Georges Brassens

Georges Brassens

Born: October 22, 1921
Died: October 29, 1981
in Sète, Hérault, France
Georges Charles Brassens (22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981) was a French singer-songwriter and poet.

As an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his elegant songs with their harmonically complex music for voice and guitar and articulate, diverse lyrics. He is considered one of France's most accomplished postwar poets. He has also set to music poems by both well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux), Victor Hugo (La Légende de la Nonne, Gastibelza), Paul Verlaine, Jean Richepin, François Villon (La Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis), and Antoine Pol (Les Passantes).

During World War II, he was forced by the Germans to work in a labor camp at a BMW aircraft engine plant in Basdorf near Berlin in Germany (March 1943). Here Brassens met some of his future friends, such as Pierre Onténiente, whom he called Gibraltar because he was "steady as a rock." They would later become close friends.

After being given ten days' sick leave in France, he decided not to return to the labor camp. Brassens took refuge in a small cul-de-sac called "Impasse Florimont," in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, a popular district, where he lived for several years with its owner, Jeanne Planche, a friend of his aunt. Planche lived with her husband Marcel in relative poverty: without gas, running water, or electricity. Brassens remained hidden there until the end of the war five months later, but ended up staying for 22 years. Planche was the inspiration for Brassens's song Jeanne.

He wrote and sang, with his guitar, more than a hundred of his poems. Between 1952 and 1976, he recorded fourteen albums that include several popular French songs such as Les copains d'abord, Chanson pour l'Auvergnat, La mauvaise réputation, and Mourir pour des idées. Most of his texts are tinged with black humour and are often anarchist-minded.

In 1967, he received the Grand Prix de Poésie of the Académie française.

Apart from Paris and Sète, he lived in Crespières (near Paris) and in Lézardrieux (Brittany).

Brassens was born in Sète, a commune in the Hérault department of the Occitanie region, to a French father and an Italian mother from the town of Marsico Nuovo (in the province of Potenza, Basilicata). ...

Source: Article "Georges Brassens" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Georges Brassens...

Fils de Punk
Title: Fils de Punk
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 12, 2024
Type: Movie
By following several groups of musicians, outsiders and artists, director JUDAT is interested in punk movements, outsiders and their words in our society and the advance of the far right in France.
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La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Title: La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 7, 2022
Type: Movie
In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.
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Title: Archives secrètes
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 9, 2021
Type: TV
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Georges Brassens, les meilleures chansons
Title: Georges Brassens, les meilleures chansons
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: July 11, 2021
Type: Movie
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Brassens by Brassens
Title: Brassens by Brassens
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: April 17, 2020
Type: Movie
An intimate portrait of Georges Brassens, giant of French song.
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Boris Vian, un cœur qui battait trop fort
Title: Boris Vian, un cœur qui battait trop fort
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 13, 2020
Type: Movie
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L'affaire Matzneff
Title: L'affaire Matzneff
Character: (archive footage)
Released: January 5, 2020
Type: Movie
About the Gabriel Matzneff affair and pedophilia in French culture and society from the 1950s to the present day. "It was not very difficult to know who Matzneff was at the time." Vanessa Springora denounces thus, in an interview with the Parisian , the support which benefited the writer Gabriel Matzneff , in the years 1970 and 1980. The author fifties then maintains an affair with the young girl, aged 14 years. A relationship under control that the editor tells in Le Consentement (éd. Grasset), published Thursday. "After having analyzed the work " , the Paris public prosecutor's office announced Friday January 3 the opening of an investigation for "rapes committed on the person of a minor of 15 years".
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#Merci Brassens
Title: #Merci Brassens
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 18, 2017
Type: Movie
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Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai
Title: Cavanna, jusqu'à l'ultime seconde j'écrirai
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: June 17, 2015
Type: Movie
The life and career of French novelist and journalist François Cavanna, his leading role in the invention of satirical press in France and foundation of 'Hara Kiri' and 'Charlie hedbo' newspapers.
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Brassens est en nous
Title: Brassens est en nous
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 24, 2011
Type: Movie
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Effedia - Sulla mia cattiva strada
Title: Effedia - Sulla mia cattiva strada
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 29, 2008
Type: Movie
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Georges Brassens : Elle est à toi cette chanson
Title: Georges Brassens : Elle est à toi cette chanson
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: October 19, 2004
Type: Movie
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Title: Champs-Elysées
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 16, 1982
Type: TV
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Émilie Jolie
Title: Émilie Jolie
Character: Le hérisson
Released: December 24, 1980
Type: Movie
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Title: 30 millions d'amis
Character: Self
Released: January 6, 1976
Type: TV
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self - Host
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: Système 2
Character: Self
Released: January 19, 1975
Type: TV
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Title: Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1975
Type: TV
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
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Title: Apostrophes
Character: Self
Released: January 10, 1975
Type: TV
Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.
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Pourquoi t'as les cheveux blancs...
Title: Pourquoi t'as les cheveux blancs...
Character: Georges Brassens
Released: February 15, 1973
Type: Movie
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Title: Midi trente
Character: Self
Released: March 6, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self - Main Guest
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: Cadet Rousselle
Character: Self
Released: November 4, 1971
Type: TV
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Brel, Brassens, Ferré, trois hommes sur la photo
Title: Brel, Brassens, Ferré, trois hommes sur la photo
Released: January 6, 1969
Type: Movie
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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The Gates of Paris
Title: The Gates of Paris
Character: the artist
Released: September 27, 1957
Type: Movie
Juju, a drunken oaf who feels the need of being important to someone---anyone---and his friend The Artist are forced at gunpoint to house a fugitive, Pierre Barbier, in Juju's broken-down home. The urge for being needed is such in Juju that he gives up drinking and takes care of Pierre. But one day Juju finds out that Pierre has been making love to his girl Maria...
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Title: Georges Brassens - Elle est à toi cette chanson 1954 à 1979
Character: Georges Brassens
Released: February 1, 1954
Type: TV