Serge Gainsbourg – Autograph manuscript. “Rereading your letter”

Serge Gainsbourg (1928.1991)

Autograph musical manuscript. " Rereading your letter"

One quarto page in black ink.

[Paris. 1961]

A precious musical manuscript of one of the most famous and cynical songs by the young Serge Gainsbourg, a symbol of his early misogynistic lyrics, his fierce, offbeat and dark humor, which introduced a new tone into French song.

This jaded seducer, rereading the pathetic letter his suicidal conquest sends him, coldly noting every spelling mistake, has something of Valmont from Dangerous Liaisons . This inspired, funny, and deceptively misogynistic text would later appeal to Barbara, who would adapt it in 1969.

______________________________________________________________

It's you I love

(Only takes one M)

Above all

 Don't tell me

(One is missing)

That you don't care

I beg you

 (Point on the i)

Trust me 

I am the slave

Without a grave accent

Appearances

I'll finish this

To keep me

(Only takes one d)

So much resentment

You have no heart

There is no mistake

(There's one there)

I will die from it

(Not French)

Don't you understand?

It will be your fault

It will be your fault

(There aren't any here)

I'm just letting you know

What about Gardenal?

Does not take any e

But only take one

A stamp, at least

Don't take two

That will calm you down

And you'll see

Everything falls apart

The blues, the tears

heartaches

o, e in the water

______________________________________________________________

"En relisant ta lettre " (for which Gainsbourg also composed the music) was registered with SACEM on January 25, 1961. The song appears on the singer's third album, entitled "L'Étonnant Serge Gainsbourg" , which also includes "La Chanson de Prévert" .

Provenance: Lucien Merer (1927-2019), pianist, composer and arranger who accompanied Gainsbourg from his earliest days. Merer collaborated with several other big names in the music scene: Boby Lapointe, Jean Ferrat, Cora Vaucaire, Édith Piaf, Léo Ferré and Charles Aznavour, sometimes assisting them during their beginnings or their performances in cabarets and concert halls.