Liner Notes: The Raw and the Cooked, or Seu Jorge vs. Serge Gainsbourg

Part one in an "On Covering Gainsbourg" series.

I just received the new Seu Jorge release, Cru, and I'm quite enjoying it. If the name doesn't ring a bell, you may know him better as "Knockout Ned" in City of God, one of my favorite films of 2003, or as the otherwise-silent crew member who sang acoustic versions of Bowie songs--in Portuguese--in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. 

Part of the reason I sought out the album is because Jorge covers Serge Gainsbourg's "Chatterton." Aside from the translation, he's changed some of the words, i.e. "Hannibal" becomes "Kurt Cobain." See below for both sets of lyrics, in Portuguese and in the original French.

It looks like Jorge has also dropped a few verses. All in all, it isn't a bad song, but I prefer the album's other cover, "Don't" (Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller), an Elvis Presley hit which he doesn't translate--it's the only English-language song on the album and it's quite affecting.

According to the Amazon editorial review, that "jungle sound," as I like to call it, that you hear throughout much of the recording--and many others from Brazil--is created by cuicas ("friction percussion played with an oil-soaked rag"). Reviewer Christina Roden describes it as "shrieking" and "whining." Exactly. I wasn't sure if the noise was created by an instrument or some bizarre style of singing. 

Another indigenous instrument, the "harp-like cavaquihnos," contributes to the unique sound. Two other things I learned from her review: That cru means "raw" and that Mania De Peitão ("Big Chested Mania") is an anti-breast implant song. Okay, I'm in love.

Chatterton
[Gainsbourg] Adapt: [Seu Jorge / Dani Costa]
Pub: Melody Nelson Publishing

Chatterton, suicidou
Kurt Cobain, suicidou
Vargas, suicidou
Nietzsche, enloqueceu
E eu, nao vou nada bem

Chatterton, suicidou
Cléopatra, suicidou
Isocrates, suicidou
Goya, enloqueceu
E eu, nao vou nada bem

Chatterton, suicidou
Marc-Antoine, suicidou
Van Gogh, suicidou
Schumann, enloqueceu
E eu, nao vou nada bem

Chatterton
[Gainsbourg]
Pub: Melody Nelson Publishing

Chatterton suicidé
Hannibal suicidé
Démosthène suicidé
Nietzsche
Fou à lier
Quant à moi...
Quant à moi
Ça ne va plus très bien
Chatterton suicidé
Cléopâtre suicidé
Isocrate suicidé
Goya
Fou à lier
Quant à moi...
Quant à moi
Ça ne va plus très bien
Chatterton suicidé
Marc-Antoine suicidé
Van Gogh suicidé
Schumann
Fou à lier
Quant à moi...
Quant à moi
Ça ne va plus très bien

Postscript: I've been reading Sylvie Simmons's Gainsbourg bio, A Fistful of Gitanes, so this album couldn't have arrived at a better time (I received it for my birthday, along with Bjork's Vespertine, Jack Nitzsche's Hearing is Believing, Them Featuring Van Morrison, and a couple of Eno titles). The cover of Jorge's debut, Carolina, which was produced by Mario Caldato, Jr. of the Beastie Boys, features the favela king in a loud shirt and knit cap holding a cat. Now I'm really in love.

Cru cover image from the Pitchfork.