"Initials B.B."
Single by Serge Gainsbourg
from the album Initials B.B.
ReleasedJune 1968
RecordedMay 1968, Chappell Studios, London
GenreChanson, baroque pop
Length3:36
LabelPhillips
Songwriter(s)Serge Gainsbourg

Initials B.B. is a 1968 song by Serge Gainsbourg. It was the opening single of his album Initials B.B. and is about French actress and sex symbol Brigitte Bardot,[1] who was so famous at the time that her initials were enough to know whom people referred to.[2] Gainsbourg once had an affair with her and this was his way of expressing how he felt about it.[3]

Song

The song is a poetic evocation of Gainsbourg's relationship with Bardot in 1967. The song quotes from the first movement of Antonin Dvorak's Ninth Symphony, better known as From the New World[4][5][6][7] and lyrically quotes from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven in its opening lines. The song also mentions the book L'Amour monstre by Louis Pauwels, which was recommended to Gainsbourg by Bardot.[8] It was recorded between February and April 1968.

Music Video

A music video was made, featuring various clips of Bardot during photo shoots and recording sessions.

In popular culture

The song was once used for a TV commercial of the perfume Shalimar by Guerlain.[9][10]

English singer and songwriter Charli XCX named it as one of her five favourite songs of all time in 2013[11]

Cover versions

Mick Harvey covered it on his album Intoxicated Man (1995) as the final track on that record.

In 2012 it was also covered by Therion on their album Les Fleurs du Mal.

In 2022, it was released as a single by Boz Boorer and James Maker on Fabrique Records.

Sources

  1. ^ "Origin of Song: Serge Gainsbourg Meets Bardot and the Barrow Gang". 27 September 2011.
  2. ^ "And Bardot Became BB | Institut français du Royaume-Uni". institut-francais.org.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  3. ^ "10 of the best: Serge Gainsbourg". TheGuardian.com. 15 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Original versions of Initials B.B. Written by Serge Gainsbourg | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  5. ^ "Serge Gainsbourg's 'Initials B.B.' - Discover the Sample Source". WhoSampled.
  6. ^ "10 of the best: Serge Gainsbourg". TheGuardian.com. 15 January 2014.
  7. ^ "The Originals © by Arnold Rypens - SYMPHONY N°9 IN e MINOR, OP. 95 (NEW WORLD) - FIRST MOVEMENT".
  8. ^ Anderson, Darran (2013). Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson. New York City: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781623562168.
  9. ^ "Musique de Pub TV".
  10. ^ "Parfum Guerlain - Shalimar Parfum Initial - Auparfum".
  11. ^ "Charli XCX's 5 favorite songs". 2013-08-10. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
Categories