Okay, I’m not saying that all thirty-something dudes with neatly trimmed beards and, you know, fabulous hair, who are good drivers and keep goldfish and live in “charming” houses are gay, but, well, I have my suspicions. But, anyway, what is the deal using “Non, je ne regrette rien”, the theme song of ultimate Greenwich Village chanteuse Édith Piaf, a song that makes Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” sound like the Ohio State Fight Song (whatever that may be) in comparison, on the soundtrack of this new ad from Allstate?
I mean, how many people in the U.S. of A. know who the hell Piaf is? I only know because I hung out in high school (GM ’63, the year Piaf died) with a crowd of aspiring pseudo beatniks, and that was, you know, almost sixty years ago! Please, Allstate, don’t get all artsy-fartsy on our asses. I mean, stay with the “khakis” guy, if that was your ad. Or the “Farmers”, bump bidy ump bump bump. Okay, not that exactly, but you know. Around that.
Afterwards
Piaf was in fact a big international star in the fifties, appearing on the Ed Sullivan show eight times, so she’s not quite as recherché as I’m pretending, but that was more than sixty years ago. From what I read on YouTube, “Non, je ne regrette rien”, was part of the soundtrack for the closing credits for Inception—someone being very cute. I saw Inception, but whether I stuck around for the closing credits or not (probably not), I’ve forgotten the whole damn movie, which way too cute in the first place.
Piaf led the standard tempestuous life, but some people suggest that what she was really not regretting was her complacent collaboration with the Nazis during World War II, even going on a Berlin tour. The French “forgave” her pretty quickly, “forgave” her for acting like at least 90% of the rest of France. Charles Aznavour said that her funeral procession in Paris was the only time he saw the traffic there come to a complete stop.
I was a fan of Edith Piaf back in High School myself, after hearing her on a jukebox in the off-campus neighborhood near (wait for it) the Ohio State University.
You must have been in Larry’s!