Brassens: A brief life

Born in 1921 in the southern French seaside port of Sete, Brassens was drawn to
Paris in the early years of the war, part of which he spent in a German POW camp.
He was determined to be a poet, and published his first poetry collections in 1942.
Most of his chansons use his own lyrics, but he also set words by some of the
greatest French poets, from Francois Villon to Victor Hugo and Paul Fort. After the
war he began to write for an anarchist review, `Le libertaire’, and some of his early
chansons were banned for many years (including `Le gorille’, which opposed the
death penalty). In 1947 he met the love of his life, the Estonian Joha Heiman,
although the couple never married or lived together. One of his songs is called `La
non-demande en mariage’ (The Un-Proposal of Marriage). He began to play the
Parisian cabarets and music halls in the 1950s, and teamed up with the bassist
Pierre Nicolas. Soon he was recording and touring extensively – in 1954 his album
`Le parapluie’ won a Grand Prix du Disque. From 1959 he began to suffer serious
health problems, but continued to play the music halls including Bobino and
Olympia in Paris. He made his final international tour in 1973, and issued his last
album three years later. He died of cancer near Sete just short of his 60 th
birthday. His poems are now studied in French schools, and his chansons covered
by international artists. Jake Thackray – who was much influenced by Brassens’
witty lyrics - issued a famous version of `The Gorilla’.