Quand tu chantes
The plan was to spend the afternoon driving to some small town in the Languedoc region, in Southern France. There was this small winemaker we wanted to check out, in a small town called La Livinière. Champs de Lièvere. Rabbit fields. Little did I know that our little tour would include a detour into music history.
We were met by the owner of Champs de Lièvre, Nicolle Meyer. When we tried one of her fine wines, she told us a little bit about how she got to this remote part of France, and about what she had done earlier in her life. Turns out she was a drummer and singer for a band called Fred Banana Combo. I had heard the name before but I had to admit that I had never heard any of their music.
But then she talked about their recording sessions and how great it was to work with Conny Plank. What? Wait a minute. Conny? Yep. Most of the FBC albums were produced by the legendary man on his farm near Cologne. Needless to say that she had my full attention.
Plank was usually working with several acts in parallel, and many of the artists were living there as well, literally staying with the family. She said that once she met the Eurhythmics there, working on their debut album. And she mentioned how inspiring it was to meet Les Rita Mitsouko.
That was it. For the rest of the day, the car stereo blasted out nothing but Les Rita Mitsouko. Andy. C’est comme ça. Le Petit Train. And of course Marcia Baila. What a song. I rarely love pop music, but this is just totally irresistible. Especially if you know the story behind it. What sounds like a party tune is actually a very sad song, dedicated to Ringer’s long time friend and choreographer, Marcia Moretto who died of cancer when she was just 36 years old.
Et quand tu ris, je ris aussi. A song of love and despair, of loss and the impossibility of comprehending the reality of death.
A good two decades later, Chatherine Ringer’s partner in Les Rita Mitsouko, Fred Chichin, also passed away. Cancer, again, he was just 53 years old. Now she has left us as well. You know what got her. The woman who was the first to sing about cancer. And now that’s what took her life away. If I could hate it even more, I would.
But listen to this album. Listen to her sing. Listen to her slip into an indescribable mix of almost operatic singing and crazy laughing on “Mandolino City” and be amazed at the beautifully controlled unhingedness of her delivery. I remember when I heard that song for the first time. I swear I must have been shaking my head in disbelief.
Even more: “Le Petit Train”. Another example of how Les Rita Mitsouko would let you think their song is innocently happy when it’s really about something bad. In this case even horrible. The song is based on an old French chanson of the early 50s about a train ride through the French countryside. “Le Petit Train” starts the same way – only to take a completely different direction in the middle of the song when the “petit train” turns into the “train de mort”, the train of death, the train that brings Jews to concentration camps.
Ringer’s father Sam survived no less than nine different camps during the war, and Catherine had the idea for the song when she saw kindergarten kids walking in line to form a train and singing that old chanson.
Les Rita Mitsouko certainly didn’t make it particularly easy to enjoy their music. “Marc & Robert” received quite a few scathing reviews. The most evil verdict came from AllMusic, calling it “hopelessly outdated New Wave” – and that was the nicest thing they had to say. I just read it again and somehow I get the feeling that the author has a monstrous dislike of all things not American. It’s a disservice to the platform.
What is worst about that review is that the guy condemns the band’s choice of “washed-up producer Tony Visconti” and thus proving that their first albums had been nothing but flukes – when the last so-called fluke, the globally acclaimed “No Comprendo”, had been produced by exactly the same man. No comprendo, monsieur Jurek.
That doesn’t mean that everything on this album is fabulous. “Tongue Dance” for example. Jesse Johnson had a couple of good years as a solo artist after The Time, and he was in charge of the drums on this rather uninspired song. Let’s just say he should have provided some of his more timeless skills as a guitarist.
“Smog” passes by without really doing much, just like “Perfect Eyes”, making you wonder whether the magic of Les Rita Mitsouko is something that is only possible in French. Somehow the song ideas are either not half as good – or they are only charming en Français.
In an almost paradoxical way, the conclusion can be supported by pointing at the songs Ringer and Chichin recorded together with The Sparks. Especially “Singing In The Shower”. Written by the Mael brothers, the avantgarde pop is hauled over to the US and given a very distinct Sparks touch. Even the massively dry and synthetic drums don’t sound like a bad choice anymore. Big hit back then.
The other collaboration “Hip Kit” turns the concept upside down. Written by Les Rita Mitsouko it’s very much French, very much Ringer et Chichin, and wonderfully Sparks as Russell Mael does his best singing in French. Look at the video and see the four of them becoming lifelong friends.
While you’re at it, see the video for “Le Petit Train” next. Fabulous. An absolute Tim Pope classic. So much happiness and innocence, so much joy, and so much sadness as well, without even remotely getting specific about the horrible side of the story.
The only song that gets me as much as this one (and sometimes even more) is “Mandolino City” with that unbelievable laughing sequence. There is a video on YouTube where they perform this song in front of a kitchen crew in a big hotel, the video all 80s video blurry. I look at this, I listen to this, and I immediately forgive them every mediocre song they ever made.
You can’t be truly great at creative endeavors if you don’t dig deep, if you avoid taking risks, if you don’t want to alienate anyone. Beware of people who don’t understand Les Rita Mitsouko on an emotional level. Love and respect everyone that accepts scorn, ridicule and disrespect to pursue their creative dreams.
Love, respect and gratitude to Catherine, Fred and Marcia.
Release for review: LES RITA MITSOUKO – MARC & ROBERT – VIRGIN – 209 440-630
Get the album on Bandcamp: Click