The 88-year-old French songwriter, Pierre Perret, from Seine-et-Marne, published a song “Paris saccagé”, criticizing with irony and humor the current state of the capital. This work was a hit, accumulating more than a million views in just three days.
“Poor Paris, ugly Paris”
“In Paris, disgusting Paris, only the rats are happy. They know that vegans here, who are not stupid, only feed them organic,” sings Pierre Perret while cycling through the streets of Paris. The songwriter points out many problems faced by the inhabitants of the capital. The streets flooded with waste, many works that never stop, the demonstrations, road accidents, vandalism, drug trafficking, squats… The funny song has a deep meaning that makes you think about the current state of affairs.
“In Paris, disgusting Paris, only the rats are happy”
“In Paris, disgusting Paris, only the rats are happy, they know that vegans here are not stupid, only feed them with organic”, recites the recognizable voice of Pierre Perret. The passage of the song which was written four years ago, long before the garbage collectors’ strike, raises the problems of management of the city more than ever. “The droppings that flower the sidewalks, decorate this big dump”, “In Paris in winter as in summer, we don’t touch dirt” continues the singer. “The old TVs”, “the tons of rubbish”. The work of ecologists is also called into question by the composer: “Here you are wearing Waterloo, by our nice ecologists”.
“In Paris, patched Paris, it is ugliness that has passed”
Pierre Perret evokes in his song the subject of crime and drug trafficking in Barbes, the Chapel and the Stalingrad metro station. In the neighborhoods that tourists try to avoid during their stay in Paris are “the dirtiest squats” and “in the squares where the more a child plays, there are only syringes and no more nannies”.
“For Baudelaire or Picasso, rue de Rivoli became rue de Ri-vélo”, with these plays on words the composer delimits the cycle paths with “the yellow plastocs and the horrible bitonials”, cyclists who burn out the lights, and then “make omelettes” at the Carrefour, road accidents and non-compliance with the code… The ambulance has a job to do.
“It’s a ransacked Paris”
“What amuses me is that I hear everything”, replies the songwriter to BFMTV. “Oh he’s turning into an old fart!” At the Old, that’s for sure. Dude, I don’t know. If it is to turn to the old con, well here it is: I am an old con, reacted Pierre Perret. “But at least I say what I have to say,” continues the author. “A lot of people say thank you to me,” says the singer.