This is the thread where we (that is I) ask questions about Gainsbourg...

I so knew this was a Mary thread.

Nicole to thread!

"Gainsbourg et son Gainsborough ont pris le ferry-boat"

Gainsbourg is evidently referring to the backwards-flowing influence of 1983's "Don't Pay the Ferry Man" by the Irish artist Chris DeBurgh, as further indicated by the echo between DeBurgh (Frenchified Irish name) and Gainsbourg's mutation from the original Gainsbourough. So, Gainsbourg's invocation of his alter-ego and of painter Sir Thomas Gainsborough is consistent in this case with your hypothesis.

maybe if you send me the lyrics and tempt me with the promise of some kind of renumeration, i'll translate them for you...

I thought his Gainsbourough (in this song at least) was Jane Birkin!

Yes, Rosemary, that's what I was thinking, interesting that Gainsborough can mutate from influential English painter who Gainsbourg steals name from, into...JB-lover, clever! And what Felicity said above, obv.

Mike (Ro)bott: it's not so much the lyrics in this case, but rather the significance of the Gainsborough figure, thank you for your unselfish offer though! Why don't I post them here anyway for all to enjoy:

Gainsbourg et son Gainsborough
Ont pris le ferry-boat
De leur lit par le hublot
Ils regardent la côte
Ils s'aiment et la traversée
Durera toute une année
Ils vaincront les maléfices
Jusqu'en soixante-dix

Soixant'neuf
Année érotique
Soixant'neuf
Année érotique

Gainsbourg et son Gainsborough
Vont rejoindre Paris
Ils ont laissé derrière eux
La Tamise et Chelsea
Ils s'aiment et la traversée
Durera toute une année
Et que les dieux les bénissent
Jusqu'en soixante-dix

Soixant'neuf année érotique
Soixant'neuf année érotique

Qu'Ils s'aiment et la traversée
Durera toute une année
Il pardonnera ces caprices
Jusqu'en soixante-dix

Soixant'neuf année érotique
Soixant'neuf année érotique

Yeah, I've always read it as sort of an alter-ego type thing, since I'd read that Gainsbourg had changed his name as a homage to Gainsborough.

Also because Lucien Ginsburg didn't have quite the same ring... What's interesting is that he aleady had a protective alter ego in Gainsbourg, which he took on the name around 30 yrs old, but then he played with the Gainsborough thing at times, and of course, later needed yet another identity to meet the world with--Gainsbarre...

She was lovely as a painting, that Jane!

What's striking in the lyric is the way he makes England sound so far from France, and so exotic! True, there were no Eurostar trains back then, but it didn't take, as the song claims in its poetic way, one whole year to sail from Calais to Dover! (Furthermore, people didn't necessarily take a cabin and make love for 12 months each time they did the Paris - London thing.) When you hear the record, listen to the way he whispers 'the Thames! and Chelsea!' in the most secretive, passionate ejaculation, as if he were giving you the address of some souk harem or telling you where to find the sin palaces of Bangkok!

My question: Does Gainsbourg's L'Homme a Tete de Chou have anything to do with the Kids in the Hall's Cabbage Head?

Ah yes, Rosemary, I cover that connection in depth in the Voice piece..stay tuned...