Serge Gainsbourg - Lemon Incest

Astrid brought this song to my attention while we still worked at the dungeon. She knew i would enjoy the unsubtle incest theme. Plus she knew i'm a Leonard Cohen fan, and Serge Gainsbourg has been referred to as the "Leonard Cohen of France".

The song is a duet between Serge and his real-life daughter, Charlotte. It's in French, but the vid is hot, in a pretentious, artsy, French, 80's sort of way. i took some time to translate the lyrics. Give it a listen...:)

(Charlotte sings....)

Inceste de citron...Lemon incest

I love you, love you

Love you more than anything

Papa, Papa

(Serge sings)

Naïve like a Nierdoi Saurou* painting

Your kisses are so sweet

Inceste de citron...Lemon incest
I love you, love you
Love you more than anything
Papa, Papa

The love that we'll never make together

Is the most beautiful, rare, the most troubling

The purest, most intoxicating

Exquisite outline

Delicious child

My flesh and blood

Oh my baby, my soul

Inceste de citron...Lemon incest

I love you, love you

Love you more than anything

Papa, Papa

...Repeat...

*The "Nierdoi Saurou" painting alluded to is believed to be an example of Gainsbourg's frequent puns, referring to the painter "Douanier" Henri Rousseau, who is a prominent "niave", or in the U.S. "primitive", painter. Serge is saying Charlotte is as "untaught" as an unschooled artist, at the same time he's implying she has "natural talent". Get it? Fucking hot...



Serge is known for having a biting sense of humor, a love for plays on words, and a penchant for giving "the powers that be" the finger. If your a regular viewer of VH1, then you may have seen a clip of him saying on a French talk show, of which Whitney Houston was also a guest, that he'd "like to fuck" Ms. Houston...to her embarrassed glee. If i'd been her i woulda jumped all over that offer...

Anyway, about the song. Yes, the subject of incestuous contact is the pervasive theme. And, yes, the duet is real life father and daughter. However, it states, explicitly, that they won't be doing anything about the physical attraction they have for each other, at the same time they acknowledge that it exists parallel to the more acceptable parent/child love they also share.

i can't help but admire the affection Serge has for Charlotte, and the songs he's written to illuminate the complicated feelings a Daddy feels for His little girl.