I’m releasing a new single on 24th November, called Fred & Ava 1961. There’s a story attached which we’ll get to in a moment.
The single also has a B side, if such things still exist, called Mobylette. These days I generally release one song at a time but as both have a strong French theme it made sense to release them together. They both feature the wonderful voice of Céline Robertson, whose first name rather gives her nationality away, though she now lives in the UK.
Fred and Ava was inspired by the surreal picture painted by Marc Chagall, called Bataille de Fleurs or Battle of the Flowers (see above). This is a carnival of floats and flowers that takes place every year at the end of February in Nice on the Côte d’Azur. You can see the two faces of Fred and Ava hanging in the sky above the beach. I got the names from a photograph of Fred Astaire and his daughter Ava which was dated 1961.
When I was 7 years old, in 1961, my parents took me Nice to see the Battle of the Flowers, an event that has always remained with me, so in some rather convoluted way that’s how the song was put together.
Listen here to Fred & Ava 1961
At the same time as the battle of the flowers was going on my 7-year-old self was nosing around Nice and Villefranche and spotted what my mum told me were Mobylettes. The meaning has changed a little since then but in those days, they were essentially push bikes with a two-stroke motor attached. They stank of petrol and were not pretty, but I always thought the word Mobylette had a romantic appeal so in the song I relocated the story to Paris and if you take a listen, you can hear what it’s all about.
I never had any intention to write one French song (some of the lyrics are in French but not all) let alone two but song writing is a weird not to say impossible task. You take inspiration where you find it.
I played most of the instruments and had great help from Céline with the vocals.
The songs were recorded at Mustard Seed Studio by the owner and operator Dom Clark who recorded it all, helped with production, and played trumpet.
Vive la France!
A Little London Life 