| Francoise Hardy at Brands Hatch during the filming John Frankenheimer’s 1966 racing drama Grand Prix. Photograph: Victor Blackman |
INTERVIEW
Françoise Hardy: ‘I sing about death in a symbolic, even positive way’
Françoise Hardy was the face of 1960s French pop, with the likes of Dylan and Jagger falling for her enigmatic allure. Now 74, the style icon talks about her new album and why she always sings from the heart
Sunday 29 April 2018
Françoise Hardy is reciting the first lines of Serge Gainsbourg’s song La Javanaise for my benefit. We are sitting at a small table in the middle of an otherwise empty room in a stylish Paris hotel. Eyes closed, her hand tracing a repeated arc in the air, she enunciates every word as if teaching a hapless pupil – “J’avoue j’en ai bavé, pas vous…” she intones softly, “Avant d’avoir eu vent de vous…”