Renaud

Renaud (full name Renaud Séchan) is one of the most popular French singers ever. He was really popular in the 80s but he's still going strong today, even though he seems to have a tendency to delve into depression and alcoholism (sad).

He kinda nicknamed himself "le chanteur énervant" (the annoying singer) probably because he has no problems voicing strong opinions in his tunes. He's kind of a child of the May 1968 strikes and I guess he had a whole lot to say about French politics when he got started. He actually wanted to be a comedian/actor (that kinda explains why he was in a few movies, in particular, "Germinal" with Depardieu) but ended up being mostly a singer/songwriter. His tonal range is about 2 notes (joke) and his voice can a tiny bit grating at times. Definitely, not everybody's cup of coffee. He uses a lot of old-school slang in his songs and that makes his lyrics particularly fun, especially the early stuff.


That's where it all stated for him: "Laisse Béton".


Now, the title of this song is in what is called "verlan", a form of slang where you invert the syllables. So, "Laisse Béton" is really "laisse tomber", which means "let it go".


The 80s with "Mon Beauf".


"Beauf" is slang for "beau-frère", "brother-in-law". In the 80s, he wrote a lot of light and funny tunes like this one.


The 90s with "Morgane de Toi".


"Morgane de Toi" is (old) slang for "amoureux de toi", "in love with you".

Comments

Popular Posts