The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

Bastille Day: your French party playlist!

Aidan Curran posted on July 13, 2008 19:00

Are you all enjoying work this Monday morning? Here in France today’s a public holiday – the national holiday, known to the English-speaking world as Bastille Day. (French people just call it “the fourteenth of July”.)

In Paris, celebrations begin with the morning’s military parade down the Champs-Elysées and conclude tonight with a giant free concert on the Champ de Mars, the park at the feet of the Eiffel Tower. That concert features the worst of French MOR blandness; bloodless singer-songers like Christophe Mae, Raphael and Rose who we’re not even going to link to here. The pièce de résistance is none other than James Blunt. Surely there’s a ceremonial guillotine available for the day that’s in it?

A concert to miss by miles, then. That said, it’s still a good idea to celebrate France’s national holiday with music. So, to help you party like it’s le quatorze juillet, we’ve made a Bastille Day playlist of French classics old and modern.

You’ll find the crème de la crème of great Gallic tunes that should have you dancing like young Parisians, i.e. very clumsily while leering sleazily and swearing in a faux-American accent. We’ve even planned for the way parties usually sub-divide into different groups for different rooms of your place. (If you live in a bedsit in Rathmines, then you’ll probably just be listening to Damien Rice. Alone.)

So, here’s what you’re doing tonight:

Dancing around the living room:

Martin Solveig ‘C’est La Vie’
Cassius ‘Toop Toop’
Modjo ‘Lady (Hear Me Tonight)’
Stardust ‘Music Sounds Better With You’
Christophe Willem ‘Double Je’
Alizée ‘Moi Lolita’
Yelle ‘A Cause Des Garçons’
Les Rita Mitsouko ‘Marcia Baila’
Rachid Taha ‘Rock El Casbah’
Mano Negra ‘Out Of Time Man’ (2005 version)
Air ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’ (single mix)
Sheila & B. Devotion ‘Spacer’
Superbus ‘Travel The World’
Pravda 'The A.B.C. Of L.O.V.E.'
Daft Punk ‘Da Funk’
Cassius ‘Cassius 99’ (remix)
Justice ‘D.A.N.C.E.’
Amel Bent ‘Ma Philosophie’
Diam’s 'La Boulette’
…and to finish: Hermes House Band ‘I Will Survive’

Hanging out in the kitchen:

Vanessa And The O’s ‘Bagatelle’
Air ‘Sexy Boy’
Emilie Simon ‘Fleur De Saison’
Phoenix 'Rally'
The Dodoz ‘Do You Like Boys?’
Dionysos ‘Song For Jedi’
The Do ‘On My Shoulders’
The Teenagers ‘Starlett Johannson’
Fancy 'Seventeen'
Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot ‘Bonnie And Clyde’
Noir Désir ‘Le Vent Nous Portera’

Speaking softly in the bedroom:

Serge Gainsbourg ‘Ballade De Melody Nelson’
Saint Germain ‘Rose Rouge’
Emily Loizeau ‘L’Autre Bout Du Monde’
Cocoon ‘On My Way’
Syd Matters ‘Everything Else'
Keren Ann ‘Lay Your Head Down’
Françoise Hardy ‘Message Personnel’
Carla Bruni ‘Quelqu’un M’a Dit’
Air ‘All I Need’
Sebastien Tellier ‘La Ritournelle’

Here's one of our favourites from that list. Serge Gainsbourg crooning like a tragic hero, Jane Birkin spinning like a groovy chick and pop's greatest bass intro... it's the fantastic video for 'Ballade De Melody Nelson'. Bonne fête!

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1999 - 'The eMusic Market', written by Gordon McConnell it focuses on how the internet could change the music industry. Boy was he on the money, years before any of us had heard of an iPod or of Napster.