Colin Randall writes: not to be confused with variété française, an entertaining but often corny French musical form, chanson française is a generic term for a vast body of songs of rich lyrical power and impassioned delivery. Think Piaf, Gainsbourg, Brel (Belgian but francophone), Ferré, Hardy, Brassens and many more, a list to which may now be added a young singer-songwriter from Teesside, Amelia Coburn.
Amelia Coburn is a natural linguist – a helpful asset when you come from Middlesbrough – and has applied her command of one of three degree languages, French, to a beautiful piece from her album Between The Moon and the Milkman .
Le Fabuleux Destin de Sandra is an utterly charming song, exquisitely performed. My French wife detected only the slightest of accents.
Its inspiration was an older woman Coburn befriended when they shared a home in Paris. She was the widow of a seemingly nasty piece of work, an abusive alcoholic. Sandra – not her real name – took commendably wicked delight in having him cremated in defiance of his dying wish to be buried.
As she relates in an article for The Arts Desk , the song came to her a few months later, when the Spanish part of her studies (the third language was Russian) took her to Mexico.
"I had quite a prolific songwriting phase," she writes. "Laura Marling talks about 'breathing in' and 'breathing out' phases of creativity – Paris was the inhale, Mexico the exhale.
“'Sandra' came out in a single breath, a cough, a sneeze. I should add that her name isn’t really Sandra. It started as a placeholder while writing, but I ended up keeping it because it felt like an unglamorous, unexpected song title, which made me want to use it even more."
Coburn has never told her friend she inspired the song. "I’m pretty sure she’d absolutely love having it immortalised in the form of a song [but] wouldn’t want to assume that. She loves my music and proudly displays all my CDs on her mantelpiece, so she’s definitely heard the song, but I imagine she’s blissfully unaware it’s about her."
I naturally wonder whether the blissful ignorance remains intact. But it is a superb piece of work, helped along the way by the French singer Flossie Maliavialle, who has lived and worked in the North East so knows all about its dialects. Coburn is right to be proud of it and "Sandra", once aware, should be touched. It's my Song of the Day.
More on Amelia:
** Music from North Eastern England. Season two: (2) Amelia Coburn, Richard Grainger, the Wilsons and Pete Davies's tribute to Vin Garbutt
*** A Salut! Live Christmas message, enriched by Amelia Coburn's Perfect Storm
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