Carla Bruni, from the forthcoming Little French Songs (Verve); streaming here
If you remember the sixties, you probably weren't there – or so they say.
Carla Bruni, the former French first lady and one-time special friend of Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, would disagree. Her new album includes the single Chez Keith et Anita (At Keith and Anita's Place), a light and lively tune breathily sung and half-rapped in French.
Set in the summer of 1970 (when Bruni would have been just 2), it dreamily imagines the lifestyle of Rolling Stone Keith Richards and his girlfriend at the time, Anita Pallenberg. Horns are involved, as is a breezy Latin rhythm. The bohemian scene involves the rolling of joints, listening to Chopin, and a Marianne – Marianne Faithfull, likely – who possessed the scent of vanilla.
The chorus cites exotic locations and the line "on est là ou l'on peut," or, "one is where one can be."
If Bruni ever lived with Keith and Anita, it was in spirit only. But this visit is real enough.