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Saturday, December 20, 2008 

Ah, Christmas in Paris! Even for those more cynical than your blogger, it's something quite marvellous here. We strolled down the Champs-Elysées a few nights ago, shivering in the cold but our hearts warmed by all the lights along la plus belle avenue du monde (below right).

Over on the Boulevard Haussmann, the grands magasins (department stores) have their epic Christmas window displays, the best free show in town. As usual we inspected the windows of Galeries Lafayette and yes, our favourite was there: a toy stuffed animal bashing the bejaysus out of a drum kit.

You might have heard about the recent bomb scare at Printemps, the other big department store on the Boulevard Haussmann. Almost bizarrely, the bomb squad found the device - five sticks of dynamite. French police have pulled in Yosemite Sam for questioning.

One huge difference between Christmas in France and in the English-speaking world: the radio stations are not churning out wall-to-wall festive classics. "Ah," says you, "no doubt they play their native Christmassy hits!" Well, no.

Quite simply, there are no French Christmas pop songs. No Yuletide singalong hit by Johnny Hallyday or Serge Gainsbourg, no modern indie Christmas songs by Phoenix or M83. Rien de tout. The reason, we suspect, is that French acts take themselves far, far too seriously.

But this doesn't mean the French aren't open to influences from off foreign. One indie music radio show this week did a feature on English-language Christmas pop songs. Gobsmacked with wonder, they played snippets of obscure festive songs by The Beach Boys and The Ramones. And then, we swear, there was the following exchange between the two presenters:

Guy: Finally, we have a real treat - a Christmas song by... John Lennon!

Girl: No! You mean, with The Beatles or solo?

Guy: Solo. It's called 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'. In England they play this all the time at Christmas. Here it is...

And then they play the first verse, with the same air of awe and bemusement as if they were peering into a pharaoh's tomb. (Closing the tomb lest the curse get out, they cut the song before Yoko started singing.) So, France is a land without Christmas pop music - and without any versions of 'Hallejulah'. Imagine there's a heaven.

For most French people, one song is synonymous with Christmas - a dainty little ballad called 'Petit Papa Noel' dating from the 1940s. Here's the definitive version, sung by Tito Rossi. Joyeux Noel!

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