Le Gorille

"Le Gorille"
Song by Georges Brassens
from the album La Mauvaise Réputation [it]
Released	1952
Genre	French song Children's music
Length	3:36
Label	Polydor
Composer(s)	Eugène Metehen
Lyricist(s)	Georges Brassens
La Mauvaise Réputation [it] track listing
8 tracks A-side "La Mauvaise Réputation" "Le Parapluie" "Le Petit cheval" "Le Fossoyeur" B-side "Le Gorille" "Corne d'aurochs" "La Chasse aux papillons" "Hécatombe"

"Le Gorille" is a 1952 song by Georges Brassens, found on his album La Mauvaise Réputation.[1] It was also released as a single, with La Chasse Aux Papillons as B-side. [2][3]

Lyrics

The song describes how a group of women in a zoo observe the genitalia of a male gorilla. The animal suddenly escapes and all the women, except for a 100-year old lady, run away. This leads to the refrain of the song: "Gare au gorille!" ("Watch out for the gorilla!"). The gorilla, who is in heat, mistakes a judge in a black robe for a woman and rapes him. Brassens later reveals that this very same judge had sentenced a man to the guillotine earlier that day and now, just like the convicted criminal, screams in vain for mercy. [4]

Reception

Le Gorille was very controversial at the time of its release. First of all because of its pornographic lyrics, but secondly also because it took a stance against the death penalty when it was still in effect in France. It was banned on all French radio stations. [5][6]

Covers

Le Gorille has been covered and translated several times:

• Fabrizio De André covered it in Italian as Il Gorilla (1968) on his album Volume 3. [7]
• Yossi Banai covered it in Hebrew as הגורילה (Ha-Gorila). Dan Almagor covered it in the same language.
• Jake Thackray covered it in English as Brother Gorilla on his album Bantam Cock (1972). [8] [9]
• Franz Josef Degenhardt covered it in German as Vorsicht Gorilla (1986). [10]
• Le Gorille has been covered by French singer Renaud on his album Renaud chante Brassens (1996).
• Oulahlou covered it as Macahu, changing the gorilla with a donkey, the old lady with a young girl and the judge with a police officer. His song is a critique of the Algerian police force during the Black Spring.
• The Polish cover band Zespół Reprezentacyjny covered it as "Goryl".
• Swedish-Dutch songer Cornelis Vreeswijk covered it as Djävulens sång on his album Visor, svarta och röda (1972).
• Christos Thivaois covered it as Ο Γορίλλας ("The Gorilla").
• Joaquín Carbonell covered it in Spanish as "El Gorila" ("The Gorilla").

Sources

1. "Georges Brassens - 1 - la Mauvaise Réputation". Discogs. 1979.
2. "Georges Brassens et Sa Guitare - le Gorille / La Chasse Aux Papillons". Discogs. 1952.
3. "Georges Brassens et Sa Guitare - le Gorille / La Chasse Aux Papillons". Discogs. 1956.
4. "Comment Brassens a castré son "Gorille"". 27 October 2014.
5. "'Le gorille' de Georges Brassens : Critique de la peine de mort et vision erronée de l'homosexualité".
6. "Comment Brassens a castré son "Gorille"". 27 October 2014.
7. "Il Gorilla par Fabrizio de André".
8. "Brother Gorilla | the Official Jake Thackray Website".
9. "Sleeve notes to 'Bantam Cock' (1972)". jakethackray.com. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
10. Brunner, Erwin (8 February 1985). "ZEIT ONLINE | Lesen Sie zeit.de mit Werbung oder im PUR-Abo. Sie haben die Wahl". Die Zeit.