{"id":2004561,"date":"2011-02-15T18:12:25","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T17:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/2011\/02\/15\/by-michel-houellebecq-and-jean-claude-vannier\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T10:54:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T08:54:26","slug":"by-michel-houellebecq-and-jean-claude-vannier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/2011\/02\/15\/by-michel-houellebecq-and-jean-claude-vannier\/","title":{"rendered":"By Michel Houellebecq and Jean-Claude Vannier…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tinged with an “almost” tender cynicism, an “almost” desperate sense of humor, the two songs just published by Michel Houellebecq – world-famous novelist and 2010 Goncourt Prize winner – and Jean-Claude Vannier – creator, with Gainsbourg, of the legendary album L’Histoire de Melody Nelson <\/em>– take their disillusioned melancholy from the marital bed to the suburban supermarket. And – above all – they resemble their authors. Terribly so. Interview with Jean-Claude Vannier. \"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When did you first meet? <\/em><\/p>\n

Jean-Claude Vannier: <\/strong>I met Michel Houellebecq in 1999, at a cocktail party at Le Procope (a famous Parisian caf\u00e9 on the Left Bank), where I was receiving the Prix de l’humour noir. He came up to me – he wasn’t that well known at the time – and said, “Every time I listen to a song or a piece of music I like, you’re always in it, in one way or another.” <\/p>\n

And then what happened? <\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier:<\/strong> He said he’d like to get to know me, and sent me his poetry collections, which I really liked. We agreed to meet at the end of July. On the 31st exactly, while I was spending some time in the C\u00e9vennes, the phone rang: he was waiting for me at the village caf\u00e9. We met there, and I gave him two tunes. He wrote the songs Le film du dimanche<\/em> and Novembre.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Why didn’t you compose from his poems?
\n<\/em>
\nJ-C Vannier:<\/strong> Because a song isn’t just poetry set to music, it’s a whole, with lyrics and music designed for each other, to be sung by someone we’ve chosen.<\/p>\n

So why did you choose precisely these two pieces of music for Michel Houellebecq? <\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier: <\/strong>In fact, one piece of music I already had seemed miraculously appropriate, and I wrote the other especially for this occasion, with Michel in mind.<\/p>\n

How did you feel when you read the lyrics to <\/em>Le film du dimanche and <\/em>Novembre?
\n<\/em>
\nJ-C Vannier:<\/strong> That what I sensed was coming true: there’s something in common between this music and these lyrics. I found them full of a sorry humor, like what I try to convey in my music in general, a regret, an amused nostalgia for something that doesn’t exist. I was extremely impressed and pleased when Michel read me his lyrics. <\/p>\n

You get the same disillusioned look, full of cold humor…<\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier: <\/strong>It’s true. When I read his books of poetry, I found we had the same way of looking at life, the same way of looking at the city… I felt I was on familiar ground. It was as if I’d found a fellow traveler. <\/p>\n

Was it difficult to convince Michel Houellebecq to sing?<\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier:<\/strong> In 2000, he had already made a record, Pr\u00e9sence Humaine, produced by Bertrand Burgalat, in which he spoke over rock music. But I preferred him to really sing. He bravely took singing lessons, and we recorded the songs. I really like the way he sings. He sings like an author. He has the charm of certain American artists… <\/p>\n

For example? <\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier: <\/strong>I’m thinking of Cole Porter… In one of his albums, Let’s Misbehave, <\/em> he accompanies himself on the piano. When you listen to him, you hear his own truth. It’s the same for Michel Houellebecq. It’s not a singer’s voice… You hear an author with his words, his soul. It’s really very touching. <\/p>\n

What would you say about your music?<\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier:<\/strong> I can’t talk about it. In fact, it’s impossible to talk about music. It’s such a deep feeling, it goes straight to the heart, it pierces you in spite of yourself. I can’t explain it. <\/p>\n

Why release these songs more than ten years after their creation?<\/em>
\n
\nJ-C Vannier:<\/strong> When Michel and I wrote them, it was for our own pleasure… not for success, nor to become billionaires (laughs)<\/em>. A month after he won the Prix Goncourt, I sent him a congratulatory e-mail. He asked me what had become of our songs. So I sent him the recordings and said, “If you don’t get a horror attack when you listen to them, we can put them on the net.” <\/p>\n

They haven’t aged a day!<\/em><\/p>\n

J-C Vannier: <\/strong>You can hate what I write, you can dislike Michel’s words. But in the end, each of us has our own way, our own style. The problem isn’t being good or bad; the only difficulty is being yourself. In fact, to my mind, that’s the only question that matters: does it resemble him, does it resemble us? <\/span><\/p>\n

You can listen to Jean-Claude Vannier live on France Inter on February 19 at 3:45pm, in a program presented by Valli. In the meantime, you can download <\/em>November and<\/em> the Sunday Film by clicking here :<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/world.idolweb.fr\/alceste-musique\/michel-houellebecq\/le-film-du-dimanche—single\/3700551712717.html<\/p>\n

Interview by Odile Woesland.<\/em><\/p>\n

Single visual by :<\/em> Camille Vannier.<\/em><\/p>\n


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Tinged with an “almost” tender cynicism, an “almost” desperate sense of humor, the two songs just published by Michel Houellebecq – world-famous novelist and 2010 Goncourt Prize winner – and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":490443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30094],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2004561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2004561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.luxsure.fr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}