‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’: How a 1960s pop song was publicly condemned by the Vatican
While Pope Francis did rather peculiarly choose to release an album of prog rock sermons, the Vatican isn’t exactly known for its strong ties with pop music.
Due to how pop music can often be quite controversial in its subject matter with regards to discussions of pre-marital sex, drug use and general acts of hedonism, it would be surprising to learn that the papacy was au fait with the music of the charts. There’s been plenty of discussion about how Pope Leo is perhaps going to be more liberal in his approach to the position, but it’s still hard to imagine him as, say, a Sabrina Carpenter fan.
But given that the Vatican City is a nation of under a thousand people, with little to no cultural representation other than the Vatican Radio, which broadcasts religious celebrations, news and religious classical music, would there really be any cause to ban a song from the whole country, or at the very least, publicly denounce it as being morally wrong?
‘Je t’aime… moi non plus’ is, of course, known for its controversial nature, made by the undisputed king of lurid sex jams, Serge Gainsbourg. Released in 1969 as a collaboration with his then partner, Jane Birkin, the song was actually written for his previous romantic partner, Brigitte Bardot, and its overt raunchiness was something that shocked people around the world, not just those who were of a religious disposition.
Despite it having sparked outrage through its deliberate provocation, it still managed to reach number one in several countries and is regarded as one of the greatest French-language exports to have been successful in the non-Francophone world. Plenty of reports at the time of its release even alleged that it used recordings of unsimulated sex acts because of the authentic moaning sounds that appear throughout the track, but this was eventually debunked by Gainsbourg himself.
Naturally, a song that was so brazen in its sexual overtones is asking to be banned in places with more conservative attitudes, and while the US limited the amount of airplay it received on radio stations, the UK, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Brazil all banned it from being broadcast entirely.
However, having the Vatican denounce the song was something that very few people could have foreseen, even though it makes complete sense for it to have riled up the entirety of the world’s smallest sovereign microstate.
The official newspaper of the country, L’Osservatore Romano, was the outlet that voiced its disgust with this heinously horny song, with reports even being made that Italian record executives who had approved the song’s release were removed from their positions, excommunicated, and even received prison sentences for promoting such indecent smut.
It’s hardly the sort of reaction that was ever going to stop the song from being a worldwide hit, but despite its success, ‘Je t’aime’ remains a controversial song to this day for its sexual content. However, for Gainsbourg, he saw the decision of the Vatican as nothing but an achievement. He knew exactly what he was doing in releasing a song that was bound to cause offence, and even went as far as to thank the Pope for his inadvertent service as a publicist.
