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In what is generally known as "chanson francaise", this is, together with Brassens, Brel, or Gérard Manset, one of the best records available.

Dick Annegarn is a French-speaking lyricist and composer of Dutch origin. He started his career in the early seventies and goes on producing albums: his most recent album was released in 1997 (APPROCHE-TOI, which means "get closer").

The double album which I'm reviewing is a selection of his early songs. With tunes like "Mireille", "Bruxelles" or "Sacre geranium", the album includes some of Annegarn's best-known musical feats. It is true that, from the very beginning, Annegarn invented a style, his own style; whenever you put on a song by Annegarn, you can immediately guess that, after the musical intro, his warm and deeply contrasted voice will be heard. The guitar is omnipresent, and it can be said that, as a musician, Annegarn is "Technically Inspired": this expression sums up the almost perfect and fully harmonious blending of virtuosity and soul which he proposes to his audience.

The lyrics are very impressive as well, though they will be lost on people who do not speak or understand French. Here and there, Annegarn uses puns, but, on the whole, the stories he sings are fraught with "the poetry that is there". Thus, Annegarn manages to be metaphysical while indulging in very material concerns:

Près de l'eau / près de l'au-delà / près de l'eau de la fontaine /près de l'eau de la fontaine /// près de l'eau de la fontaine / se trouve un ruissel / que j'aime autant / que les arbres et le vent / qui battent le temps / le temps d'une mesure / et au fur a mesure / que les champs avancent / la faune et la flore / et les métaphores / entrent en transcendance / en transes - formation / en transformation

(excerpt from LA TRANSFORMATION)

J'ai perdu ma tribu / Tous mes frères et mes soeurs / Que sont-ils tous devenus? / Et surtout, pourquoi ne me cherchent-ils pas? / Je trouve ça ingrat, pas sympa. /// Je suis un bébé éléphant égaré / Papadapapalaya / Voulez-vous / s'il vous plaît / me rechercher?

(excerpt from BEBE ELEPHANT)

Let me give you a rough translation for the latter quotation:

I'm lost far away from my tribe / Oh my brothers my sisters / Where oh where are they / The worst is they're not looking for me / I'm forsaken I think it's hard / I'm only a lost baby elephant / Papadapapalaya / Please tell me / Couldn't someone / Look for me?

I suppose this must sound rather weird, but it's only a translation and you don't have the music either. So... buy it! listen to it! You'll find out why French people are so proud of their "chanson francaise", which is a musical genre of wide extent which has no patriotic undertones whatsoever: the proof is that most "French" artists are NOT French (Brel was of Belgian origin, Annegarn is Dutch, etc.).