In 1972 Charles Aznavour stunned France with this realist chanson about a transvestite dancer, his gay life and sad loves.
“I was the first to write a song in France about homosexuality,” he says. “I wanted to write about the specific problems my gay friends faced. I could see things were different for them, that they were marginalized.”
The song’s lyrics describe the life of a gay man, his crossdressing at Paris clubs by night, his close relationship to his mother. “I always wrote about things that others might not have written about. We don’t mind frank language in books, the theatre or cinema, but for some reason still to sing about such things is seen as odd.”
It has since then become a classic, sung in English as "What Makes a Man a Man", by artists such as Liza Minelli and Marc Almond.
“I was the first to write a song in France about homosexuality,” he says. “I wanted to write about the specific problems my gay friends faced. I could see things were different for them, that they were marginalized.”
The song’s lyrics describe the life of a gay man, his crossdressing at Paris clubs by night, his close relationship to his mother. “I always wrote about things that others might not have written about. We don’t mind frank language in books, the theatre or cinema, but for some reason still to sing about such things is seen as odd.”
It has since then become a classic, sung in English as "What Makes a Man a Man", by artists such as Liza Minelli and Marc Almond.
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