This Halloween, I bet you're thinking, "I wish I had the perfect 19th century French literary-themed playlist to listen to". Well, you're in luck! I've made a playlist of songs that take their lyrics from poems found in Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil) by French poet Charles Baudelaire, first published in 1857.
While this might seem a curious choice, I promise these songs make for a perfectly creepy, atmospheric playlist. The poems of Les Fleurs du mal are haunting, unnerving, visceral, and often downright macabre. Play it for friends you want to both impress and creep out at the same time!
Update: I've now made this into a mix, which you can listen to on Mixcloud:
Fleurs du mal – Spotify playlist
My criteria for the songs was that they had to be the poems (or substantial excerpts of them) set to music, not simply lyrics inspired by Baudelaire. So this a a very narrow focus, yet I found some really diverse and interesting music, and I really like the result.
The playlist spans the 1950s to the 2020s, covering an eclectic range of experimental sounds, classical pieces, synth pop, chanson, and more. I tried to mostly pick songs based on the most macabre and creepy Baudelaire poems. But I also included songs based on poems with lighter themes of love and beauty, if the music sounds eerie, and they thus fit the overall haunting feel here.
This is an idea I've wanted to do for some time, but I've scraped this together very last-minute, so I haven't had a chance to add information about the songs and poems yet, which I'm really keen to do. So please check back later, and you'll find annotatiions that note the specific poems and translations these songs are based on. Update: Details now added to the tracklist below.
There's a Spotify playlist, as well as one for something I'm trying for the first time called Mixider, which lets you add songs from various services like Youtube and Bandcamp. The Mixider version has a few extra songs I couldn't find on Spotify (and may have some that aren't available in your region on Spotify).
Fleurs du mal – Mixider playlist
UPDATED! I've now added annotations to the tracklist indicating which Baudelaire poem each song is based on, with both the French and English titles. Clicking the poem link takes you to its page on the excellent Fleurs du mal website, where you can read the poem in the original French, or a number of English translations.
Tracklist ()
Click 'Hide details' for a simple tracklist.
Songs marked with * appear only on the Mixider version.
- Ruth White - Owls (1969)
Les Hiboux | The Owls
Translated by Ruth White - Yvette Mimieux & Ali Akbar Khan - Episode, Pt. 1 (1968)
- Yvette Mimieux & Ali Akbar Khan - Episode, Pt. 2 (1968)
Causerie | Conversation
Translation by Edna St. Vincent Millay. This translation, from 1936, is in the link above.
On the original release, these are a single track. - Uta - Baudelaire (1969)*
Recueillement | Meditation - Mylène Farmer - L'Horloge (1988)
L'Horloge | The Clock - Logic System - Unit (1981)
Les Métamorphoses du vampire | The Vampire's Metamorphoses - POETRONIKA - La Muse Malade (2019)
La Muse Malade | The Sick Muse - Frànçois Atlas feat. Barbara Carlotti - Rêve parisien (2018)
Rêve parisien | Parisian Dream - Susanna - The Ghost (2023)
Le Revenant | The Ghost
Translation by Anthony Mortimer - Claude Debussy - Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire, L. 64: No. 3, Le jet d'eau
Le Jet d'eau | The Fountain
Composed in 1889. Performers - Spotify/Mixider version: Raquel Camarinha & Yoan Héreau (2023). Mixcloud version: Véronique Dietschy & Philippe Cassard (1993). - Marc Almond - Remorse of the Dead (1993)
Remords posthume | Posthumous Remorse
Translated by Paul Buck for the album. This is a cover of Léo Ferré – he is credited here as a songwriter, and this has the same melody as his interpretation of the poem. - Léo Ferré - Les Métamorphoses du vampire (1957)
Les Métamorphoses du vampire | The Vampire's Metamorphoses - Fear Condition - Vampire (1986)*
Le Revenant | The Ghost
Curiously, despite the title 'Vampire', this appears to be a version of Le Revenant (The Ghost), not one of Baudelaire's vampire-themed poems. My only lead is a blurry image of the lyrics on Discogs, and the words are a close match to translations of Le Revenant. Not all of the lyrics entirely make sense in English (even taking artistic license into account), so I'd say this is the Greek punk band's own translation, rather than a known, published version. But it captures the spirit well! As Baudelaire is the only credit given for the lyrics here, I do think this is intended to be a direct translation, rather than simply borrowing phrases or inspiration here or there. - Diamanda Galás - L'Heautontimoroumenos (1857) (Self-Tormentor) (1986)
L'Heautontimoroumenos | The Self-Tormentor - Mr Neveux - Reversibilité (2002)
Reversibilité | Reversibility - Etron Fou Leloublan - La musique (1982)
La Musique | Music - Yvette Mimieux & Ali Akbar Khan - A Voyage to Cythera, Pt. 2 (1968)
Un Voyage à Cythère | A Voyage to Cythera - Jean-Louis Murat - La Cloche fêlée (2007)
La Cloche fêlée | The Broken Bell
A cover of Léo Ferré's version. - Moon Far Away - Francisca (2010)
Franciscae meae laudes | In Praise of My Frances - Temple Ov Saturn - Hymn to Beauty (2020)*
Hymne à la Beauté | Hymn to Beauty - Ruth White - The Litanies of Satan (1969)
Les Litanies de Satan | The Litanies of Satan
Translated by Ruth White - Susanna - The Vampire (2020)
Le Vampire | The Vampire
Translated by Anthony Mortimer - Mylène Farmer - Au lecteur (2018)
Au Lecteur | To the Reader - Yvette Mimieux & Ali Akbar Khan - Murdered Woman, Pt. 1 (1968)
- Yvette Mimieux & Ali Akbar Khan - Murdered Woman, Pt. 2 (1968)
Une Martyre | A Martyr
Translation by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
On the original release, these are a single track. - Suzanne Ciani - Flowers Of Evil (1969)
Élévation | Elevation - Ruth White - Spleen (1969)
Spleen (Quand le ciel bas et lourd) | Spleen
Translated by Ruth White - Brégent - Métamorphoses du vampire (1973)*
Les Métamorphoses du vampire | The Vampire's Metamorphoses - Albert Huybrechts & Martial Defontaine - Sépulture d'un poète maudit (2011)
Sépulture | Sepulchre - Léo Ferré - La Cloche fêlée (1976)
La Cloche fêlée | The Broken Bell - Susanna - Alchemy of Suffering (2022)
Alchimie de la douleur | Alchemy of Grief
Translation by Anthony Mortimer - Ruth White - Evening Harmony (1969)
Harmonie du Soir | Evening Harmony
Translated by Ruth White
Sources
- Charles Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal
- The A-Z of Baudelaire – Baudelaire Song Project
- Mise en musique des poèmes de Charles Baudelaire — Wikipédia
- Songs with unexpected French speaking by mjb | Discogs Lists
- Ruth White – Flowers of Evil liner notes (scanned by unknown)
- Ruth White – Flowers Of Evil | Discogs
- Yvette Mimieux & Ustad Ali Akbar Khan – Baudelaire’s Flowers Of Evil (Les Fleurs Du Mal) | Discogs
- Uta - Hier, aujourd'hui, demain / Baudelaire record sleeve
- Mylène Farmer – Ainsi soit je... | Discogs
- Les Fleurs Du Mal – Francois Atlas | Bandcamp
- Baudelaire and Orchestra – Susanna | Bandcamp
- Absinthe (Marc Almond album) | Wikipedia
- Fear Condition – ... 'Till Night Comes Again – Discogs
- Mr Neveux – Damn It! - The Rock Expérience | Discogs
- Etron Fou Leloublan – Les Poumons Gonflés | Discogs
- Jean-Louis Murat – Charles Et Léo Les Fleurs Du Mal | Discogs
- Moon Far Away – Minnesang | Discogs
- Temple Ov Saturn – The Flowers Of Evil | Discogs
- Mylene Farmer – Désobéissance | Discogs
- Suzanne Ciani – Flowers Of Evil | Discogs
- Suzanne Ciani – Flowers Of Evil | Finders Keepers Records
- Brégent – Poussière Des Regrets | Discogs
- Albert Huybrechts et al. – Musique De Chambre II | Discogs
- Baudelaire & Piano – Susanna | Bandcamp
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