THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,768) Stella — “Si Vous Connaissez Quelque Chose De Pire Que Qu’un Vampire Parlez M’en Toujours, Ça Pourra Peut-Être Me Faire Sourire”/”If You Know Something Worse than a Vampire, Always Tell Me About It, Maybe It Will Make Me Smile”
The greatest Halloween song/video ever, by a 16 year old French free spirit who wrote her own songs and loved to make fun of the yé-yé girls. “Stella really was the coolest singer in the history of pop music and this is the proof right here”. (ChrisSeahorse, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGwGWFrC85Q) Indeed. “[Her] snotty vocals get[] the cool backing they always deserved. . . . one of her best recordings”. (marcoschoir, https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/stella/si-vous-connaissez-quelque-chose-de-pire-quun-vampire/) Indeed.
Gillesmatheronpro writes (courtesy of Google Translate):
A marvel of offbeat dark humor and derision. Not to mention a musical composition and orchestration typical of French pop: polished, melodic, frankly rhythmic, and inventive. It’s a flavorful song, like a spicy dish, that only gets better with time. Bravissimo!
If you want to make me happy, take me to see a horror movie. . . . I love the blood flowing at night deep in the woods. I love hearing the cries of drowning victims. . . . If you want to make me happy , make sure I’m scared.
(Genius.com (Courtesy of Google Translate), https://genius.com/Stella-fra-si-vous-connaissez-quelque-chose-de-pire-quun-vampire-parlez-men-toujours-ca-pourra-peut-etre-me-faire-sourire-lyrics)
The video is a “Scopitone” — shown on “Scopitone machines (which were a type of jukebox with music videos instead of songs)”. (SergeESC, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGwGWFrC85Q)
Joe Marchese:
The single-named French pop queen was born Stella Zelcer, and is today known as Stella Vander, wife and collaborator of Christian Zander of the jazz-influenced progressive rock group Magma. . . . Stella differentiated herself from the popular yé-yé girls by lampooning the genre itself. . . . [S]he poked fun at singer Sheila’s “Le Folklore Américain” with her own “Un Air De Folklore Auvergnat.” Answering Sheila’s tribute to American country and folk, Stella posited in her song that accordionist Andre Verchuren was France’s answer to Bob Dylan. The song caused controversy when The Auvergnat Association of Paris took exception to its lyrics; the group even lobbied to have Stella’s records pulled from radio. Still a teenager – she made her first recording in 1963 for Disques Vogue at age 12 – she drew influences from the international spectrum of pop and rock for her RCA long-playing debut, lyrically reworking Bob Dylan’s “Motorpsycho Nightmare” as her own “Cauchemard Auto-Protestateur” and creating sonic collages in the manner of The Beatles. She co-wrote all of the material herself, in collaboration with her uncle Maurice Chorenslup, and touched on pop, soul, garage rock, jazz and psychedelia on these recordings. . . . As the decade progressed . . . Stella’s songwriting pen and her sharply satirical wit became even sharper. “L’Idole Des Jaunes” paid tribute to Jimi Hendrix while mocking Maoists. . . . [T]he singer-songwriter turned her back on subversive pop and after a short spell in a blues-rock band, returned to her first love of jazz. She joined with Magma in 1973 . . . .
Wikipedia adds
Stella . . . is a French singer, musician and record producer. Born in Paris into a family of Polish immigrants, she began writing music in the early sixties together with her uncle Maurice Chorenslup. Their songs were parodies of the Yé-yé style that was popular at the time. Stella’s first EP, which included “Pourquoi pas moi”, was released in November 1963, when she was twelve. In 1966, “Un air du folklore Auvergnat” (“a folk song from Auvergne”, mocking Sheila’s “Le Folklore Américain”) increased her fame, followed by protests by the Auvergnat association—which took the lyrics seriously. Her take on music was “engagingly sarcastic” [MOJO, Winter 2001]. 1966’s Beatnicks D’Occasion targeted weekend scenesters. Her final record as Stella was released in 1967. “I wasn’t even 17 yet, but I just said ‘Ok, pfft. Leave it.'” She married Magma drummer Christian Vander and has appeared on numerous Magma albums. During the band’s hiatus, she divorced Christian and married Francis Linon, the band’s sound engineer. Both founded the record label Seventh Records in 1987 for an independent promotion of Magma’s work. The couple started Seventh Records to organise Magma’s work and to release some of Christian Vander’s personal works. Since Magma’s reformation in the late 1990s, she has assumed a larger role in the band’s studio and performance efforts, and is currently Magma’s most enduring and prominent vocalist.
Here’s another video:
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