Serge Gainsbourg (1928.1991)
Signed typed manuscript – Flashback.
One page in quarto with corrections and deletions. No place or date [Paris. 1972]
Full lyrics of the song Flash-Back written for Petula Clark.
Magnificent document – with nostalgic overtones of Melody Nelson – corrected in the text by Gainsbourg.
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Flashback
I went back to my street
Under the grey skies of my youth
Where the brick walls stand
In dead-end passages.
With a heavy heart, I went downstairs.
Slowly from my Mercedes
The children were asking each other, "Who is it?"
Opening wide, innocent eyes
They stop their hoop games
And they approach the car
Including its aggressive color
They let go
Adrift
Their paper boats
It all comes back to me in a flashback
As if seen through the lens of an old Kodak camera
I can still see myself as a poor little girl
In a winter halo where cracks
The phosphorus in a match
And under this glow
Who falters and then dies
Shot by the camera in slow motion
A handsome boy
He rushes forward and shouts my name
Then the vision faded
Where are you, Mom and Dad?
And you, my love, my tenderness
What good is all wealth?
From a man you don't love
Gainsbourg.
Bibliography: The Gainsbook, in the studio with Serge Gainsbourg. S. Merlet. Ed. Seghers.