|
Once upon a time there was a singer named Louis. When he was younger, he was a raccoon in the very pretty "Emilie Jolie" of Philippe Chatel. Since then, the idea has been playing in his head:
To write a musical story for children. But wait, not for small children! For children a little older. And for the big children, for the immense children, for the children bankers, for the child trapezists, for the child moms, for the child grandpas, for all the children. As Louis didn't want to throw himself into this adventure alone, his editor presented Pierre-Dominique to him. Pierre-Dominique doesn't play the guitar very well, so they both agreed: Louis would write the music and Pierre-Dominique would deal with the words.
Normally, in their deal, Louis would also make tea - it was winter 2004 - but he never really kept to his promise. And so the Pink Soldier was born. Little by little. Odds and ends of Pierre-Dominique's texts, odds and ends of Louis' music, a start of a story, a few songs, characters who appear - and disappear sometimes- and in a few months, a whole story and 14 songs. The war story of little Joseph, discovered by the world of adults, who is left sick in a big store to live with toys. A daily ultra universe, at the heart of the consumer society. Some poetic songs, sometimes funny, sometimes melancholies, sometimes profound like the lament of the little stock Made in Asia.
For the singing part, Louis decided to ask the people that he really liked. Not just people he knew, but people he liked. He asked Stéphane Sanseverino first. Everyone was happy. It was the first time that someone on the outside could hear the story, and he
liked it.
We had found our train conductor. As Louis had M's telephone number (don't ask me how), he naturally asked him to take part in the project. He sent him the song of the Fluffy Black Panther and one of the Pink Soldier. At the end of the 6 minutes and 44 seconds, the time it took to listen to the songs, we had our Pink Soldier.
And also right away. It seems too simple, but it really happened like that. Jeanne Cherhal said yes, Benabar said yes, Alain Souchon said yes, Francis Cabrel said yes, Vanessa Paradis said yes, Céline B said yes, Albin de la Simone said yes, Shirley and Dino said yes. Raoul, too. Raoul, the son of a type-setter friend of Louis. It's he who is the little boy of the story.
The summer arrived and let everyone rest because the comeback was going to be charged: the recording! With Patrice Renson and Antoine Dijol, Louis began the pre-production of the songs. Then Mathieu Chedid, Jerome Goldet and Albin of Simone joined them in the studio to do the play-back. If the environment was studious (the word which the spokesman of the government employs while leaving the Council of Ministers), it was easy going nevertheless. Very easy going. Very close to just plain fun. The meetings lasted until very late in the night, each one always having a new idea to add, a new experiment, a new version to be tested.
During October and November 2005, the interpreters came, one by one, to record their song. It was very moving to see each character of the tale come to life little by little, taking the voice and the personality of an artist whom one loves. Reading the narration, between the songs, Louis asked Catherine Jacob. Because they did need only one narrator, a true character was needed, a sturdy character. Catherine wanted to do it. She arrived in the studio, she listened to all the finalized songs and she said “oh, but I'll waste it!”. Of course, she did not waste anything at all. On the contrary. One was again almost in winter, the disc was finished. All the speakers met in a large studio to listen to it. They were content with the result. They found out that it's true that all fairy tales have happy endings.
- Atmospheriques Records |
