ABSTRACT
Georges Brassens was one of the foremost auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes, singer-songwriters who in the post-war period helped create ‘what is now widely regarded in France as the golden era of la chanson française’ (Tinker, 2005, p. 22). Brassens, along with Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré, can be viewed as forming ‘a national signifier, a benchmark not only of their aesthetic excellence but also of authenticity and truth, against which other French artists must be measured’ ( Looseley, 2003a , p. 68). By the time of Brassens’s death in 1981, he had become a French ‘cultural hero, a symbol of the typical Frenchman … universally admired and respected’ (Hawkins, 2000, p. 124). His influence has stretched from fellow auteurs-compositeurs-interprètes to songwriter Maxime Le Forestier, so-called ‘world music’ (the group Brassens en Afrique), and even techno music (the compilation CD Brassens chante encore!).
