Pierre Perret

Pierre Perret (born July 9 1934 in Castelsarrasin), is a French singer and composer. Pierre Perret resides in the city of Nangis.

Biography

He spent a long part of his childhood in the café which his parents owned, where he learned work jargon and slang.At the age of 14 he signed up to the "conservatoire de musique de Toulouse" and to a dramatic arts institute. In the mean time, he set up his first band of 4 musicians in his own name, with whom he played at events throughout the region. In 1957, he was snapped up by Eddie Barclay who signed him on. It was in the studio of Barclay where he met his future wife, Simone Mazaltarim.

In 1958 Perret carried on touring round Parisian cabaret bars and crossed France and Africa as a part of the American group, The Platters. In November that year, a pleurisy forced him to take two years off in a sanatorium.

A master of the subtleties of the French language and French slang (he even rewrote some of Jean de La Fontaine's fables), his songs are often cheeky (for example "Le zizi" ("The willy")) , asking questions in a seemingly naive child's tone, but has written more serious political songs, such as "La bête est revenue", "La petite kurde", "Vert de Colère" ou "Lily".

He participated in the committee for the simplification of the administrative language (COSLA).

Discography

Songs

* 1963: "Le tord boyaux", "La corrida", "Pépé la jactance"
* 1966: "Les jolies colonies de vacances"
* 1967: "Tonton Cristobal", "Marcel", "Mimi la douce", "Blanche"
* 1970: "Fillette le bonheur c'est toujours pour demain"
* 1971: "Dépêche-toi mon amour", "La cage aux oiseaux", "La grande ourse", "Ma femme", "Olga"
* 1974: "À poil", "Le Zizi", "L'infidèle", "Ma p'tite Julia"
* 1976: "Ma nouvelle adresse", "Vaisselle cassée"
* 1977: "Lily", "Au Café du Canal"
* 1979: "Estelle", "L'hôpital", "Mon p'tit loup"
* 1981: "Y'a cinquante gosses dans l'escalier"
* 1986: "Nos amies les bêtes"
* 1989: "Riz pilé"
* 1992: "Bercy Madeleine", "La petite Kurde"
* 1998: "La bête est revenue"

Books

* 1985: "Le petit Perret illustré par l'exemple" (dictionnaire de l’argot)
* 1992: "Laissez chanter le petit" (biographie)
* 1996: "La cuisine de ma femme"
* 2000: "Anthologie de la poésie érotique"
* 2003: "Le parler des métiers" (vocabulaire de 145 professions)

External links

* [http://www.paroles.net/artis/1760 Lyrics for 250 of his songs]