131. Initials BB by Serge Gainsbourg 1967

There's a Russian Vodka bar under the Prince Of Wales in St. Kilda called Mink. It was here Lisa and I threw the last of our big birthday parties in 1999. We had been there the year before and thought it was a cool place to do it all over again. This was the first time we had repeated ourselves so it was probably a bad omen. Liz and I now had a child Melody so Liz couldn't make it. I was wearing some crappy shoes. Lisa went home before the night even finished.

Yes the crowd was big and many people came down after Echo and The Bunnymen had finished their set upstairs. But it didn't feel the same. Dan and I DJed the night away. I was going through a Serge Francophile stage at the time and I played Gainsbourg's Initials BB. Peirre Baroni came over and said that was the best record you've played all night. And it probably was! The film clip for this record where he just smokes as he delivers the lyrics in his nonchalant way sums up how cool this guy was. 

I got into Serge through Mick Harvey's cover album. Once I heard the real stuff there was no turning back. I started grabbing as much of it as I could. Yeah some of it was rubbish but when he was good , he was real good. It also lead me to the YA Ya girls, those French female pop singers of the sixties. Like all French music you have to pick your way through the debris. Cos when it's bad it's real bad!