I am learning the wonders of YouTube now that I have a fast connection at home (so I can waste time on it).

One of my favorite singers EVER is (was; he died in 2002) Charles Trenet, who was a French singer (sort of a high baritone, I guess that's what his voice was). He was active from the 30s through the 50s and his work ranged from swing-pop to more emotional pieces.

YouTube has some lots of film of him!

La Mer. This is probably one of his best known pieces. Bobby Darin used the tune for "Beyond the Sea" but Trenet's French lyrics are much more complex and interesting to me - he is basically painting a word-picture of the sea near where he grew up. (Trenet dabbled in both painting and poetry as a young man). This was filmed when he was an older man and his voice had matured somewhat compared to his younger days. (He also hams it up a lot towards the end of the song - in the black and white clip stuck in the middle, he is saying that there were complaints his music didn't "swing" enough)


My favorite piece he ever did: Douce France, which is a love-song to his childhood in France. (It's from a German or Dutch tv program; the announcer at the beginning sounds like she's speaking German and Trenet says something to the audience in German).

It is interesting to see the man performing after years of only being able to listen to him.

Oh, and here is film from his earlier days showing him in an outfit I've often seen on the covers of his recordings - a fitted turtleneck and cloth cap. (I read somewhere that he made a number of filmed recordings for a sort of early video-jukebox thing. And I guess he was in some French movies.)

Another recording of him un rien me fait chanter. Here he's wearing the dark shirt/white tie and porkpie hat that I also have seen in lots of pictures of him.

(Yes, I'm kind of obsessed by the singer.)

He was a nice-looking man, I think. And I love his music.