Alright so Nana Mouskouri and Pierre Lalonde are probably the last names you’d expect to hear when talking about Gainsbourg, but there you go.

I have to say, I’ve only recently discovered Nana Mouskouri’s early Jazz répertoire…what an amazing artist. On this album, she sings Aznavour, Gilbert Bécaud and Eddie Marnay under the direction of Jacques Denjean and it’s divine. Gainsbourg wrote the song “Les yeux pour pleurer” for her. I have no idea how available this is or if it’s been reissued, I just thought I’d share it regardless.

And finally, Pierre Lalonde, a popular crooner type singer who started his career in the late 50′s as a radio announcer in Montreal. He recorded popular French and English hits for the Québec market and even tried his hand at a career in da States by recording an album in English, under the more American name “Peter Martin” (sheesh.)

The album “Jet…Première classe” was an attempt to be taken a bit more seriously (I’m not making this up, it is blatantly written as such in the back cover’s liner notes.). On this album Peter Mar…Pierre Lalonde sings Bécaud, Charles Trenet all under the fine direction of the legendary Georges Tremblayand his orchestra. How the hell a Gainsbourg song (“Quand le soleil est au soleil”) found its way in there is BEYOND me, but it is a nice one!

Pierre Lalonde later established himself as the québécois “Dick Clark” and hosted popular tv music shows for teens in the 60′s like “Jeunesse Oblige”on Radio-Canada.

And I never thought I would say this about a Pierre Lalonde album, but it’s friggin’ good!

Nana Mouskouri – Les yeux pour pleurer
Pierre Lalonde – Le soleil est au soleil