ABSTRACT
Both Georges Brassens and Mathieu Ferre can thus be seen to aspire to the state accorded by a literary reputation in the French context, in a similar manner to senior political figures. Only a sophisticated practitioner of French can appreciate the refinements, and it is a fairly restricted group, but not necessarily limited to the upper echelons of French society. The effects achieved here are dependent on a refined awareness of the nuances of the French language and culture, and are inaccessible to the non-initiate. As usual the foregrounding of the French language creates a barrier to a non-francophone listener, and limits the potential appeal of the music to an international audience. It is clear from the discussion that the principal factor in the Frenchness of chanson, which provides the distinctive quality of the genre and places it at a distance from its Anglo-American counterparts, is its emphasis on the deployment of sophisticated lyrics in the French language.
