Being an English-speaking music listener going into French pop music is often a journey without a map but some signal posts along the road. There are essential figures one hears about, and one of those significant artists is Jacques Dutronc. He started off as a guitarist and did many recording sessions by others in the early 1960s. It wasn't until he started to write songs with Jacques Lanzmann, a poet, and a much-older lyricist, that his reputation as a figure in the French entertainment world.
When I hear Dutronc's 60s material, I think of Ray Davies. It's the combination of garage rock but obviously with a great sense of style and wit. Lanzmann's lyrics are satirical in most cases, but having an older man's presence mixed in with a rogue-like personality of Jacques Dutronc is a beautiful juxtaposition between greatness and silliness. Of all the French rock figures, including Serge Gainsbourg and Jacno, Dutronc plays with the almost-tourist mentality of what we think of as a Frenchman. A devil in the form of a handsome man, with a gleam in his eye.
"L'Arsène" is the album's title. In actuality, it is the theme song to the TV series based on the tremendous fictional criminal figure Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice Leblanc. On the back cover of this album, Dutronc is displayed as Lupin. Dutronc often has a smile, which conveys a sense of either sensuality adventure or a criminal's favorite pastime. The music brings a spirit of good times, but I sense that it can turn into darkness. In the 1970s, Dutronc music changes (of course), but it is rich with French music tradition mixed in with the Rock n' Roll of that era. More of a Punk than a lover of Laurel Canyon culture.
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