Aside from the controversy, Serge Gainsbourg was an excellent songwriter working in several different veins. There is the psychedelia of Docteur Jekyll Et Monsieur Hyde, the disco of Love On The Beat (with naked go-go dancers) and the jazz-based songs of his early years. The package includes La Chanson De Prévert and Accordéon, but because of the colloquialisms running throughout his songs, even his biggest hits defy translation.
The stubbly Gainsbourg mocked himself in L’Hommme A Tête De Chou and as a result fans put cauliflours on his grave in Paris. He died in 1991, a worn-out 61 year old. If he had been handsome , he wouldn’t have, couldn’t have, lasted so long.