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Jane Birkin
Di Doo Dah
LITA 055
- Birkin’s debut solo album and pinnacle collaboration between Jane, Serge Gainsbourg and Jean Claude Vannier
- First time available in North America
- LP features 180-gram vinyl
- Liner notes include new and insightful interview with Jane Birkin
Description
- Another pinnacle collaboration between Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier
- First time available in North America
- LP features 180-gram vinyl, and bonus 45
- CD release with two bonus tracks
- Liner notes include new and insightful interview with Jane Birkin
Di Doo Dah is the first true solo album from British born actress, model, singer, mother, and French national treasure, Jane Birkin. Emerging as a creative and beatific force in London’s Swinging 60s, she met Parisian provocateur Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 on the film set of Slogan and birthed one of the most fantastic creative collaborations the world has ever known.
“Di Doo Dah” is the first true solo album from British born actress, model, singer, mother, and French national treasure, Jane Birkin. Emerging as a creative and beatific force in London’s Swinging 60s, she met Parisian provocateur Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 on the film set of Slogan and birthed one of the most fantastic creative collaborations the world has ever known. After the 1969 duet album “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” (LITA 048) and the landmark “L’Histoire De Melody Nelson” (LITA 040) Jane was ready for her own namesake debut. “Di Doo Dah” sees Birkin, Gainsbourg, and co-conspirator Jean-Claude Vannier (“L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches”) meld Jane’s fragile vocals with jazz, rock, and lush orchestral textures: a perfect album for living and loving. Light In The Attic’s definitive version of “Di Doo Dah” is available for the first time in North America on 180-gram vinyl, with original artwork, unseen photographs, and extensive liner notes by renowned music journalist Andy Beta (Spin, The FADER). With full cooperation and insight from Birkin herself – not to mention French lyrics and English translations – this reissue truly allows listeners to delve into the album’s witty and frank world of sex, sin, voyeurism, motorcycles, Brighton, and banana boats.
So what exactly does Di Doo Dah mean? “Nothing at all!” replied Birkin in a BBC interview from 1973. But this album is far from a throwaway, showing a maturity and musical understanding from all parties involved. By the early 70s, this lady was already a mother and very much aware of traditional gender roles as well as the sexual revolution – clearly able to plumb the necessary emotional depths required to translate Serge’s madcap lyrics and songs. It is true that in Birkin, Serge had finally found his match and most transcendent muse. And although the couple eventually went their separate ways, they left us all whistling much more than “Zipp-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” in the process.
Viva Di Doo Dah!
Artist Bio
It’s impossible to describe Jane Birkin as just one “thing.” Born in England, she spent the swinging ‘60s in London as a model and actress – appearing in the seminal movie Blow Up. By the end of that fab decade, she was in France recording with Serge Gainsbourg, the scandalous sex romp song “"Je t’aime… moi non plus." She would marry the legendary French pop musician, have a child named Charlotte, and their collaborations would continue for the next decade including her appearance on the cover (as a model) and on the record (as a vocalist) on his 1971 masterwork Histoire de Melody Nelson. In 1973, she appeared as an actress in the movie; Don Juan (Or If Don Juan Were a Woman), playing the part of Brigitte Bardot’s lover!
The movies and recordings have continued on to the present day – and the list of contemporary musicians who added Jane to their recordings is beyond impressive; Feist, Beth Gibbons from Portishead, Franz Ferdinand, Beck, Keren Ann, Johnny Marr from The Smiths, and many others.
In 2001, she was awarded the British Empire’s lifetime achievement OBE award. She has also been awarded the French Ordre National du Mérite.
