A couple of videos.

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Stiring-Wendel - 25 juli 2009

 

 

 

 

 

Mademoiselle chante le blues - Dance part

 

 

 

Le jour se lève - Kabaret Tour - Live in Nizhny Novgorod - Russia - 26 Nov.2008

 

 

 

Here is the description of each song by Patrica:

 

Addicte aux Heroines
“This song was really written for this album.
We have chosen it to set the atmosphere for this album right from the start. It tells the story of women who are both fatal as well as arrogant. Because in the thirties arrogance was a way to get respect and also to show their strength.
If this song had been placed in the middle of the album, we wouldn’t listen to it in the same way.
It is the color which dictates the rest…
I spoke with Tanguy Dairane, the author. But I gave him all the space for his poetry, for his share in the fantasy. The words should be rough and daring, like the period in that time also was.
We tried to restore the language of that time.
It also was fun, because Tanguy gave me a list with words that were used then. And among them were words that I didn’t know. But if we see what Anais Nin wrote! For me it wasn’t even possible to speak like she did 20 years ago… And the level of interpretation, it was a new exercise for me, like when you learn how to talk.”

 

La chance jamais ne dure
“This is the first song that I choose.
It was created by Hildegard Knef, a german actress and singer. Less legendary than Marlene Dietrich, but also known at this moment. Her face was a bit angular, a bit masculine, a bit like Barbara….
"La chance jamais ne dure" is an adaptation and we couldn’t go too far away from the original. This interpretation has a cheerful side. When you meet somebody for the first time there is always joy and fun. And then after a while the routine sets in and you start asking questions… But I wanted to express this experience with a smile. It is a number from the album that stands out, because it gives the album a direction. I did feel very comfortable with this song, because it has a very strong german identity. If you listen to the original version, you see that the emphasis is on the right expression of the cabaret songs.
I was inspired by the pose of the persons in the old movies, in which the singer posed with her hand on her hip…”

 

Le jour se lève
“It is a song that I always love to sing.
It was created in 1971 by Esther Galil. In the beginning it was more a gospel song that had nothing to do with the album. I gave it a bit of a “lounge” feeling. There are people that rediscover the song and there are others that don’t know the song. In the beginning I didn’t know that François Bernheim, who also wrote “Mon mec à moi” and “La nuit est mauve” for me, did write this song. When I accidentally told him, that I was going to do a cover from “Le jour se lève” he told me he was the author. I couldn’t have known that, because at the moment he wrote it, it was under another name. And now it has been released under his own name!”

 

Une dernière fois
“I never heard my father and mother say:”I love you”.
Even my brothers and sisters didn’t say that to each other. Recently, during my sabbatical year, one of my brothers came to live with me for a while. We never had lived together like that and shared everything. When he left, he hugged me and told me:” I love you”. It gave me a huge shock, an intense emotion. And still the words are not difficult. But it is something so important. And when a man for the first time says:”I love you”, it does scare me more than anything else. So it wasn’t necessary the life I lived; it wasn’t the East where I came from, that blocked me.
At the stage I can express it more easily, but I never would say it like that to my public. I prefer to express it through a gesture, by the attention I give them. It is just how I am…
Claude Lelouch said, that I often have a certain sadness in my eyes, but when I smile, my smile is much more important…
But if somebody looks at you, eye to eye, and says: “I love you”, it has really have to come from inside. And still I have great difficulties with it! I can show it in several ways, but saying it, is not that obvious. I think I say it by singing. For me singing is an act of love…
It was the first time that I was busy writing a complete song. A long time ago I wrote a couple of sentences on paper and I got the picture of birthday candles that were lit and somebody who was blowing them out. I talked about it with Tanguy, the author and together we have completed the text…
When I sing this song on the stage, I am in my own bubble, because it it is very personal song.
But I never felt sorrow with this interpretation. Only just melancholy.”

 

Kabaret
This is also an adaptation.
The original is “Bensonhurst Blues” from Oscar Benton. When they suggested it to me, I thought it would fit well in the cabaret atmosphere. We also had to take care of the fact that it would be translated in French in the correct way, because that wasn’t easy. That is why we hired 2 authors, who knew me well: Tanguy Dairaine and Brifo.
This was one of the first songs that we recorded. But we weren’t easily pleased with it. We recorded it like 3 or 4 times. And when we had done the last attempt, I was sure that it would never be on the album. But maybe this is a form of denial, which meant that I had sung it without thinking of the interpretation and that is why it has a certain distance; it gives the song its charm…
The public loves the rhythm. It is a great moment in the concert.”

 

Faites entrer les clowns
“Another adaptation.
The word “clowns” always reminds me of my father. I did start writing a text and maybe one day I will record it and in that text a clown talks with my father. This text ends with: “But don’t worry, I love you daddy”. What touches me is the duality between the artist that lets you laugh and the sad clown. And the melody is so beautiful.”

 

Falling in love again
“I couldn’t make an album that is a tribute to the thirties without Marlène Dietrich’s “Falling in love again.” Marlène is a woman with a character; she is the Blue Angel; “I am made for love from my head to my toe”, but there is always something that complicates everything.
And there is also this mix of English and French. Lili Marlène is one of the first songs I ever sang.
It is somebody that I always followed a bit. With my pale color of my skin and my deep voice they start to compare me with her. I even did some tests for a remake of the Blue Angel, which Stanley Donen wanted to make…
I really wanted to do this song with its words that say:”These men around me are like moths”…
This is the femme fatale in all her glory. The woman that can get every man, but that isn’t what interests her. She wants his heart. And if the man falls in love, then that is the end…
The idea behind this song was to record it like a virtual duet with Marlène. That has been done before. Unfortunately her grandson didn’t give us permission to do so.
So I do the duet with myself, but we keep the sound of the radio of that time, the German Grammophon. I loved doing this virtual duet with Marlène. It was really interesting to do and we did record it, but it is a pity, that we can’t use it. Maybe one day her grandson changes his mind…”

 

Pigalle
“If you look at the complete album, then this is a special title.
We realized that in the 1930 there also was jazz in Saint-Germain, gipsy music, tango in Buenos Aires… We wanted to restore these 3 streamlets in “Pigalle”. We got in contact with Caravan Palace, a group of 7 men, that make gipsy music and we wanted to make them a song for this album. They also made a new arrangement for the songs “Solo” and “La chance jamais ne dure”. They wanted to make a new song for me. But most of their music is instrumental.. And when I got their music, I thought it was beautiful, but there was no room for a song in it.
But I knew they made something really special and that it would give something extra on the stage, because of the rhythm.
They thought I could sing like a jazz singer, but that isn’t what I love doing. It was as if they were asking me to sing a rap! I can’t do that. So I decided to go into the studio and try out a lot of things. They recorded my voice and mixed it with other sounds. It was fun to do. This title is a bit of a relaxation on the entire album."

 

Solo
“This is always a special moment on the stage.
There is a bridge with unequal pads on the stage. I turn around that and dance…Vocally this is not an obvious song. She is fishing a bit… It is a song about desire, the desire that says:” We know that we feel good when we are together, but if we live together it is a mess”.
I often seek to be alone. In this branch there are always a lot of people around you and sometimes it is good to be alone. When you are on the stage performing for the public, that want all your attention and then minutes later, you are walking outside with your dog, the contrast is very big. That is crazy!
When you have somebody in your life, the contrast is less big, because you know that you will see him or talk with him on the telephone…”

 

Je t’aime encore
“It is a beautiful and sad song!
It is about not having lived enough and about somebody who left too soon. It is the story of a couple, a love story, where love is stronger than the death. But I prefer life.
I love the chorus:” And I still love you…I don’t sing this on stage, because I already have songs like “Entrer dans la lumiere” and “Je voudrais la connaitre” and those are in the same category as “Je t’ aime encore.”

 

Et s’ il fallait le faire
“In the intro you hear the voice of Fréhel.
It is one of the first songs I got at the beginning of the Kabaret adventure.
I accepted it without knowing in which direction I would go. At first it was more like a pop song, almost Italian and on the demo I heard Fred Blondin, the composer, who has a voice like Johnny(Halliday). Immediately, without knowing how it would be, I knew that I wanted to sing it with a standing mic. I saw before my eyes how it should be on the stage.
There is a mixture of strength and vulnerability in this song. It reminds me of “Il me dit que je suis belle”…
It is beautiful! But at the end she thinks:” Poor me. I believed everything”. This is not a positive song. I know that, whatever happens, I will never die of love!
If I hear this song on the radio, sung by somebody else, I tell myself:” What a beautiful song!”.
And I am very happy that this song was chosen for France for the Eurovision Song contest.”

 

Here you can find the words of this song in english and other languages.

 

Mon piano rouge
“Ah my red piano!
This song is more spoken than sung. In terms of interpretation and words, this is a sensual song. Strangely enough, more than “Solo” is. I make love with the piano. It was the song that I was the most afraid of to sing. So to give myself a pep-talk, I ordered a wodka-orange and took a swig of it! I didn’t want to ask myself too many questions…
I already knew this melody when I participated in the TV broadcast of the ELA club. I danced at the music in the company of the girls of the Crazy Horse…”

 

1990-1992 - Tour Carnets de Scène
1993-1994 - Tour de Charme
1998-1999 - Tour Rendez-vous
1999-2000 - Tour Tous ce sera nous
2002-2003 - Tour Piano Bar
2004-2005 - Tour Sexe Fort
2008-2009 - Tour Kabaret