Tag Archive for 'french'

FRENCH LIT / La Belle / dirty disco

Walt Disney’s and Jean Cocteau’s adaptations of Beauty and the Beast are both based on the very well-known eponymous fairy tale which was written by the French Madame Le Prince de Beaumont (1756). A fairy tale re-written for children, taming it down from the far more sensational original.

The first Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) was written by Madame de Villeneuve in 1740. In her tale, the prince changed into a beast not only superficially but also in manners and mind. Every night, at dinner, the Beast asks the ritual question: “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir, la Belle ?” which translates these days, not to a polite “Do you want to go to bed with me, beautiful?” but actually a lot more like “Do you wanna F*** me!?” And of course the princess is shocked and disgusted.

Now if you remember a very famous song, Lady Marmalade (written by Bob Crewe & Kenny Nolan, produced by Allen Toussaint) performed by some curiously-named Patti LaBelle. Patti even uses the capital “B” in the second part of her last name (pseudonym), as in the quite non-subtle original French version. Uncanny similarities? We speculate that this is indeed the true origin.

Now you know what Patti is really singing, that demanding Diva!
Enjoy this original song more than ever before with all of its expletives:

Gitchi gitchi ya ya da da
Gitchi gitchi ya ya here
Mocha Chocalata ya ya 
Creole lady Marmalade 
Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir ?!