Michel Houellebecq isn't the first author to turn songwriter - but he may be the first to do it well
Surprisingly for a writer whose latest literary works generally seem to cause a media kerfuffle in his native France and beyond, Michel Houellebecq's new single seems to have slipped into the public domain with little fanfare. Lady Gaga he is not.
Yes, you read that right. The bad boy of the literary world has taken to the mic ? and the results are impressive. While many writers and poets have penned lyrics over the years, few have proved themselves worthy singers of their own words. Their performed works often seemed to be an indulgence or hobby, along the lines of Stephen King's Rock Bottom Remainders - or a mid-life crisis.
Yet Houellebecq's new single, Le Film Du Dimanche ('The Sunday Night Film') more than holds its own in the pop/ballad milieu, regardless of its creator's day job. With its keenly-arranged ukulele, cello and maudlin accordions, it helps that the song sounds so utterly French that all the stereotypically monochrome cinematic images of Romantic Paris spring to mind. I also hear a hint of Tom Waits in the production too. Houellebecq's laconic yet heartfelt delivery particularly recalls the music of those enduring French titans of the ballad Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel, the latter a torch singer whose impassioned delivery and heart-breaking lyrics were often pure poetry in a medium (mainstream music) often lacking in meaning or depth.
But what of Houellebecq's lyrics? "France is in good spirits," the song opens, "I am the only one who feels unwell." So far, so Morrissey. It then segues into a verse which, with its shades of 21st-century ennui and post-consumerist fatigue, can only be described as ? sorry ? Houellebecqian: "Consumer confidence indicators / Have all switched to green but I'm just floating on the surface / I'm tired / I want to forget..."
Elsewhere there's some clever wordplay too: "Tu dis que la vie ce n'est pas un vi-rage", he croons, which translates as "You say that life isn't a bend in the road" (or "a change of direction"), with 'vi-rage' doubling a pun on 'virage' ('change of direction'), whilst also sounding like 'vie' ('life') and 'rage'. The puns work best in French, obviously.
Unsurprisingly for a novelist who started out as a poet there's lyricism too: "In the great peace that precedes birth / There may be a new chance / To be like a burned out lake in the morning silence." And of course, sex: "We will make love on the Sunday morning / Time will be short; the light will be wan / And pleasure without suffering / And joy without deliverance."
A directionless protagonist, rage, existence, dysfunction, life, death, the pleasures of the flesh ... yes, The Sunday Night Film is unmistakably from the pen of Michel Houellebecq. This isn't his first foray into music either. Back in 2000 he released an album, Presence Humaine, songs from which can be heard online. More recently Iggy Pop cited Houellebecq's novel The Possibility Of An Island as an influence on his 2009 Pr�liminaires album, something that tickled the writer given his love of The Stooges.
Judging by this new single, Houellebecq's lyrics are certainly more accomplished than 99% of contemporary pop, rock and R&B songs (just check the Top 40 for evidence) and an alternative career as lyricist is surely there should he want it ...
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