A remake that should never have seen the light of day

It has come to my attention of late that my treasured "Ella, elle l'a" song originally written by Michel Berger and interpreted by France Gall got remade by Kate Ryan.

My opinion on the matter is that the Kate Ryan's version is a travesty that takes away the song's original meaning (a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald... the title of the song "Elle, elle l'a" is translated to "Ella, she has it" in English) and substitute some unimaginative modern dance beats and cheap sex appeal (not to mention a fair amount of narcissism) in its stead.

The original clip for the song (as interpreted by France Gall) can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkB-WWzsbg

The new remake by Kate Ryan can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdJN0...eature=related

I was curious about other people's take on the matter (well, those who care enough to have an opinion).

More specifically, I was wondering how many would prefer the new version and how many would prefer the original (and if possible, why).

This is political?

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Originally Posted by raviy

This is political?

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It is if you consider it a reflection of modern values on art (or a lack of thereof).

I find that the recent version of the song is rather souless, but has a modern beat and some sex appeal and might therefore be more popular with a modern audience despite its total lack of depth and sole appeal to very primal instincs (ie, rythm and the urge to procreate).

I was curious to get opinions, but perhaps the original song is a bit old and in a less common language (French) so most people reading this might be out of context and hard pressed to comment.

I've seen and heard both, personally I prefer the original over anything that Katrien Verbeeke makes, but even her remakes are decent. At least she has good taste in what songs she does remakes of. So what I'm saying is it's hard to ruin a really good song, even if you are Katrien Verbeeke.

It isn't so much the narcissism and cheap sex appeal that bothers me. Her pronunciation is aweful. You can really hear the Flemish accent. It is as bad as Celine Dion singing in English, like that song for the movie Titanic.


btw there is also a remake of the same song made by Alizee

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Originally Posted by freemehul

I've seen and heard both, personally I prefer the original over anything that Katrien Verbeeke makes, but even her remakes are decent. At least she has good taste in what songs she does remakes of. So what I'm saying is it's hard to ruin a really good song, even if you are Katrien Verbeeke.

It isn't so much the narcissism and cheap sex appeal that bothers me. Her pronunciation is aweful. You can really hear the Flemish accent. It is as bad as Celine Dion singing in English, like that song for the movie Titanic.

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Well, the first thing that bothered me about her remake when I heard it on my friend's stereo was the dance beat.

It really showed that the song was not made to be sang on that dance beat and that she was squeezing the lyrics through to keep up with the beat.

Beyond that, being unfamiliar with the Flemish language, I originally thought she was English speaking only, but then looked her up and saw that she was from Belgium (same country as Brel) so I attributed it to a local accent.

However, what really did it for me was when I looked up the music video. I wish I had never seen it.

To me, it feels like she would have picked any older song and inserted sex-appeal and a modern dance beat to it without regard for the song's original meaning and without wondering if it makes the end result palatable.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy a dance beat, but not unconditionally and certainly not with this song (well, maybe a different modern beat would do it, but not this one).

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Originally Posted by freemehul

btw there is also a remake of the same song made by Alizee

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Yeah, she does a decent job, but she gave me the impression that she didn`t have the voice to carry the song through.

I found her remake of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita" far more impressive (probably closer to her vocal range).

yeah her voice is kinda low

btw that can be telling in a way on what she is like ;)