re: #101 Walter L. Newton

You know, that’s not a bad idea at all. Up to this point, I haven’t found the “hook” I want, the thread that motivates me to write about him. He was very controversial in his time, he seemed to make a concerted effort to insult just about every cultural norm he could.

That’s more or less the same with Renaud as well. I would say that Brassens was also pretty anti-establishment, but less abrasive (I just went to look at his bio on Wikipedia and loved this quote: “I’m an anarchist, so much so that I always cross at the zebra crossing to avoid arguing with the police.”). Brel was just an amazing songwriter.

I’ve often thought about translating some of Renaud’s songs as he’s virtually unknown in the English-speaking world, but they are unfortunately more or less untranslatable (and, ironically, the perfect antidote to the notion that the French have no sense of humor).