Some of you loved this song! Listen to Joe Dassin’s Et si tu n’existais pas – and some weekend thoughts…

Dear friends, this post was written by me and scheduled to be posted before the breaking developments in Syria on the night of Apr 14, 2018, as a nice and easy weekend post. I am still going ahead an pubbing it. Unfortunately, the Dark State and morons in charge in the US, UK and France won’t let us enjoy it, but I still want to wish you a nice and peaceful weekend, wherever you may be on the planet. 

PEACE

___________

ORIGINAL POST:

I still sometimes listen to this and other of Joe Dassin’s songs. They have a very calming effect, and a sort of eternal philosophical quality. In Russia they’ve been perennial favorites, and to this day everyone knows them.

Et si tu n’existais pas (If you did not exist) – with ENG subs

 

And another one of Joe Dassin classics L’ETE INDIEN (Indian Summer)

 

Joe Dassin and other romantic French and Italian singers were very popular when I lived in the USSR. Wikipedia says Dassin was born in the US. Yet, as we know, this very talented man managed to become one of the classics of the French chanson. I distinctly recall that Dassin’s family was originally from Odessa (and I mean the REAL Odessa – my native Odessa, Russia, of course). His original family name appears to have been modified when his ancestors moved to the US, and then again modified when he moved to France. Very unusual and eventful family history, I’d say, but then why should I be surprised — just look at my own history.

I am in good company. Generally, the super-generous Odessa-mama gave birth or was an early home to many, many very talented people, but few, if any, ever stayed put. Just some you’d know right away: Leonardo di Caprio’s grandmother was from Odessa; world-famous pianist Valentina Lisitsa grew up in Odessa around the same time I did; also from Odessa is an amazing Russian singer Vitas; Some of the figure skating greats, such as Oxana Bayul, are from Odessa; classic Golden Age Russian/Soviet authors Valentin Kataev, Ilf and Petrov, Yury Olesha and many more grew up and wrote in Odessa; one of the most famous Russian/Soviet movie stars Oleg Tabakov’s family was from Odessa; 1950s film star and singer Leonid Utesov was from Odessa. Russian cinematography basically began in Odessa, with Sergey Eisenstein’s classic silent film Battleship Potemkin, and Alexandr Dovzhenko’s films. The visionary founder of the Russian/Soviet Space program Sergey Korolev, who was behind the first Sputnik, First Man and First Woman is Space went to Odessa Politechnic University – just a couple of blocks from where I lived, but before my time.

You can read more in my classic articles from 2013. They were written pre-Kiev-junta disaster, when Odessa was still Odessa.

• Odessa, The Pearl of the Black Sea
• Childhood Memories: Sun, Black Sea, Fun, Odessa…

 

Enjoy and have a nice weekend!