Fireside Chat

Jane Birkin

Capitol Music, Paris

Jane Birkin is a legendary figure in more than one way. Having first found fame as an actress in Antonioni’s sixties masterpiece ‘Blow Up’, she married composer and arranger John Barry at a very young age. A few years later she was cast for a role in a French movie and met Serge Gainsbourg when she sang the film’s theme which he had written. Here began a love affair that was outlasted by a long and fruitful musical relationship. Finding scandalous fame and notoriety with the erotic pop song ‘Je Taime.. Moi Non Plus’, Birkin also was featured on the heavily sampled classic ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’. Birkin continued to record and sing songs by Serge and later began to collaborate with a new generation of songwriters such as Beth Gibbons, Franz Ferdinand or MC Solaar. We sat by the fire with Jane recently and she told us a few stories – about the swinging 60s in London, the revolution in Paris in 68 and her interesting musical career...