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It is established that Jake "borrowed" the music for One Eyed Isaac from Charles Trenet’s La Java Du Diable. I believe someone once mentioned here that Charles was not terribly pleased when he found out, but I could be imagining that. The music is attributed to Jake on all recordings.
In November 2003, I posted to say that at the beginning of a Radio 4 programme I’d heard the opening lines of a French song that was very strongly reminiscent of the opening lines of Sophie. Radio 4 told me the song was "’Pretty Little Thing’ by Mistinguett and Jean Gabin, which can be found on an album entitled ‘The Great French Stars’; Label: ASV". Last week I finally bought that CD and listened to the track, which is actually called in French C’est Un P’tit Rien. The opening few bars are almost identical to those for "I should like to know, I’d like to find out, What my Sophie thinks about". The next few bars almost parallel "Lying here in bed, I may not", but then on "decide" the French song diverges and from that point is very different. There is nothing in the French song remotely similar to Jake’s chorus.
The initial similarity is so great, and the melody so unique and memorable, that it seems clear to me that Jake must have had the French song very much in his mind when he wrote Sophie, but I’m inclined to think that it probably wasn’t a deliberate "lift".
In the unlikely event that anyone else wants to spend $8.26 +p&p to hear for themselves, the album is called Nuits de Paris – The Great French Stars and is available on line from http://www.MovieMars.com. I cannot really recommend the CD as a good listen š
Post edited by: KeithD, at: 2009/03/17 11:37
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