Keith Flint - The Lollies

Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited is a tribute album to the works of late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. First released on Virgin Records in 2006, it consists of English language cover versions of Gainsbourg songs, performed by a diverse array of contemporary artists. Gainsbourg's former wife, Jane Birkin, sang on one track. The album charted in France (#8), Switzerland (#23) and Belgium (#6 Wa, #29 Vl). By the time of his death in 1991 Serge Gainsbourg was a French national institution, as beloved for his outrageous behaviour in public (often drunk, always in a haze of Gitane smoke) as for his music. Now his continuing influence on les anglo-saxons is marked by a new CD of his songs performed by his admirers - including Franz Ferdinand, Jarvis Cocker and Tricky.

Apparently Keith Flint recorded his version of Serge Gainsbourg - Les Sucettes but it didn't make to the final release. Some years ago MP3 was leaked online but it didn't gain much attention among The Prodigy fans.

Original tracklisting
"A Song for Sorry Angel" - Franz Ferdinand & Jane Birkin
"I Love You (Me Either)" ("Je t'aime... moi non plus") - Cat Power & Karen Elson
"I Just Came to Tell You That I'm Going" ("Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais") - Jarvis Cocker & Kid Loco
"Requiem for Anna" - Portishead
"Requiem for a Jerk" ("Requiem pour un con") - Faultline, Brian Molko & Françoise Hardy
"L'Hôtel" - Michael Stipe
"Au Revoir Emmanuelle" - Tricky
"Lola R. for Ever" - Marianne Faithfull & Sly and Robbie
"Boomerang 2005" - Gonzales, Feist & Dani
"Boy Toy" - Marc Almond and Trash Palace
"The Ballad of Melody Nelson" - Placebo
"Just a Man with a Job" - The Rakes
"I Call It Art" - The Kills
"Those Little Things" - Carla Bruni

American edition bonus tracks

"The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" - James Iha & Kazu Makino
"Angels Fall" - Nina Persson & Nathan Larson

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The Gainsbourg estate's considerable royalties income, and the approval of Gainsbourg-related projects, are in the hands of the artist's four children, the products of the singer's three major relationships: Natacha and Paul Ginsburg, the children of his youthful sweetheart Elisabeth, whom he left at the first hint of show-business success; Charlotte, his daughter with Jane Birkin; and Lulu, the child of his last partner, Bambou. Unfortunately, they don't all see eye to eye, hence the problems with the new CD. "Natacha and Paul don't approve of the constant emphasis of their father's risqué Gainsbarre side," says Jean-Daniel Beauvallet. "They hated the new 'Je T'Aime' - they said Serge would never have approved a lesbian version." The day was eventually saved by scholarship: the discovery of an obscure Japanese cover version from the 70s, by two girl singers, in effect a Japanese lesbian 'Je T'Aime' (triple points) which Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin could affirm, had loved. Bingo.

The Natacha and Paul veto was not lifted, however, from another track. This was a version of "Les Sucettes" (The Lollipops), the song which naughty old Serge famously put in the demure teenage mouth of the debutante France Gall, and which was "revisited" by Keith Flint, of the Prodigy. A great track, apparently, with a wild string section playing the parts of all the instruments. So why was it shelved - the point about "Les Sucettes" was surely its lack of explicitness, the double entendre being in the ear of the listener? "Well, it was the licking noises that Keith put in," says Beauvallet. Flint's lascivious slurping, it appears, tipped the balance of probability too far away from the consumption of confectionery and the Ginsburg thumbs went down. Tant pis.

("Les Sucettes" ("Lollipops") is a French pop song written by Serge Gainsbourg and first recorded by France Gall in 1966. One of Gall's biggest hits, it was an unusually risqué song for its time, though in performing it she was unaware of the fact. Gainsbourg recorded his own version, with a psychedelic arrangement, on the 1969 album Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg.)

Keith Flint - Lollipops (Serge Gainsbourg - Les Sucettes) (Dimitri Tikovoi version)