Spotted on one of the websites we follow: We Demain, which pays tribute to Johnny Hallyday by highlighting a little-known aspect of the singer’s life: Johnny the Eco-Friendly Guy. Two surprising songs from 1970 draw attention to the ravages of pollution and the reckless nature of human activities.
Was Johnny Hallyday an environmentalist? Sure, it’s easier to picture the singer riding through the desert on his big motorcycle than taking a peaceful stroll through the forest… But We Tomorrow has uncovered some evidence of his environmental activism through two of his songs.
The king of “Yéyé,” who passed away on the night of December 5–6, appeared in 1970 on the album Life, a whistleblower. In the role of a man from future generations, he looks at a photograph from the past and laments the destruction of nature: the sand, grass, flowers, and birds are no more.
“Can you assure me that this really happened?” A melancholic Johnny asks this question in this song written by Philippe Labro, set to the melody of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
Seriously, is it true that the sand was white?
Really, it's true—there were some kids there.
Rivers, trails
”Rocks, houses?"
Did Johnny go so far as to advocate for degrowth? Yes, if the song “La pollution” from the same album, released in 1970, is to be believed. Even more stridently, he laments humanity’s relentless drive to produce despite the devastation:
“The factories never stop smoking”
The smoke just keeps on polluting, heh, heh
”And men keep on making things, heh, heh, heh, heh"
With a defiant tone, the song is a tribute to the “dead fish”, at the “dying rabbits” and others “silent birds”. Pollution, a truly destructive force, even attacks colors, causing them to lose their vibrancy, or the sun, “denatured”. As for the men who suffocate, their brains are irreversibly impaired:
“Minds will eventually go astray, huh
”Reason is starting to falter, huh?"
By Livia Garrigue | Published on December 6, 2017
SOURCE: Website: https://www.wedemain.fr/
