Draft:Chatterton (song)

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The Death of Chatterton, who poisoned himself at age 18 (oil painting by Henry Wallis, 1856).

Chatterton is a song by Serge Gainsbourg, released in 1967.

Theme and inspiration

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The song evokes several historic figures who died by their own hand (Chatterton, Demosthenes, Hannibal, and Marc-Antoine), as well as others who suffered from issues of mental health (Schumann, Nietzsche...).

Passing over the names of those who met their unfortunate end, Gainsbourg looks inward toward himself: « Quant à moi, ça ne va plus très bien » ("As for me, things aren't going great anymore.").

The song was inspired by Alphonse Allais' famous quote, lamenting the decline of the state of literature: « Shakespeare est mort, Molière est mort, Racine est mort, et, je vous avoue, je ne me sens pas très bien moi-même » (Shakespeare is dead, Molière is dead, Racine is dead, and, I vow to you, I don't feel very well myself.").

The music was borrowed from the song Hip Hug-Her by Booker T. and the M.G.'s. Gainsbourg had already used the track two months earlier in the song Hip Hip Hip Hurrah, which he wrote for Claude François. For this rendition, Gainsbourg modified the orchestration but kept the melody and rhythm the same. Music and lyrics are attributed to Serge Gainsbourg. The musicians who played for Booker T. and the M.G.'s are not credited were granted no authorship rights for the two songs (Gainsbourg's Chatterton and François' Hip Hip Hip Hurrah).[1].

Three years later, Claude François reused the music and accelerated it for the song Hou là là by Patrick Topaloff. Again, the original musicians were not credited[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Anthony Martin (2021-03-22). "Le recyclage musical de génie de Serge Gainsbourg et Claude François". RTL (in French). Retrieved 2021-03-22.