music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Les Sucettes" ("Lollipops") is a French pop song written by Serge Gainsbourg and first recorded by France Gall in 1966. One of Gall's biggest hits, it was an unusually risqué song for its time, although she has said she was unaware of the fact when performing it.^{[citation needed]}

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"Les Sucettes"
Single by France Gall
Released	March 1966 (1966-03)
Label	Philips
Songwriter(s)	Serge Gainsbourg
Music video
"Les Sucettes" on YouTube

Meaning

"Les Sucettes" is, on the surface, a yé-yé-style song about a girl named Annie who likes aniseed-flavoured lollipops; much of the lyrical content plays up the homonyms of "Annie" and "anis" (aniseed).

But Gainsbourg's lyric also contains playful double meanings referring to oral sex, such as a line about barley sugar running down Annie's throat. The very noun for lollipop in French, "sucette", is the substantivised verb "sucer", sucking – so that the title and the refrain ("Annie aime les sucettes", Annie loves lollipops) are far more evocative in French than in the English translation. A possible translation to preserve the innuendo would be "Annie loves suckers". The song also features a direct double entendre, stating that Annie has lollipops "pour quelques pennies" (for a few pennies), which can also be heard as "pour quelques pénis" (for a few penises).^{[citation needed]}

Music video

A film clip for the song was directed by Jean-Christophe Averty for the TV show Au risque de vous plaire (lit. "At the Risk of Pleasing You"). It featured props playing on the sexual references, with lollipops that were somewhat phallic rather than the traditional circle shape, interspersed with cutaways of young women suggestively sucking on lollipops.[1]

Another video was filmed, featuring Gall herself in a schoolgirl uniform inside a house, singing the song.^{[citation needed]}

Reaction

Gall has said that she did not understand the double meaning of the song when she recorded it at age 18.[2] By Gall's account, she did not realize until later why the filming of the clip attracted so many visitors to the set.[1]

Upon its release, the song was a success in France and Belgium. In France, it entered the charts at #30 on July 15[3] and by the following week, it had climbed to its peak of #9.[4]

Gall was said to be extremely upset upon finally learning the truth about the song's double meaning — "mortified, hiding herself away for weeks, refusing to face anyone".[5] Gall said that she had sung Gainsbourg's songs "with an innocence of which I'm proud. I was pained to then learn that he had turned the situation to his advantage, mocking me."[5]

In a 2001 television interview, Gall said that she felt "betrayed by the adults around me."[1]

Gainsbourg called the song "the most daring song of the century" in an interview with the magazine Rock and Folk.

Charts

Chart (1966)	Peak Position
Belgium (Wallonia Ultratop 50 Singles)	14[6]
France (Hit Parade de Salut les copains)	9[4]

Covers

Kim Kay version

"Les Sucettes"
Single by Kim Kay
from the album Hits!
Released	2000
Recorded	2000 at Sterman & Cook Studio
Genre	Eurodance
Length	3:26
Label	EMI
Songwriter(s)	Serge Gainsbourg
Producer(s)	Phil Sterman Lov Cook
Kim Kay singles chronology
"Ça plane pour moi" (2000) "Les Sucettes" (2000) "Open Your Heart" (2001)
Music video
"Les Sucettes" on YouTube

Belgian Eurodance singer Kim Kay recorded a cover of "Les Sucettes" that released in 2000 on EMI as the fourth single and as well as the opening track from her only compilation album, Hits! (2000). The single was produced by Phil Sterman and Lov Cook.

Track listing

Other covers

• Gainsbourg recorded his own version, with a psychedelic arrangement, on the 1969 album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg.
• The song was performed by Luce as a contestant on the eighth season of the French TV singing competition Nouvelle Star in 2010.
• The song was covered by the Swedish symphonic metal band Therion in the album Les Fleurs du Mal, released in September 2012.

See also

• France Gall
• Serge Gainsbourg

References

External links

• "Les Sucettes" on YouTube
• "Les Sucettes" at AllMusic
• Les Sucettes at MusicBrainz
• "Les Sucettes" at Discogs

На других языках

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- [en] Les sucettes

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[es] Les sucettes

«Les sucettes» (1966) es una canción francesa escrita por el compositor Serge Gainsbourg e interpretada por la joven cantante France Gall. Es uno de sus mayores éxitos junto a Poupée de cire, poupée de son, ambas escritas por Gainsbourg. Les sucettes, distribuida como sencillo en 1966, se convirtió en un clásico del pop y el yé-yé francés y estableció una nueva tendencia de dobles sentidos eróticos en la música pop. Gainsbourg grabó otra versión cantada por él en 1969.

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[ru] Les sucettes

«Les sucettes» («Леденцы») — французская эстрадная песня, написанная Сержем Генсбуром и впервые записанная Франс Галль в 1966 году. Песня, ставшая одним из крупнейших хитов Галль, имела на редкость сексуально-двусмысленный для своего времени текст, о чём не подозревала певица.

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