The shadow of Bardot: How insecurity led to one of the horniest duets of all time
Emerging in the 1950s as the ultimate French bombshell, a new symbol of sexuality and femininity for a post-war era, Brigitte Bardot defined a generation. Appearing nude in And God Created Woman, she was every bit the style, sex, and cinema icon, soon forging a musical career to add to her success.
Bardot released her first album, Brigitte Bardot Sings, in 1963, which featured writing credits from legendary crooner Serge Gainsbourg. She followed it with BB, although it wouldn’t be long before Bardot and Gainsbourg would reunite. She was married to another man, but that didn’t stop her from agreeing to go on a date with the musician, who was so blown away by her beauty that he completely bombed the date out of his own sheer nervousness.
Unimpressed, Bardot demanded that Gainsbourg write her a love song to prove his adoration, and the resulting track would change music forever. ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’ was recorded in 1967, and featured some breathy, sensual moaning set to sexy strings, almost parodically French. The pair would then go on to release the shared album Bonnie and Clyde, featuring the iconic track of the same name, but ‘Je t’aime…’ would remain in a drawer. Bardot, with a very unhappy husband as a result of the horny duet, forced Gainsbourg to shelve the song, eventually allowing its release in 1986.
In 1968, however, Gainsbourg would meet the English actor Jane Birkin, who was starring opposite him in the movie Slogan. They would fall in love, and he would bring the track back out, asking Birkin if she’d record the steamy number. Birkin didn’t think of herself as much of a singer, and with a frame she perceived as rather boyish, always insecure about her flat chest, she couldn’t help but feel inferior to the buxom bombshell Bardot.
The latter had long surpassed being a mere celebrity and had already gained mythical status at this point, standing as the French answer to Marilyn Monroe, but with her undone look and messy up-do, she had this raw sexual essence that seemed innate. Birkin was jealous because if Gainsbourg had been infatuated with Bardot just a year before, how could he possibly like her, seemingly her complete opposite?
So, desperate to feel wanted, to keep Gainsbourg’s attention on her, she agreed to record what would become the most sexually charged song of all time, and ‘Je t’aime…’ was released in 1969, hitting number one in the UK charts, even if it soon caused widespread controversy for all of its moaning, which many listeners believed to be the real deal.
The song was denounced by the Vatican and banned in many countries, and even the supposedly sexually-liberated French were a little alarmed by the track, refusing to play it before 11 at night. But this iconic duet only came about because Birkin was insecure, and with rumours that Gainsbourg was interested in having other French stars perform the track, she jumped at the chance to do it.
“I only sang it because I didn’t want anybody else to sing it,” she told Redditch and Alcester Advertiser.
“When Serge heard me singing rather brightly in the bath, he said, ‘I’m going to write ‘Jane B’ and then on the other side, perhaps you’d like to sing ‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’, but in an octave higher than the Bardot version so you’ll sound like a little boy’,” she explained. With the release of the track, Birkin ended up becoming a sex symbol herself, as well as a style icon and a successful star of the screen.
She stayed with Gainsbourg for 12 years, and Birkin gave birth to Charlotte Gainsbourg in 1971. Their relationship is widely idolised (in spite of all the bad bits), and with ‘Je t’aime…’, they immortalised the beginning of their passion in song.
