goethe: Nur Lumpen sind bescheiden … Heute bin ich erstaunlicherweise von Kritik verschont geblieben. Darum übe ich sie selbst an mir, damit ich sie widerlegen kann”.
April 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of both the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (he was shot April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis), and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as the Fair Housing Act), which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex and family status.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson signing Civil Rights Bill, April 11, 1968
In a 1967 speech he urged Americans to be “dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home.” From 1966-1967 Congress considered but failed to pass the Fair Housing Act. When Dr. King was assassinated, President Johnson urged for the bill’s quick passage and it was signed into law seven days later, in time for Dr. King’s funeral.
Written as a poem by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 and later set to the tune of “Materna” by Samuel Augustus Ward, this single was recorded by Elvis Presley during the midnight show at the Las Vegas Hilton on December 13, 1975. It was the B-side to My Way, and it id not chart. It is available on Forgotten Songs of the 70s; Live In Las Vegas Box Set, and The Silver CD Set, Elvis Presley, which is where this version is from.
Lyrics
O beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful, for pilgrim feet
Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw;
Confirm thy soul in self control, thy liberty in law!
O beautiful, for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine,
‘Til all success be nobleness, and ev’ry gain divine!
O beautiful, for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years,
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!
“Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly”, said Terry Jones, director of the 1979 released controversial movie The Life of Brian, in response to the accusations of blasphemy.
Lyrics
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
Some things in life are bad,
They can really make you mad,
Other things just make you swear and curse,
When you’re chewing life’s gristle,
Don’t grumble,
Give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best.
And…
Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the light side of life.
[whistle]
If life seems jolly rotten,
There’s something you’ve forgotten,
And that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you’re feeling in the dumps,
Don’t be silly chumps.
Just purse your lips and whistle.
That’s the thing.
And…
Always look on the bright side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the right side of life,
[whistle]
For life is quite absurd
And death’s the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It’s your last chance, anyhow.
So,…
Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistle]
Life’s a piece of shit,
When you look at it.
Life’s a laugh and death’s a joke it’s true.
You’ll see it’s all a show.
Keep ‘em laughing as you go.
Just remember that the last laugh is on you.
And…
Always look on the bright side of life.
Always look on the right side of life.
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
Always look on the bright side of life!
[whistle]
For 50 years: Elvis Presley Induction into the US Army
Elvis Presley showing his army sergeant stripes in 1960 while performing his military service in Friedberg, Germany.
Elvis Aaron Presley entered the United States Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1958, and then spent three days at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. He left active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 5, 1960, and received his discharge from the Army Reserve on March 23, 1964.
During his active military career Elvis Presley served as a member of two different armor battalions. Between March 28 and September 17, 1958, he belonged to Company A, 2d Medium Tank Battalion, 37th Armor, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. During this assignment he completed basic and advanced military training.
Presley’s overseas service took place in Germany from October 1, 1958, until March 2, 1960, as a member of the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 32d Armor. For the first five days of that period he belonged to Company D of the battalion, and thereafter to the battalion’s Headquarters Company at Friedberg.
While in Germany Elvis Presley wore the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 3d Armored Division.
Cette chanson de Serge Gainsbourg, disparu il y a 17 ans (le 2 mars 1991, je me trouvais inopinément le jour dit en compagnie de mon ami de 20 ans, Grégoire Mercadé, dans son appartement de la rue du Bac à Paris, et nous observions de la fenêtre la foule en bas qui venait lui rendre hommage), a accompagné le générique du film Le Pacha (film au sein duquel Jean Gabin, commissaire, traque un truand interprété par André Pousse).
En réalité, cette chanson est un tour de force: on ne s’ennuie pas une seule seconde, et pourtant, l’accompagnement se résume à…un seul accord.
In questa lettera a un amico lontano, quelle che sembrano divagazioni e riflessioni private acquistano un significato a tratti politico, inteso come partecipazione ai problemi e alle angosce e speranze di tutti.
Molti i temi affrontati: l’incapacità di comunicare, il desiderio di una vita libera, il grande bisogno di poter continuare a sperare. La forza di questa canzone è la possibilità di calarcisi dentro, a qualsiasi fede politica o religiosa si appartenga, senza distinzione: una canzone universale.
L’anno che verrà - 1978
Testo e musica di Lucio Dalla
Caro amico ti scrivo così mi distraggo un po’
e siccome sei molto lontano più forte ti scriverò.
Da quando sei partito c’è una grossa novità,
l’anno vecchio è finito ormai
ma qualcosa ancora qui non va.
Si esce poco la sera compreso quando è festa
e c’è chi ha messo dei sacchi di sabbia vicino alla finestra,
e si sta senza parlare per intere settimane,
e a quelli che hanno niente da dire
del tempo ne rimane.
Ma la televisione ha detto che il nuovo anno
porterà una trasformazione
e tutti quanti stiamo già aspettando
sarà tre volte Natale e festa tutto il giorno,
ogni Cristo scenderà dalla croce
anche gli uccelli faranno ritorno.
Ci sarà da mangiare e luce tutto l’anno,
anche i muti potranno parlare
mentre i sordi già lo fanno.
E si farà l’amore ognuno come gli va,
anche i preti potranno sposarsi
ma soltanto a una certa età,
e senza grandi disturbi qualcuno sparirà,
saranno forse i troppo furbi
e i cretini di ogni età.
Vedi caro amico cosa ti scrivo e ti dico
e come sono contento
di essere qui in questo momento,
vedi, vedi, vedi, vedi,
vedi caro amico cosa si deve inventare
per poterci ridere sopra,
per continuare a sperare.
E se quest’anno poi passasse in un istante,
vedi amico mio
come diventa importante
che in questo istante ci sia anch’io.
L’anno che sta arrivando tra un anno passerà
io mi sto preparando è questa la novità
“J’aime mon plaisir à la folie; j’ai une très belle et très commode maison à Paris; ma femme a beaucoup d’esprit; ce qui est fort extraordinaire, elle ne me fait pas cocu; ma famille et ma société me sont agréables infiniment… On a dit que j’avais des maîtresses passables, je les trouve, moi, délicieuses, dites-moi, je vous prie, quand les soldats du roi de Prusse auraient douze pieds, ce que leur maître peut faire à cela?” (Lettre du Duc de Choiseul, secrétaire d’État aux Affaires étrangères de Louis XV, adressée à son ami Voltaire pendant la Guerre de Sept Ans)
Un intermède philosophique et musical quelque peu désuet, mais non dénué de poésie, dans un monde qui en manque cruellement, au sein duquel comme le déplorait avec une tragique lucidité Sébastien-Roch Nicolas de Chamfort: “ Il faut que le coeur se brise ou se bronze”.
Il a tourné sa vie dans tous les sens
Pour savoir si ça avait un sens, l’existence
Il a demandé leur avis à des tas de gens ravis
Ravis, ravis, de donner leur avis sur la vie
Il a traversé les vapeurs des derviches tourneurs
Des haschich fumeurs et il a dit
La vie ne vaut rien, rien, rien, la vie ne vaut rien
Mais moi quand je tiens, tiens,
Là dans mes mains éblouies,
Les deux jolis petits seins de mon amie,
Là je dis rien, rien, rien, rien ne vaut la vie,
Il a vu l’espace qui passe
Entre la jet set, les fastes, les palaces
Et puis les techniciens de surface,
D’autres espèrent dans les clochers, les monastères
Voir le vieux sergent pépère mais ce n’est que Richard Gere,
Il est entré comme un insecte sur site d’Internet
Voir les gens des sectes et il a dit
La vie ne vaut rien, rien, rien, la vie ne vaut rien
Mais moi quand je tiens, tiens,
Là dans mes mains éblouies,
Les deux jolis petits seins de mon amie,
Là je dis rien, rien, rien, rien ne vaut la vie
Il a vu manque d’amour, manque d’argent
Comme la vie c’est détergeant
Et comme ça nettoie les gens,
Il a joué jeux interdits pour des amis endormis,
Et il a dit
La vie ne vaut rien, rien, rien, la vie ne vaut rien
Mais moi quand je tiens, tiens,
Là dans mes mains éblouies,
Les deux jolis petits seins de mon amie,
Là je dis rien, rien, rien, rien ne vaut la vie.
The yearning for the land of Israel never left the Jewish people.
· We see it in Psalms that Jews constantly recited: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem …” or “When the Lord brings about our return to Zion, we will be like dreamers…”
· In the statements of the rabbis, such as his one by Rabbi Nachman of Breslav: “Wherever I go I’m always going to Israel.”
· We see it in Jewish poetry, such as that of Yehuda HaLevi: “My heart is in the East but I am in the most far West.”
· And, of course, in countless blessings recited daily: “Have mercy, Lord our God, on Israel your people, on Jerusalem, your city, on Zion… Rebuild Jerusalem, your holy city, speedily in our days, and bring us there to rejoice in its rebuilding…”
In other words, the land of Israel was always a place in the minds of the Jews where the Jewish national potential could someday be fulfilled. But, as a practical reality, this did not begin to happen in a significant way until the birth of modern Zionism, not as a religious, but as a political movement.
The re-birth of Israel is an unprecedented phenomenon in human history.
That a people should go into exile, be dispersed, and yet survive for 2,000 years, that they should be a nation without a national homeland and come back again, that they should re-establish that homeland is a miraculous, singular event. No one ever did such a thing.
Brief Overview
Before we discuss the Jews’ return to their homeland, let us then look back at history and review briefly what had been happening in the Land of Israel from the time that the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. Subsequently, Jerusalem was levelled, rebuilt on the Roman model, and re-named Aeolia Capitolina. The land of Israel was re-named Palestine (after the extinct Philistines, some of the worst enemies of the Jews in ancient times).
From that time, Jews were barred from Jerusalem. The Byzantine Empire (the Constantinople-based Christian version of the Roman Empire) continued the earlier policy, and Jews were not allowed into Jerusalem until the Muslims conquered the Byzantines in 638 CE.
Once the Muslims took over the Land of Israel, they held onto it with the brief exception of the period of the Crusades.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire held onto power here the longest: from 1518 to 1917. Yet, during all this time, the Muslims generally treated the Holy Land as a backwater province. There was no attempt to make Jerusalem, which was quite run-down, an important capital city and only a few Muslim dynasties attempted to improve its infrastructure (save for Umayyads in the 7th century, the Mameluks in the 13th century the re-building of the walls of the city in 16th century during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.) Similarly, only limited building went on in the rest of the land, which was barren and not populated by many Arabs. The only major new city built was Ramle, which served as the Ottoman administrative centre.
Mark Twain who visited Israel in 1867 described it like this in The Innocents Abroad: “We traversed some miles of desolate country whose soil is rich enough but is given wholly to weeds - a silent, mournful expanse… A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action. We reached Tabor safely… We never saw a human being on the whole route. We pressed on toward the goal of our crusade, renowned Jerusalem. The further we went the hotter the sun got and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became… There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country. No landscape exists that is more tiresome to the eye than that which bounds the approaches to Jerusalem… Jerusalem is mournful, dreary and lifeless. I would not desire to live here. It is a hopeless, dreary, heartbroken land… Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes.”
Early Migrations
During the time of the Muslims, life for the Jews here was for the most part easier than under the Christians.
In 1210, following the demise of the Crusaders, several hundred rabbis, known as the Ba’alei Tosefot, re-settled in Israel. This marked the emergence of the first Ashkenazi European community in Israel.
In 1263, the great Rabbi and scholar Nachmanides also known as the Ramban, established a small Sephardim community on Mount Zion which was outside the walls. Later, in the 1400s, that community moved inside the walls and they established the Ramban Synagogue which still exists today.
When Nachmanides came to Jerusalem there was already a vibrant Jewish community in Hebron, though the Muslims did not permit them entry into the Cave of the Machpela (where the Jewish Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried). Indeed, this ban continued until the 20th century.
More Jews started to migrate to Israel following their expulsion from Spain in 1492. In the 16th century, large numbers of Jews migrated to the northern city of Tzfat (also known as Safed) and it became the largest Jewish population in Israel and the centre of Jewish mysticism — the Kabbalah.
In mid-1700s a student of the Ba’al Shem Tov by the name of Gershon Kitover started the first Hassidic community in Israel. This community was part of what was called Old Yishuv. (Today, when in the Old City of Jerusalem, you can visit the “Old Yishuv Court Museum” and learn some fascinating facts about it.)
Another very significant event in the growth of the Jewish community of Israel took place in the early 19th century.
Between 1808 and 1812 three groups of disciples of the great rabbi Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer, the Vilna Gaon, numbering about 500 people, came to the land of Israel. Initially they settled in Tzfat in the Galilee, but after several disaster including a devastating earthquake, they settled in Jerusalem.
Their impact was tremendous. They founded several new neighborhoods (including Mea Shearim) and set up numerous Kollels (Yeshivot where married men are paid a monthly stipend to study Torah). Their arrival revived the presence of Ashkenazi Jewry in Jerusalem, which for over 100 years had been mainly Sephardim and had a huge impact on the customs and religious practices of the religious community in Israel.
By 1880, there were about 40,000 Jews, living in the land of Israel among some 400,000 Muslims.
One of the major figures of this time period was Moses Montefiore (1784 to 1887) — the first Jew to be knighted in Britain. Montefiore had made his fortune with the Rothschild family, who struck it rich in the Napoleonic Wars. They used carrier pigeons and they knew about the victory at Waterloo before anyone else; this is how they made a killing on the English stock market.
With his fortune made by age 40, Montefiore embarked on a career in philanthropy, becoming a tireless worker for the Jewish community of Israel.
At that time, most of the Jews then lived in what is now called the Old City of Jerusalem, specifically in what is now called the “Moslem Quarter.” The main entrance to the city for the Jews was through Damascus Gate and of the many synagogues in Jerusalem, many f them were in the “Moslem Quarter” close to the site where the Temple stood on Mount Moriah.
The city was hugely overcrowded and sanitary conditions were terrible, but due to the lawlessness of that time, people were afraid to built homes and live outside.
Montefiore built the first settlement outside the walls of the Old City, called “Yemin Moshe” in 1858. He opened the door and more neighbourhoods were built in the New City. One of the earliest ones, built in 1875, was Mea Shearim (which, contrary to popular opinion does not mean “Hundred Gates” but “Hundredfold” as in Genesis 26:12.).
Besides Montefiore, another extremely important personality in this period of time was Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845 to 1934).
Rothschild was a man who more than anyone else, financially made the re-settlement of Jews in the land of Israel possible. During his lifetime he spent 70 million francs of his own money on various agricultural settlements (Rosh Pina, Zichron Yacov, Pardes Hannah to name but a few) and business enterprises such as the Carmel Winery for example. So important and generous was Rothschild that he was nicknamed HaNadiv HaYaduah, “The Famous Contributor.”
Although Rothschild was quite assimilated and disconnected from the Jewish yearning for the land, he was greatly influenced by Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever, who was one of the first religious Zionists from Poland.
Mohilever converted Rothschild to his ideology and from that point on the rich banker began to look at Israel as an “investment.” He made it possible for thousands of Jews to return to the land and survive here in those days.
The early political Zionists, being largely secular (many had in fact been born into observant homes and then later dropped their observance), did not feel a special yearning for Israel rooted in tradition or religion, rather they felt that the Land of Israel was the only place where Jews could create a national identity, regain their pride and productivity, and hopefully escape the horrible anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia and other places.
One of the main organizations involved in early political Zionism was called Hibbat Zion “the love of Zion” founded in 1870. (Its members were called Hovevei Zion, “lovers of Zion.”)
A major personality among the Hovevi Zion was Judah Leob Pinsker (1821-1891). A Polish doctor, Pinsker started out as one of the Maskilim, a group which wanted their fellow Jews to drop Judaism and merge with Russian culture in the hope that if Jews were socially accepted, then Russian anti-Semitism would disappear.
But after the pogroms following the assassination of Czar Alexander in 1881, he and many other of the Maskilim came to the conclusion that their efforts were futile and anti-Semitism was never going to disappear. Like Theodor Herzl later, Pinsker was shocked at the depth of European anti-Semitism. The only solution, he came to believe, was for Jews to live in their own national homeland.
Pinsker published his ideas in a pamphlet called “Auto-Emancipation.” In it he penned these memorable words:
“We must reconcile ourselves to the idea that the other nations, by reason of their inherent natural antagonism, will forever reject us.”
In 1882, another important organization was formed in Russia. It was called Bilu, an acronym of the opening words from verse in Isaiah (2:5): Beit Yaacov lechu Venelech meaning, “House of Jacob, come, let us go”.
Bilu was very active in the early settlement movement, what came to be called the “First Aliyah” — the first large migration of Jews from Russia and Romania to the Land of Israel.
Aliyah means “ascent.”
To migrate to Israel — to make aliyah — means to come from a low place and to “go up.” (In antiquity the term Aliyah referred to a trip to Jerusalem to visit the Temple, usually during one of the pilgrim festivals: Passover, Shavuot or Succoth, and implied more than a trip up to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem but more importantly to go up to the holiest place on earth - The Temple.)
The year 1882 marked the first such aliyah, when Jews began to arrive in the land of Israel in droves — some 30,000 Jews came in two waves between 1882-1891 and founded 28 new settlements. (Among these new settlements was Hadera, which has been so much in the news lately as the repeated target of vicious terrorist attacks.)
Hundreds of thousands of acres were purchased by these early Zionists from absentee Arab landowners who usually lived elsewhere in the Middle East. The majority of the lands purchased were in areas that were neglected and considered un-developable — such as the sandy coastal plain or the swampy; malaria infested Hula Valley in the north. Amazingly, and with much effort, these early settlers made the barren land bloom again and drained the swamps.
What drove many of these early immigrants was an idealism that was captured by Zev Dugnov, a member of Bilu:
“My final purpose is to take possession of Palestine and to restore to the Jews the political independence for which they have now been denied for two thousand years. Don’t laugh. It is not a mirage. It does not matter if that splendid day will come in 50-years’ time or more. A period of 50 years is no more than a moment of time for such an undertaking.”
In fact, it would take 66 years. Meanwhile, Jews would continue to come, reclaim the land and build a strong political movement demanding back their ancient homeland.
About the author: Rabbi Ken Spiro is originally from New Rochelle, NY. He graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Russian Language and Literature and did graduate studies at the Pushkin Institute in Moscow. He has Rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem and a Masters Degree in History from The Vermont College of Norwich University.
Reprinted with kindly permission of Aish HaTorah International.
What it would take to constitute a perfect world? Rabbi Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds, revealing six core elements: respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and, social responsibility. A highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews.
“This is a book that everyone in the world should read.” (Kirk Douglas)
Figure éponyme de la chanson française, poète incomparable, maniant avec élégance, allégresse et brio les finesses de la langue de Molière comme aucun autre, flanqué du sobriquet affectueux “fou chantant de Narbonne“, Charles Trenet disparaissait le 19 février 2001. Pour beaucoup, il restera avec Gilbert Bécaud, Henri Salvador et Charles Aznavour l’archétype de la France, sinon son dernier Mohican, et le nec plus ultra du patrimoine musical et poétique français.
Douce France
Paroles et musique: Charles Trenet, 1943.
Il revient à ma mémoire
Des souvenirs familiers
Je revois ma blouse noire
Lorsque j’étais écolier
Sur le chemin de l’école
Je chantais à pleine voix
Des romances sans paroles
Vieilles chansons d’autrefois
{Refrain:}
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t’ai gardée dans mon cœur!
Mon village au clocher aux maisons sages
Où les enfants de mon âge
Ont partagé mon bonheur
Oui je t’aime
Et je te donne ce poème
Oui je t’aime
Dans la joie ou la douleur
Douce France
Cher pays de mon enfance
Bercée de tendre insouciance
Je t’ai gardée dans mon cœur
J’ai connu des paysages
Et des soleils merveilleux
Au cours de lointains voyages
Tout là-bas sous d’autres cieux
Mais combien je leur préfère
Mon ciel bleu mon horizon
Ma grande route et ma rivière
Ma prairie et ma maison.
Auszug aus der Rede von Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder am 22. Januar 2003 in Versailles anlässlich der gemeinsamen Sitzung des Deutschen Bundestages und der französischen Nationalversammlung zum 40. Jahrestag der Unterzeichnung des Elysée-Vertrags, der ein Grundstein für die deutsch-französische Zusammenarbeit, ein Modell für die Versöhnung der beiden Völker und ein historisches Ereignis in der Geschichte Europas ist:
Aber der politische Wille allein, meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren, bewegt nicht zwangsläufig die Herzen. Deshalb bedurfte es auch des vielleicht naiven Mutes von Männern wie Hans-Günther Klein, damals Intendant des Jungen Theaters in Göttingen, und der Herzensgröße einer Dame wie “Barbara”.
Klein überredete die verehrte Chansonnière zu einem Auftritt in seinem kleinen Theater. Widerstrebend - die Narben des Krieges und der Nazi-Zeit waren noch frisch - willigte Barbara ein. Noch am Tag ihrer Ankunft wollte sie wieder abreisen. Schließlich blieb sie eine ganze Woche lang und gab Konzerte vor einem begeisterten, jungen Publikum.
Angesteckt von dieser Euphorie, aber ganz sicher auch angerührt, begann sie noch während ihres Aufenthalts, ihr berühmtes Chanson “Göttingen” zu schreiben. Zwei Jahre später, 1967, kam sie wieder in die Stadt und trug ihre kleine Hommage vor. Es ist meines Wissens das einzige Lied, das die große Barbara je auf Deutsch gesungen hat. Lassen Sie mich aus dem Text zitieren:
“Was ich nun sage, das klingt freilich
für manche Leute unverzeihlich:
Die Kinder sind genau die gleichen
in Paris, wie in Göttingen.
Lasst diese Zeit nie wiederkehren
und nie mehr Hass die Welt zerstören:
Es wohnen Menschen, die ich liebe,
in Göttingen, in Göttingen.”
Ich selbst habe, meine Damen und Herren, zu jener Zeit insgesamt mehr als zehn Jahre in Göttingen gelebt und dort studiert. Ich hatte leider keine Gelegenheit, das Lied von ihr selbst gesungen zu hören. Doch das Chanson hallte überall in der Stadt wieder und weit darüber hinaus.
Was Barbara dort direkt in unsere Herzen hinein gesungen hat, das war für mich der Beginn einer wunderbaren Freundschaft zwischen Deutschen und Franzosen.
“In the course of the past three decades Jacques Dutronc has established himself as one of the most popular figures on the French music scene. His insolent attitude and offbeat sense of humour have also won him thousands of fans around the world.” (RFI Musique)
As a young man in the early 60’s he was swept up in the wave of rock and roll music. His group El Toro et les Cyclones managed to release a couple 45’s in the spring of 1962. He began writing songs for Yéyé artists including his wife Françoise Hardy, for whom he wrote “C’est le temps de l’amour“.
In the late 60’s Jacques Dutronc recorded his masterpiece: “L’opportuniste“, an ironic commentary on politics.
He lives in the town of Monticello on the island of Corsica.
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