Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré

Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré (English: The Twelve First Songs of Léo Ferré) is an album by Léo Ferré, released in 1969 by Barclay Records. The singer records once again the songs he taped in 1950 on behalf of the label Le Chant du Monde, for 78s releases. Back then he had accompanied himself on the piano and technical conditions weren't top-notch. For this release Ferré is backed by a studio orchestra and delivers the songs with plain charismatic vocal maturity.

Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré
Studio album by Léo Ferré
Released	1969
Recorded	March 1969 Barclay Studio, Paris (France)
Genre	Chanson
Length	39:49
Label	Barclay Records
Léo Ferré chronology
Récital 1969 en public à Bobino (1969) Les Douze Premières Chansons de Léo Ferré (1969) Amour Anarchie (1970)

This album has a lot of tasteful accordion and jazz hints, which convey a great frenchness feel.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Léo Ferré, except three of them.

Original LP

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"À Saint-Germain-des-Prés" (Saint-Germain-des-Prés)		3:16
2.	"Le Flamenco de Paris" (Paris Flamenco)		2:43
3.	"Monsieur Tout-Blanc" (Mister All-White)		3:50
4.	"L'Inconnue de Londres" (The Strangeress from London)		3:44
5.	"Les Forains" (The Carnies)		3:46
6.	"La Vie d'artiste" (Artist's life)	Léo Ferré & Francis Claude	2:23

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"La Chanson du scaphandrier" (Song of the Deep-Sea Diver)	René Baer	2:00
8.	"L'Esprit de famille" (Family Spirit)		3:13
9.	"Barbarie" (Barbarism)		3:19
10.	"Le Temps des roses rouges" (The Red Roses Times)		3:19
11.	"Le Bateau espagnol" (The Spanish Boat)		3:39
12.	"L'Île Saint-Louis" (The Île Saint-Louis)	Léo Ferré & Francis Claude	3:57

Personnel

• The orchestra consists of session musicians hired for the recording.

Production

• Arranger & conductor: Jean-Michel Defaye
• Engineering: Gerhard Lehner
• Executive producer: Richard Marsan
• Artwork: Patrick Ullmann

External links

• Album presentation (French)
• English translation of À Saint-Germain-des-Prés.