i'm a bit choked up about this

Kate McGarrigle passed away from cancer earlier today leaving this little French-Canadian queer feeling quite sad and reminiscent.

I remember my mom and I taking road trips to visit friends in southern Ontario, driving down the Trans-Canada highway, with our windows down and listening to Kate and Anna McGarrigle blasting from the car speakers. They were my favorite to listen to and we'd play the tape, recorded from my mom's collection of scratchy vinyl, over and over again until I'd fall asleep or we'd finally arrive. It was an epic and formative experience to say the least.

I called my mom today and we talked about these road trips and how close to home this felt. My mom is the same age as Kate and I've always associated the two in my mind. When I listen to a McGarrigle sisters album or watch them in concert or on t.v. I tend to think about my mom raising me in her little house in the middle of the Laurentians.

There's also something specifically Quebecois-Canadian about these memories, just like Kate's music. I don't know, it's hard to pin down: road trips; nature; folk music; two languages under one nation/person... And of course, there's also something profoundly motherly and warm about her music, at least for me. I think that's why I'm so choked up about it all.

My thoughts are with the McGarrigle and the Wainwright families. I wish them all the best.

Rest in peace Kate.

proto-Britney

Ahhh the 1960s!



This song is really catchy but also pretty problematic. It was written by Serge Gainsbourg for France Gall (seen singing the song at the Eurovision song contest in 1965) and it's basically about being a doll made of wax and sound to be molded by it's maker. In this case, Gall becomes the baby-faced, ingenue, doe-eyed, young, French, starlet, popstar doll to Gainsbourg's creepy producer/starmaker puppetmaster. For more on it check out the wikipedia entry.

There is another version of the song recorded on really early video technology. I love the way the sound has degraded, but it's pretty impressive that it has stood the test of time and can now be broadcast again via YouTube. You also get to see Gall actually singing, rather than lip-syncing like the clip above. And there's a live orchestra! Unfortch, the user has forbidden embedding, so you'll have to check it out by clicking on the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kigGTacRxh8

Enjoy!