ABSTRACT
Chanson is a tradition which goes back to the Middle Ages, and probably beyond. Chanson has always been a kind of barometer of popular taste, a reflection of a period, and this is as true as it ever was. The relation of chanson to high culture is similar to that of journalism to literature: serious art is what it aspires to, but only occasionally what it achieves. Yet in France, Britain's nearest European neighbour, chanson is part of the texture of everyday life, a form of popular culture which is part of the national identity, as in the well-known proverbial phrase 'Tout finit par des chansons'. In most instances a chanson is the product of the collaboration of a team of people, not of an individual. Closer are its links with poetry, and there is a lot of interaction between chanson and its more prestigious literary cousin.
