Francofilthia

I like to think that I'm not a particularly sleazy person. Most people who know me would say I generally live on the clean side, even if my mind immediately goes to the most tasteless joke that any situation suggests. Which makes me a bit disgusted with myself for the things that force themselves into my mind when this song comes on.

What's going on here? A teenage Jodie Foster coquettishly singing a greasy, mid-temp disco number about how "life is cool when you have a crush...surrounded by meadow flowers and violence" etc. Apparently, it's from this movie that she also starred in about an American schoolgirl getting deflowered in Paris. I haven't seen it, but the song suggests a drugging and brainwashing subplot. Maybe it's the album cover—Jodie all awkward and toothy kid-faced—but the whole vibe just seems wrong. Of course, musically speaking, it's so right. Cheers to whoever did that synth bit! It sounds like an evil ghost hand holding something forbidden in front of your eyes and then pulling away as you try to grab it. Or whatever.

Songs like this won't do anything to dispel any stereotypes about French depravity. I don't think Serge Gainsbourg had anything to do with this, but his spirit is all over it. Let's hope that's the only part of him that got all over it. Alright, I'm going to go take a shower now.

Jodie Foster - La Vie C'est Chouette