Sarkozy's phantom words are set to music

That Sarkozy text message just won't go away.

A couple of weeks ago, the French president unleashed his lawyers and prosecutors against le Nouvel Observateur for allegedly inventing his "come home" plea to Cécilia, his ex-wife. The magazine had reported that, one week before marrying Carla Bruni this month, he texted to Cécilia: "If you come back, I will cancel everything". In the aftermath, the president's staff and ministers have been denouncing all journalists as vultures for picking up the story. We heard today that the investigating judges have summoned Cécilia to ask her if the message existed or not. But now France's most famous message has taken on new life as a song by Jeanne Cherhal, a rising singer-composer.

The ditty (listen here), is wistful rather than satirical. In 24 hours it has become a hit. Lifted from Cherhal's MySpace site, it has the main media buzzing and has been playing on radio and television news. They must be hopping mad at the Elysée Palace.

Cherhal's refrain goes:  "Si tu reviens, j'annule tout, nos écarts de langage, nos colères, nos passions de passage." (If you come back, I will cancel everything, our bad language, our spats, our passing passions)

Cherhal, one of the leaders of the young genre called nouvelle chanson française, said that Sarko's supposed SMS appeal turned into a song in her sleep.  "You never know what causes inspiration. It comes from everywhere, and especially from the last place you think -- a noise on the pavement, anything," she told Libération. "I woke up in the morning with that sentence on the brain. The music came along with it."

Libération joked that the RG, the police intelligence service, must be on to Cherhal by now. Their criminal investigation colleagues have already seized mobile phone records to prove the message never existed. Indeed, the singer appears a little embarassed about the text-song's runaway success. Her manager, Héloïse Martins, said: "She just wanted to have fun on her MySpace site. It was a joke between friends, not to promote herself," she said. "The song does not allude to the presidential couple. It is a general song about breaking up. We do not want to be at the centre of a row." 

There is a lot to be said for the clever words and pretty tunes of the nouvelle chanson genre, even if they can be nombriliste or self-absorbed, at times. One of the leading nouvelle chanson exponents with those tendencies is of course Carla Bruni, la première dame de France and victim if the text message was by any chance genuine. Many of the lyrics in her hit album "Quelqu'un m'a dit" are about herself and her past and present lovers. We are all waiting to find out if there will be a song to Nicolas in the new album, which she is just about to release.  Perhaps even a track on texting. 

 

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Comments

[peter kinsley www.peterkinsley.com]

Monsieur Sarkozy should rise above such pettiness and avoid clashing with journalists, who are finally delving into the private lives of the high and mighty, resulting, hopefully, in revelations not only about who's screwing who, but who's robbing who. Politicians must always say they have heen misquoted, or their words have been taken out of context. He should call off his expensive lawyers, smile and say it was a mis-print and the text actually should have read: If you return I will advertise it: "annoncer", not "annuller", an unfortunate slip of the finger.
Napoleon is often misquoted as sending a message to Josephine: "Back in ten days - don't wash" He was clearly dictating to an amanuensis: "Back in ten days" and turned to his servant and said; "Don't wash that. Her laundrymaid will do it."
It is also quite clear that Marie Antoinette did not say: "Let them eat cake!" or "is there no cake?" or even "Il n-y-a plus de brioche?". What she actually told the crowd was: "If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake."

[Valentin]

"reviens, et j'annule tout", c'est très joliment dit, et tellement romantique !

[john o'doe]

Having already questioned the Nouvel Obs journalist about the purported SMS message, the police now want to see Cécilia about it.
She wouldn't appear before the parliamentary commission investigating the circumstances of the Bulgarian nurses release by Gaddafi. Will she play game on this one?

[Melissa]

A fine little song. Pretty, and highlights the lovely lilts of the French language.

We may as well all laugh about it - so should the President. As has been said so many times before, how about now bringing the circus to an end? It is for the presidential couple to demonstrate through daily actions that they are now drawing a line in the sand, and focussing on their work from now on in. No one -not even a president - needs to be in the limelight as much as this.

I think we all have a sneaking suspicion that somewhere, somehow he is enjoying the drama. That suspicion is just not going away.

Politicians, eh.

[Daniel Strohl]

Peter,

Thanks to you, I have learned a word new for me : "amanuensis". It is not used in French, if I rely upon my memory and, more reliably, my Larousse en 5 volumes.

Hereafter a modest contribution to your collection of funny quotes, with one attributed to Henri IV (le Béarnais) : "Surtout, ne te lave pas, mon coeur!".

More seriously : up to now, I was rather upset with the Nouvel Obs journalist and "his" Sarkozy SMS. And I still believe that this particular journalist deserves a punch in the nose.

But obviously, using an adjective borrowed from Dominique, I have got obsolete ideas (or archaic ideas - I owe this adjective to TNOPL). Mud slinging in political matters seems to be much worse in the US media, if I believe an article from the "spiegel on line" (one can't accuse the German press to indulge in US bashing).

Hereafter a link to this article (in German) :
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,536911,00.html

[Valentin]

Daniel's article in stone-coal English:

"http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fpolitik%2Fausland%2F0%2C1518%2C536911%2C00.html&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=fr&ie=UTF8"

(in general, for instant translations, I use Google: http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=fr)

[Pierre Bernardi]

"Libération joked that the RG, the police intelligence service, must be on to Cherhal by now". Some joke. Let's not forget the left's willingness in recent years to subject the individual to the controlling eyes and ears of the state. There is nothing liberal about the socialists.

[Pierre Bernardi]

Peter, Marie Antoinette was in fact from Edinburgh, and what she actually said to the crowd was "you'll have had your cake".

[christopher muir]

Jeanne Cherhal's inadvertent (?) meandering into the political sphere could herald some musical trench warfare between herself and Carla Bruni. Songs can be quite potent weapons as was demonstrated, for instance, by the seemingly innocuous 1860s "Le Temps des Cerises." (It was one of Edith Cresson's favourite songs.) Hopefully lyricists and composers will get to work and produce some lasting, fresh political melodies.