a nice review of Christian Dior

Maurice E

Junior Member
Below is a highly complementary review of Christian Dior. Helps if you understand french!
Mine isn't great but it discusses how Moz has recently rediscovered his love of all things french. The song, Christian Dior, is described as ‘a truly wonderful thing of elegance and justice/accuracy’ (loose translation). Would be great if someone could translate it properly! :)
Maurice


http://musique.fluctuat.net/blog/8316-morrissey-crooner-haute-couture.html

Accusé longtemps de ne pas aimer la France (aucun concert entre l'enregistrement du live Beethoven Is Deaf et son retour en 2002, peu d'interviews), Morrissey a, ces derniers temps, réservé à notre pays un "traitement de faveur" de plus en plus remarquable : passage impeccable à Rock en Seine, concerts à l'Olympia, à la Mutualité et au Zénith, utilisation d'un portrait de Sacha Distel en accompagnement de sa tournée etc...
En baptisant et dédiant une des faces B de son single "In The Future When All Is Well", "Chistian Dior", il franchit carrément la ligne blanche qui le séparait de la francophilie. "Christian Dior", la chanson, est une vraie merveille d'élégance et de justesse, même si on est pas certain qu'elle soit scrupuleusement authentique en ce qui concerne la biographie du créateur de mode. Le titre s'étire dans une sorte de longue plainte-hommage, où l'ancien chanteur des Smiths impose la figure de Dior dans sa galerie des "beautiful losers". Il compare l'acharnement (vain) du couturier à sauver les vies de la médiocrité et de la laideur par le vêtement et celle du chanteur qui se bat contre l'insuccès et la vulgarité. On y retrouve tout ce qui fait maintenant l'univers du chanteur : criminalité, violence, michetons pasoliniens, auto-dépréciation etc...
En clair, cela donne un texte sublime accompagné par une musique, pour une fois, à la hauteur (merci Boz Boorer) : "Christian Dior / you wasted your life / on grandeur and style / and making the poor rich smile / You could have run wild / on the backstreets of Lyon or Marseille / reckless and legless and stoned / impregnating women / or kissing mad street-boys from Napoli / who couldn't even write their own name."
Un très grand et bon moment de pop music. On notera que le nouveau look italien du Moz n'est pas sans rappeler la coupe croisée du créateur.
 
>Morrissey has recently rediscovered his love of all things French

:confused: Although he takes French stuff as inspirational, but I suspect that he actually dislikes French.
In Rome gig, he tried to say something in Italian accent but couldn't say it and said "Excuse my French"!:eek:

"Christian Dior" sounds like a critique of materialism, rather than compliment to French.
 
I wouldn't consider it as a critique. It's a nice compare of the status Dior gained, like the status of grandeur and style Morrissey now has found in Rome.

And I thought "pardon my French" was an excuse for bad language or something?
 
I'm not a native French (nor English) speaker, so forgive my phrasings, but here's my best shot:

Accused for a long time of not loving France (no concert between the recording of the live Beethoven Was Dead and his return in 2002, a little interviews), Morrissey has, lately, reserved a "favorable treatment" for our country: a perfect passage through Rock en Seine, concerts in the Olympia, the Mutualité and the Zénith, the usage of a picture of Sacha Distel to accompany his tour, etc.
Having named and dedicated one of the B-sides of his single "In The Future When All's Well", "Christian Dior", he has firmly crossed the white line that seperated him from the francophile. "Christian Dior", the song, is a real wonder of elegance and accuracy, even if you're not sure that it's precisely authentic as far as the fashion designer's biography goes. The title strethces in a sort of an elongated lament-tribute, where the Smiths' old singer imposes Dior's figure into his gallery of the "beautiful losers". He compares the fashion designer's (vain) fierceness in saving lives from mediocrity and ugliness by clothing to that of the singer which fights against failure and vulgarity. You can find there everything that currently makes up the singer's world: crime, violence, Pasolinian michetons, self-deprecation, etc.
Clearly, this gives a sublime text accompanied, this time, by beautiful music (thanks to Boz Boorer): "Christian Dior / you wasted your life / on grandeur and style / and making the poor rich smile / You could have run wild / on the backstreets of Lyon or Marseille / reckless and legless and stoned / impregnating women / or kissing mad street-boys from Napoli / who couldn't even write their own name."
A very good and impressive moment of pop music. One will write down that the Moz's new Italian look does call to mind the designer's cross-styling.
 
davdavon, your French is really good!
 
davdavon, your French is really good!

Hey, thanks a lot... I was hoping that I wouldn't make any silly mistakes in that translation... I learned French mainly because I wanted to understand Jacques Brel songs, but it's nice to find other uses for it...
 
Where did you learn it? high school? university?
 
>
In Rome gig, he tried to say something in Italian accent but couldn't say it and said "Excuse my French"!:eek:
As far as I can remember, he was trying to say a few words in Italian, rather unsuccessfully, and finally said: I can't pronounce anything! I'm French.
 
As far as I can remember, he was trying to say a few words in Italian, rather unsuccessfully, and finally said: I can't pronounce anything! I'm French.

Thanks for correcting my mistake. My memory is no longer reliable these days:p
 
Not that I in dislike France, it's a wonderfull country, they're not very good at languages there. my favourite example, "You bicycle?". After I while we found out that he had ment "Do you have many bicycles?". We kept us to french after that.
 
The song is about someone that channels their passion into their art and neglects their personal needs. Don't make me listen to it again, but there's something about feeling passionate about the cut of a sleeve?
It's Morrissey saying that all the time he was celibate (or whatever) he could have been getting it on with wild beautiful people (?) instead of obsessing about record cover designs.
Thanks for letting me clear this up.
 
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