Les sucettes

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“Les sucettes”
Single by France Gall
Released	1966
Writer(s)	Serge Gainsbourg

"Les sucettes" song (from French "lollipops") is one of France Gall's most important hits along with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son", both written by Serge Gainsbourg. The 1966 single proved a great success and became a classic in French pop music. The song established a new trend for erotic double entendres in pop music.

"Les sucettes" was, on the surface, a pleasant children's song. But, unknown to Gall, the lyrics were filled with strong sexual innuendo and sexually humorous puns.^[1] According to Gall, she performed the song as a simple children's song about a girl who loves aniseed-flavored lollipops, completely unaware of the erotic subtext of the lyrics--a humorous double entendre about oral sex.

The 18-year-old Gall was upset upon learning this--"mortified, hiding herself away for weeks, refusing to face anyone".^[2] Gall said that she had sung Gainsbourg's songs "with an innocence of which I'm proud. I was pained to then learn that he had turned the situation to his advantage, mocking me."^[3]

Gall's discovery of this second, sexual meaning led to the breakup of their successful partnership^[4] and caused Gall, throughout her later life, to turn her back on the Gainsbourg period and most of the songs he wrote for her.

However, much of the humor lay in the fact that the song was sung, unknowingly, by a young innocent girl and Gainsbourg took a different view: "It's the most daring song of the century," he claimed in an interview in the magazine Rock and Folk.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ France Gall biography at RFI Musique, accessed 25 June 2007
2. ^ ^{a b} Sylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes, ISBN 978-0306811838, page 44
3. ^ Gilles Verlant, Gainsbourg, quoted in Sylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes, ISBN 978-0306811838, page 44
4. ^ FranceGall.com (unofficial website), biography page, accessed 26 June 2007