Autograph by Serge Gainsbourg (1966)

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The French poet Serge Gainsbourg, author "Je t´aime moi non plus", signs a special autograph, in London, in 1966.

Autograph by Serge Gainsbourg, signed in London, 1966. Gainsbourg was leaving a recording session in a studio on Oxford Street, London's famous avenue, when a fan - from whom this document was purchased - happened to meet the artist in a hallway at HMV - Gramaphone Company. She had just bought an LP at a record store and used the paper bag to get the artist to sign it. 18 cm x 29 cm. London, 1966. Middle State. Single piece.

The French fan, also a journalist, tells

That was a long time ago, in late 1960s London, but I still have images of the encounter. He came out of a recording studio and I met him in the hallway of the famous HMV record company - Gramaphone Company, in Oxford Street. I think this was the time he met Jane Birkin. He very kindly agreed to sign the only piece of paper I had with me, a paper bag of the record I had just purchased, a 33 rpm. He already had a Gitane* cigarette in his mouth!!! I met him much later in Paris for a long interview. He was a very reserved man, not very talkative, he spoke very slowly, with many silences, as if he thought a lot before saying short sentences, but very friendly, good-natured and smiling. True to his image, there was a glass on the table with a double Pastis 51 ** and a pack of gitanes that he smoked, one after the other.

* Gitane is a famous brand of French cigarettes.
** Pastis 51 is a brand of alcoholic drink made with aniseed, created in 1951 by Pernod Ricard.

Serge Gainsbourg (1928 - 1991) was probably the most important French musician, singer and composer of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He wrote songs for several important French performers, such as Juliette Gréco, Brigitte Bardot, Jacques Dutronc, Catherine Deneuve, Vanessa Paradis and his wife Jane Birkin.

A talented composer, he knew how to work with different rhythms and styles, ranging from jazz to rock, including funk and reggae. He was also an actor and filmmaker. Addicted to cigarettes, alcohol and women, Serge Gainsbourg was also a very controversial artist who collected scandals, such as his most famous song "Je t´aime moi non plus", written for Brigitte Bardot. Gainsbourg is still considered a genial, anti-conformist poet by several generations of French people.

This document is extremely rare, having been signed in 1966, when Gainsbourg's career took off, amid the YeYe fever. London at the time was also the music capital of the world with the emergence of bands that would become legendary, such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.