We are not a muse
The complete works (so far), includes 15 albums, live shows, TV performances, 40 recovered orphans. By David Hutcheon.
Jane Birkin ★★★★ Jane Birkin WRASSE/UNIVERSAL. CD/DL
THERE’S SOMETHING very English about the modesty with which Birkin reviews her career: begun when she walked into the wrong theatre audition yet got a job because she was light enough for the actor Dennis Waterman to lift. While she would be frequently cast thereafter as a mere muse, this 18-CD box underlines how she took control, reinventing herself until, today, Serge Gainsbourg belongs to Jane Birkin, and not the other way round.
Her 1960s output fits on the first disc, ‘Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg’ (opening with Je T’Aime … Moi Non Plus), plus four tracks from Gainsbourg’s L’Histoire De Melody Nelson on which she appears, soundtrack contributions and rarities, everything written by Gainsbourg, with help from Jean-Claude Vannier and Michel Colombier. If that’s all you know about Jane – or, indeed, her partner – what follows will be an education.
The five LPs released in the 1970s and 1980s are Gainsbourg albums in all but voice, the success he had achieved in the 1960s with France Gall now replicated with Birkin. Just Me And You (on Lolita Go Home, released in 1975) captures their eternal entwinement: “Fuck the rest of the world,” Birkin sings, “it would be just you and me, and to hell with ever yone.” Though the couple split in 1980, Baby Alone In Babylone went gold in 1983 and their working relationship endured, with Gainsbourg writing 1990’s Amours De Feintes, released shortly before he died.
Booked to play London, a dismayed Birkin discovered Gainsbourg was famous here simply as writer of “un seule dirty song” (NB: the accompanying book is in French). Versions Jane (1996) finds her remoulding his legacy: his songs performed à la Birkin: reggae, hard rock, trip-hop. She’d continue her mission on both
Arabesque (2002) and Le Symphonique (2017). Je T’Aime is nowhere to be seen but critics could now no longer claim ignorance of La Javanaise or Requiem Pour Un Con.
Able to pick who she worked with, Birkin chose wisely – Zazie, Françoise Hardy and MC Solaar rub shoulders with Bryan Ferry, Caetano Veloso and Étienne Daho. Marking her 60th birthday fearlessly, on Fictions (2006) she stretched out, interpreting songs by Beth Gibbons, Kate Bush and Rufus Wainwright. Daho returned for the magnificent Oh! Pardon
Tu Dormais (2020), here complemented by an unreleased live set from last year’s acclaimed career-spanning tour.
As a vocalist, Birkin is admittedly no Aretha, but Gainsbourg knew how to put her soul into each line, and she connects ever y time. If this is the last word on her musical career – she may still consider herself primarily an actress – it’s a brilliant sign-off from one who determined for herself that she’d be known for more than just three minutes of gasping.