SERGE GAINSBOURG: A VIEW FROM THE EXTERIOR

Alan Clayson

Serge Gainsbourg was famous - or infamous - for his 1969 hit Je T'Aime . . . Moi Non Plus, in which he and Jane Birkin simulated the sounds of sex. The song's notoriety overshadowed an often brilliant - and wildly controversial - career as a composer, novelist, director, and actor. A shameless and charming self-promoter, Gainsbourg rose from humble beginnings to become the lover of such icons as Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot. He continued scandalizing polite society until his death in 1991; among his many infamies are a scandalous reggae arrangement of La Marseillaise and songs celebrating masturbation, incest, Nazism, and oral sex.