Wild Is The Wind

I love Nina Simone's 1954 album Ne Me Quitte Pas. Particularly for her haunting version of Wild Is The Wind which is at once desperately longing and passionately hopeful; it is impossible to listen to this song on a cool, blustery day like today and not feel the damp soul of the love that she sings about creep up and raise the hair on the back of your neck. *Shiver*

I love that she can spin lyrics that belong on a warm beach somewhere into a cold, sad mist that makes you want to wrap your jacket a little tighter around. I have a deep affection for jazz and the emotion that it can conjure in even the most stoic of persons, and if anyone is a conjurer of emotion it's Nina Simone - I need talk therapy and meds following an afternoon of her music but, ohhh, is it ever worth it. Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide describes her interpretation of Jacques Brel's Ne Me Quitte Pas as mournful and I couldn't agree more, there is a mournful tenderness to her voice that seems to express how much she had lived and loved.
Copyright © 2008 A Southern Belle Goes to Paris, y'all.
Some of you younger kids will connect with Feist's version of Nina's version of See-Line Woman (Sea Lion Woman) but you should really give Nina's take a go...find out for yourself how great her music is. Ne Me Quitte Pas appears to be out of print so unless you want to shell out over $60 for the import, I'd recommend Anthology, Wild Is The Wind or Finest Hour to start with - you can graduate to the 4-disc set To Be Free when you fall in love with her. Just stay away from grain alcohol and sharps while listening and maybe give your folks a call afterward...

The Origin of Francophilia

My obsession with France began as a little girl, thanks to an elegant Grandmother who frequented Paris in the 1950's. My obsession with French Men began in my early 20's, thanks to a handsome and très charmant young Parisian man my friends refer to as "Frenchy". And my obsession with French food? From birth, I think.

Single, still a pretty-darn-young 33 and mostly without roots, I have set myself a little life-changing goal: to move to Paris when I turn (gulp) 40. Let's see how I do...will I actually go through with it? Will it be everything I've ever dreamed of? Will everyone think I'm crazy? I'm hoping the answers are yes, absolutely, and who cares?
Copyright © 2008 A Southern Belle Goes to Paris, y'all.
I'll need to take care of quite a few things before I pack up, bid adieu to my homeland and cross the pond. Namely, learn to speak French again. My school years are way behind me and I left my French there, too. So unless I plan to get by on a few sweet nothings en français or use the method of cultural immersion, I'd better get a move-on; I need to pack a lifetime of knowledge into mere years. Next stop: Alliance Française d'Atlanta.

So while I'm planning my second life as an American in Paris, I'll continue bringing a little Paris to my life here in America and I'll blog all about it!

À bientôt, y'all!