Gainsbourg Overdose, Part 5: Le jeu de la vérité

The recent "make your own album cover" game on Facebook, which uses the genius of randomness to put together an image, band name, and title, reminded me of Jackson Mac Low, one of my favorite poets. Mac Low was a big fan of digging up random information to create art. A friend of mine took a class with him (lucky!) and told me about the somewhat elaborate rules he'd give students to write a poem, things like go to the library, and when you see someone wearing red, head down the third stack from there, take the sixth shelf of books, and the twentieth book from the top... etc.

I've been wanting to write about Gainsbourg again, and decided that it was time to apply some random rules. OK, actually just one random rule. I took the eleventh posting at Google.fr and found Serge Gainsbourg on the French TV show Le jeu de la vérité (The Game of Truth), in 1985.

The show runs one hour. What follows below is a loose translation of the first 10 minutes. Maybe I'll do the rest of the show over the next couple of weeks. Who knows?

It begins with Gainsbourg on the piano playing a sad Charles Aznavour song. When the host asks him why he chose that song, he says he used to play it when he worked in piano bars and "C'est comme ça que j'ai tombé les gonzesses," i.e. that's how he scored chicks. Then a quick wordplay - he says "like flies" - because the verb tomber means to drop or fall, so falling like flies. The host asks him if that's an invitation for tonight; Gainsbourg replies in English, "Why not? I'm free."
The host tells him it's now time to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Gainsbourg interprets that as fascist. Then the host says he read yesterday in a magazine that Gainsbourg has been on the wagon for several days now. Gainsbourg says it's depressing and hard. The host says, "The first question at 787 22 22 (i.e. the phone number)." And it's time to answer random questions from a rather hostile public.

The host remarks that Gainsbourg has six packs of Gitanes for the hour and a half he'll be there. The host goes through the rules: he's allowed to use two jokers... Gainsbourg says he's going to change the game. He wants four jokers. And he says that each time he uses a joker he's going to tell a joke.

First call:
A lady from Toulouse who's on a very tight budget asks Gainsbourg about what he did on 7 sur 7, a TV show. She's referring to the famous money-burning incident. Gainsbourg did this at the time to protest heavy taxes in France. He sidesteps a straightforward answer to the woman's question - like he'll do to with every call. First he pulls out a stack of bills and says he's got more. He says that gamblers in essence burn their money and that he did the same thing, except that it bought him a lot of publicity. Good point. The host intervenes and says that what he did on the show was provocation; Gainsbourg replies, "I am myself." Good point! The lady first seems to be asking what would you do if you were in my situation, then she changes tack and asks him if he's ready to once again burn a 500 franc bill. Which doesn't make much sense. Serge says he's not going to and starts mocking the lady's accent. She laughs, tells him her kids are fans of his, and that she knows he feels trapped - because of the high taxes, she must mean - but that she herself isn't the one putting him in the tough spot. Then he shows her a pin he's wearing on his lapel, saying, "Look, my darling." — "Regarde, ma cocotte." She says she can't see because she's not in the same room as the TV. I don't know what this pin is, but Gainsbourg tells her "Ta gueule!" and says, "Next call." (Ta gueule! basically means Shut up!) The host says that it's true that Gainsbourg's answer doesn't have much to do with the question the lady asked. Gainsbourg answers: it's not her TV show, it's mine. Then he says goodbye, imitating her again.

The next two calls are much more risqué, so stay tuned for more quick translations...