ABSTRACT
Artistic legitimacy in France was identified with a national literary tradition; so it was natural for singer-songwriters to build their reputation and self-image by identifying themselves with a high-cultural form, namely poetry. Several theories have been advanced to try and explain how French songwriters came to develop the particular trait. In Sounds of the Metropolis, musicologist Derek Scott asserts it dates back to the golden age of Montmartre cabarets and early chansonniers: A chanteur simply sang songs; a chansonnier was a singer-poet, though this did'nt necessarily entail composing the music. Following the importation of rock 'n' roll in France, the rise of yeyes signaled a turning point in the way local popular music had developed since the era of Montmartre cabarets. Just a few months after sociologist Edgar Morin first used this name to refer to French imitators of American rockers, poet Louis Aragon observed, in an interview with Francis Cremieux, "there is, nowadays, a different impression of French chanson.
