"I'd rather live on my own than live with a face that looks at me with the wrong eyes"- Jane Birkin
they met at hotel esmerelda next to notre dame
What's more romantic than living a character in a Victor Hugo novel, while staying at the footsteps of the timelessly majestic Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris? Esmeralda, the namesake of this hotel, is, of course Victor Hugo's gypsy character in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Right next door to these very affordable, simple accommodations is the famous book shop, Shakespeare & Co. But having Notre Dame and Shakespeare as neighbors isn't the only allure this modest hotel offers. It has also given shelter to famous politicians such as Pierre Trudeau and also celebrities, like Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. In fact, the story goes like this: Serge Gainsbourg was in a bit of a funk when he had been cast for a film. The producer introduced him to the nymph-like Jane Birkin here, at this hotel, and they proceeded to make history together for years to come.
fact check all
they married
together for ten years
after they broke up they stayed in touch. he became godfather to her child with her next lover. and they were friends for the rest of their lives.
he continued to write songs for her, with her as his muse-
"that was what was extraordinary for me- that someone would go on wanting to write for you, whereas you had gone of with somebody else. And that person needed you for, maybe his, very feminine side... I think that's what he gave me... He... needed a sentimental side, and a broken side...
when he passed away they remained by his body for 3 days, and she placed her childhood stuffed animal in the coffin
her partner at the time eventually left, saying something like he couldn't compete with her grief
song written for her as muse-
his performance of it, x years before he passed away
she decided to do a tribute concert and performed it, note her teary eyes at end
Sources-
feature image: Umberto Prizzi, Italy, 1976
Fichier:Gainsbourg-Birkin-Italie-1976.png — Wikipédia (wikipedia.org)
Billboard Soul Sisters podcast, Mar 7, 2018
Jane Birkin on Soul Sisters Podcast I Billboard - YouTube
Today she has released the second volume of her memoirs, covering life after Gainsbourg. In this weighty 432-page book called Post-scriptum, Birkin reveals that she never completely got over him. When they split in 1980, she writes that he told her: “You are on your way down, I am on my way up.” But when he died aged 62 in May 1991 of a heart attack, “my world was left in chaos, silence and darkness. Serge is dead. Impossible... everything seems fuzzy but with the precision of a nightmare.” Four days later, Birkin’s father died; in less than a week she had lost the two most important men in her life, two men who, she says, had loved her “unconditionally”.
Kim Willsher