Françoise Hardy
The Vogue Years

THE REVIEW

"For Françoise Hardy
at the Seine's edge
a giant shadow of Notre Dame
seeks t' grab my foot
Sorbonne students
whirl by on thin bicycles
swirlin' life like colors of leather spin"

This is written in the booklet of "Another Side of Bob Dylan" and indeed, listening to Hardy sing can truly leave one in awe, even if the words are not understood. Soft vocal nuances, light melancholies suspended in mid-air. Small romantic and existential perplexities as if carried by a subtle morning breeze.

Songs that are actually very simple, often just three chords, which "start and end with the same note" (as she herself said, a lesson in modesty). If we place them in the reality of the French pop music of the '60s, dominated by what they called "yé-yé", a French adaptation of "yeah", we realize they have a lot of personality compared to what many of her contemporaries were singing. And there’s even a legend. Apparently, there was supposed to be a collaboration with none other than Nick Drake. It’s a fact that in 1969 Françoise showed interest through Joe Boyd in the possibility of Drake writing songs for her. Apparently, Hardy even went to London for the occasion with musicians, but Nick, true to his style, didn’t show up. When they tracked him down at his apartment, he replied laconically: "I don't have any songs. For Francoise Hardy...".

In fact, there’s even a second version, probably even less reliable, according to which the singer-songwriter from Tanworth-in-Arden once showed up at Hardy’s house but didn’t manage to meet her as he was poorly received by the maid (I got these stories from the website: "The Nick Drake Files": http: //www. algonet. se/~iguana/DRAKE/NDdef. html#d, if you’d like to check under the "Five Leaves Left" section).

This 2 CD collection contains tracks from 1962 to 1967 starting with the hit "Tous les garçons et les filles". Most of the songs are written by Hardy herself. Among others, there’s "Je changerai d'avis", the French version of "Se telefonando" by Morricone, with a rather different text. You will also find "La maison où j'ai grandi", a translation of "Il ragazzo della via Gluck". In the link, you will find a magnificent collection of '60s fashion photos and even a picture with that old trickster Dylan.