A second visit to the city of light for some songs performed by people from outside France.
“Free Man in Paris” is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. It appeared on her 1974 album Court and Spark, as well as her 1980 live album Shadows and Light. It is ranked No. 470 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is about music agent/promoter David Geffen, a close friend of Mitchell in the early 1970s, and describes Geffen during a trip the two made to Paris with Robbie and Dominique Robertson. While Geffen is never mentioned by name, Mitchell describes how he works hard creating hits and launching careers but can find some peace while vacationing in Paris. Mitchell sings “I was a free man in Paris. I felt unfettered and alive. Nobody calling me up for favours. No one’s future to decide.”
“Paris” is the second offering off of Little Dragon’s upcoming fourth album, ‘Nabula Rubberband’. Swedish electro-pop band Little Dragon has created a comfortable position within their three-dimensional synthetic world. Airy synths sit atop a uniform beat, but the featherweight tones gently get pulled back to Earth by the gravity of the song’s melancholy as singer Yukimi Nagano somberly proclaims: “Spirit divide/ Drift alone”. The ticking hi-hats and bass beat maintain a headstrong momentum, though, never letting Nagano’s post-breakup thoughts anchor her down. Instead, more layers rush in and lift off as her voice echoes into the ether when she finally admits: “A part of me drift away with away with you and will never return.”
Paris Is Burning is a song by American singer-songwriter and producer St. Vincent. This track appears on her debut album Marry Me, released in July 2007 and it is the fifth track on the album. Vincent paints a picture about a a reclusive American soldier in Paris, which by the end of WWII. was lying in ruins.
“Paris Is Burning” is a song by New Zealand singer Ladyhawke, released in June 2008 as the second single from her debut studio album. It was written by Ladyhawke, Roy Kerr and Anu Pillai and produced by the latter two under the name Kid Gloves. The single is Ladyhawke’s first to receive a physical release. Paris Is Burning” debuted at number 61 in the UK, dropping 39 places to number 100 the following week. It entered the New Zealand Singles Chart at number 40, making it Ladyhawke’s highest-charting song.
“Bonjour Paris” is a song from ‘Funny Face‘ a 1957 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and written by Leonard Gershe, containing assorted songs by George and Ira Gershwin. The film stars Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn and Kay Thompson. Hepburn sings the songs herself in this, her first musical. She performs one solo, “How Long Has This Been Going On?”; a duet with Astaire, “S’ Wonderful”; a duet with Kay Thompson called “On How to Be Lovely”; and takes part in an ensemble performance of “Bonjour, Paris!”.
“Let’s Tango in Paris” is a song by the Stranglers who are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK Top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene. The song is taken from ‘Feline’ their seventh studio album which was released in January 1983 on the Epic record label, their first for the label.Let’s Tango in Paris is a song from the 1970s that speaks exactly about what its title predicts: having a good time and tangoing in Paris.
