Les Femmes Chante En Anglais

Today we bring you some French folk music from an outfit called Folkdove. Well, to be more accurate, we bring you some English folk music performed by some French people. The album these tracks comes from is apparently very rare in its original vinyl form, but copies to download can be found on a number of sites. I can't now remember which one of them I found it on, but none of them have any more information about the record than is provided by the Radioshow Psyche Van Het Folk site.

The two tracks I have selected are both fairly straight covers of songs previously performed by some of the big beasts of English folk-rock - Steeleye Span in the first instance, Pentangle in the second. I would not claim either of them were better than the "originals", but what makes them stand out from the crowd of copyists for me is the way the words get ever so slightly mangled by the female vocalist. I don't mean that to sound patronising, it is more that there is something about a woman with a French accent singing in English that I find utterly enchanting. I know I am not alone in this. One gentleman of a certain age I know goes dewy-eyed and weak at the knees at the merest hint of Francoise Hardy.

Anyway, here are Folkdove:

"Dark Eyed Sailor"

"Lord Franklin"

And, for gentlemen of a certain age everywhere, here is Francoise. Try not to get too distracted by the appearance at around 1:15 of what appears to be a man fly-posting on the gates of Buckingham Palace. Admire instead the length of the pan shot, which must be pretty advanced for 1965.



I wasn't going to put this second clip up as I thought the sight of Francoise in what appears at first to be checked pajamas might be too much for some of you, but then I decided to risk it. Just make sure you have had a Horlicks first.

The same fly-poster turns up at the beginning of this clip as well. It must have been a recurring motif for the producers of the Piccadilly Show: