Pas de si bons mots
When young I used to buy a French pop magazine, ‘Salut les Copains’ (meaning Hello Chums). Quite good at French, I liked pop music, liked French pop music but above all, LOVED Sylvie Vartan, who so often adorned its cover. She was so pretty... just my type... then I met Mrs H... exactly my type, with more than a passing resemblance to Sylvie Vartan too! But this true story isn’t about that.
Occasionally, the magazine published lyrics to British pop... sometimes getting them wrong....
’My mother was a tailor, Saw my old bluejans’...
But who cared about the words... then?
- Category: True Stories Told As Fiction
6 comments add one below
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Neville Hunt almost 3 years ago
Prompted by firefly’s clever House of the Rising Sun tribute. Thanks firefly!
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Frenchie almost 3 years ago
Oh my! Thank you for this…Salut les Copains! I was transported quite a few years in the past … the song was covered by Johnny Halliday (who married Sylvie Vartan). It was called ” Les Portes Du Penitencier. “ When I was a kid, I was not a fan of them two as I was more into France Gall/Michel Berger duo, if you know them. ☺️
Hehehe, great drabble… “my mother was a tailor…saw my old bluejeans”, well, it could make sense 🤣 if you are French. -
firefly almost 3 years ago
Ahaha great Drabble, Neville! French people speaking English are… amusing to say the least. I’m so glad to have inspired you ☺️
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firefly almost 3 years ago
No offense of course to Frenchie! I think your drabbles are wonderful and very well written! While I do have some French friends who speak English like Englishmen, I have to say most people’s attempts are quite funny. I’d blame it on the education system though… never got over being told off once when I corrected the (French) English teacher in school 😂
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Christopher almost 3 years ago
Nice one, Neville. It's interesting to read everyone talking about the different versions of the song because, in the USA, the definitive version is by The Animals. Dylan covered it on his debut album but he didn't start selling a lot of albums until his second, "Freewheelin'"
What's interesting is I've always heard it sung by males, but recently I heard a version sung by a female, with slightly different lyrics, and now I'm wondering if it's supposed to be from the female employee's perspective rather than the male customer's perspective.
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Neville Hunt almost 3 years ago
In hindsight, for today’s young audiences, French or Francalien, ‘Salut les Copains’ probably means ‘Hi Guys!’
