Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop , he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay , with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg wrote over songs, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] which have been covered more than 1, times by diverse artists.
While controversial in his lifetime, he has become one of France's best-loved public figures. Serge Gainsbourg was born in Paris on 2 April Olga was a singer born in Crimea under the Russian Empire , and Joseph was a classically trained pianist who performed primarily at cabarets and casinos.
Joseph taught Serge and his twin sister Liliane to play the piano. The identifying yellow star that Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg; in later years he was able to transmute this memory into creative inspiration. At the time, Limoges was part of zone libre , an area of France governed by the Vichy regime that was not occupied by Germany, but it became unsafe for Jews after Germany eventually occupied the area in In , Serge was conscripted by the military for twelve months of service in Courbevoie.
He never saw action, spending his time playing dirty songs on guitar, visiting prostitutes, and drinking. Serge later claimed that the military service turned him into an alcoholic.
The school was founded under the auspices of local rabbis to serve the orphaned children of murdered deportees. Here, Gainsbourg heard accounts of Nazi Germany's acts of persecution and genocide, and these stories inspired his songwriting several decades later. Gainsbourg was disillusioned with his school painting gig and instead moved on to working odd jobs playing the piano in bars, usually as a stand-in for his father.
