French songs

The French is mostly ridiculed in the U.S., be it for their perceived weaknesses in military science or their supposedly bad hygiene. When reminded of Napoleon, Americans are quick to remind us that he is Corsican, not French. To counter this, I ask, since when have we been looking that closely at heritage? With the same line of thinking, is George Washington considered an American, or an Englishman? Can any person be American, then? If we accept the argument and say Corsicans are the tough ones, does the French not at least deserve a commendation for keeping them at bay for so many years?

One precious gift to us from the French is the unparalleled perfection of their songs. I am not only talking about the work of Bizet or Debussy here (Although, they would be further proof for their capabilities), I am talking about "L'ete Indien" from Joe Dassin, Dalida's "Parole Paroles", and even Desireless' "Voyage Voyage." In these songs, elaborate melodies accompany lyrics of broken dreams, with depth seldom seen in our rhythm-based contemporary/modern music. But, what accomplishes this effect?

I suspect that the frequent usage of (V-i) progressions in minor keys gives these songs an edge. French composers are also not afraid of using diminished (fully, not half) chords in musical phrases, either. We can see this effect most clearly in L'ete Indien, where (vii) dim. resolves onto (i). On the other hand, the lyrics of this particular song demonstrates how words and music can mesh together to explain the deepest emotions one cannot possibly express with words or poetry alone. Music is as powerful an art as it is abstract: This is why it is to evolutionary psychology what qualia is to materialism; an unwanted child to be ignored, or even worse, described, in the hopes that readers will confuse it with an explanation. But most of us do know better than that, don't we? More on that later...