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

[Part one in the "On Covering Gainsbourg" series.]

I just received the new Seu Jorge CD, 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. Well, part of the reason I wanted to get 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 (sorry about the unfortunate formatting on Gainsbourg's original; couldn't find a way to get rid of the "negative space"). Anyway, it looks like Jorge has also dropped a few verses. All in all, it's not a bad song, but I prefer the album's other cover, "Don't" (Lieber and Stoller), an Elvis Presley hit which he doesn't translate--it's the only English-language song on the CD 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 so many others from Brazil--is created by cuicas ("friction percussion played with an oil-soaked rag"). The 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. The "harp-like cavaquihnos" is another one of the indigenous instruments that gives the album its unique sound. A couple 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'm currently 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). I should also mention that the cover of Jorge's debut, Carolina, which was produced by Mario Caldato, Jr. (the Beastie Boys), features the favela king in a loud shirt and knit cap holding a cat. Okay, so now I'm really in love...even if it is one of those whiny Siamese gatos.

Note: Images from the AMG.