For someone who’s listenined to French music—or variété française, if you’d like the proper name—for nearly 15 years, I regret that I didn’t discover Jacques Dutronc earlier. Husband of the ever popular Françoise Hardy, the original yéyé girl from Paris, Dutronc holds a unique position in French popular music—irreverant and off-the-wall. The song that entirely caught me by the surprise was “Les gens sont fous, les temps sont flous” (People are crazy, the times are hazy). Just to confirm that nothing is indeed new, the combination of three-piece suit and freak beats brought to mind Beck circa 1990s, particularly “The New Pollution”. While Beck probably took after Dutronc’s British counterparts, the similarity of styling and performance attitude is interesting…

The original clip from French television in 1966:

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