'Thank You Satan' For Leo Ferre :)

Leo Ferre
 Brilliant thinker, songwriter & anarchist Leo Ferre   (1916 -1993) was born in Monaco, between France and Italy.   

He was most popular revolutionary person In Europe, he completed his college studies in 1934 in Rome.  Little  Ferre early interest in music & singing in a choir where he learned music theory &  harmony. His uncle, violinist Casino Monaco, introduced him to Beethoven. But his father refused to let him go to the music conservatory,  after leo  went to Paris for studies in law, "Diploma In Political Sciences", After graduating   He worked a freelance music critic for the newspaper "Le Petit Nice".   ... The second World War dragged him into the military and upon Paris' capitulation he fled back to Monaco. In 1943 Leo began to work at Radio Monte-Carlo.  Despite little known in English speaking countries, Leo Ferre is a monument of French chanson, revered throughout the francophone world. A singer, songwriter, author, composer, and even orchestra conductor, he is mostly remembered for timeless songs like; "La Solitude",  "Avec le Temps,"  " Lovers of Paris " &  "Les Anarchistes.  

His  best popularity peak happened in the ‘60s and early ‘70s, as the France & Europe  revolutionary generation of May ‘68 adopted him as an anarchist figure.  After secound world war &  the Liberation (1945) Ferre gave his first performances in Parisian cabarets, encouraged by Charles Trenet, Edith Piaf, and Juliette Greco who would sing many of his songs.  He moved to Paris in 1946 where he leads a difficult life financially. He attended the libertarian movement and supports the Anarchist Federation, the Libertarian Theatre, the Libertarian Radio and the libertarian world. 

 Ferre's second wife Madeleine Rabereau have a decisive influence on his career, pushing him constantly forward.  In 1953, Ferre was signed by the record label Odeon and recorded his first LP which includes "Paris - Canaille." In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s he recorded a series of albums devoted to French poets, interspersed with LPs of his own songs. His lyrics alternate between love topics and a social commentary that grows more and more bitter: "Thank You Satan," "Mon General"  etc...etc.. etc... When the events of May ‘68 take place, Ferre is at a popular and artistic peak, He associated to the Anarchist movement, he let himself be transported by the younger generation. He abandoned the over- emphatic, theatrical style of singing that was also Jacques Brel's trademark, recorded and toured with the rock group Zoo, and included monologues in his concerts. In October 1970 came out the single "Avec le Temps." It became his signature song. Starting in 1975, Ferre  recorded works by Beethoven & Ravel.  For the next decade he continued to release albums and tour, but his prime had passed.   Ferre considered one of the greatest poets & human of the twentieth century, it occupies a central place in the French song with lyrics that combines romantic, love  lyricism,  freedom &  anarchy...

Leo Ferre died in 1993.  And if the world cruel, mindless society, people's majority, today  is God's followers, (Just I don't believe it, because i think today in the world Satan's name is god)  then 'Thank You Satan' for brilliant, unique person Leo Ferre... 
 I love Leo's ' La Solitude', " Thank you satan", 'Les Anarchistes', La méloncolie'  and also his open mind & kind heart.  Again  "Thank You Satan" For Leo Ferre  
  
K. Shiuka 

La Solitude Leo Ferre

 'Summer Midnight"
Artwork, by khatia Shiuka