No Condition Is Permanent

Pictured: Serge Gainsbourg.

Histoire De Melody Nelson is Serge’s beautifully strange and brooding concept album about the love affair between a middle-aged Frenchman and an under-age English girl, set to music that sounds like a late ’60s jukebox landed on an orchestra accompanying a reading by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Staccato electric guitar, piano rolls, a quasi-psychedelic rock combo, strings, a 70-piece choir and an omnipresent thick, rubbery, doom-laden bass, that rumbles through the 28-minute, seven-track album like the wheels of a big, old car propelling the story to its fateful conclusion.

Muttering close to the microphone, Serge tells his story of sex, aesthetics, death, obsession and the impossible ideal of purity in a haunted, deadpan voice, like a French Ancient Mariner compelled to prop up another bar and recount the tale over again to yet another indifferent stranger. The opening track, ‘Melody’, finds Serge behind the wheel of his 1910 Rolls Royce, suddenly aware that the Spirit of Ecstasy – literally and figuratively – has led him to a dangerous, isolated spot in an insalubrious Paris suburb. Losing control – of the car and himself – he runs into a girl on a bicycle, watches her tumble into the road like a doll, her skirt flying over her head to reveal her innocent white knickers. Her name was Melody, an English girl, barely 15 years old, with red hair – “her natural colour” – he adds with a mix of poignancy and regret. The stage is set for danger and sex. 

— Sylvie Simmons, Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes.

LISTEN TO EPISODE 447 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT:

DOWNLOAD EPISODE 447 OF NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT BY CLICKING ON THE THREE DOTS ☨

Here’s what we played in Ep. 447 of No Condition Is Permanent:

FIRST SLICE O’SCHEIßE...

The Chargers — “You Gotta Be a Lady” — Didn’t I Blow Your Mind? Thom Bell: The Sound of Philadelphia Soul 1969-1983

Houon Pierre — “Mansou Djouwi” — Ivory Coast Soul 2: Afro Soul In Abidjan From 1976 To 1981 

The Trashmen — “Greensleeves” — Surfin’ The Great Lakes: Kay Bank Studio Surf Sides Of The 1960s

Hayvanlar Alemi — “Mega Lambada” — Guarana Superpower

The Wackers — “I Wonder Why” — I Walk The Lonely Night: Ballroom Beat Vol. 1

The West Indians — “Never Get Away (Take 1)” — Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry Presents Soulful I: The Jamaican Upsetter Singles, 1969-1970

The Raves — “Everything’s Fire” — Smash 45rpm

Los Kenia — “Pal 23” — Ronda del Guaguanco

The Gun Club — “She’s Like Heroin to Me” — Fire of Love

IT’S MADISON TIME…

The Politicians w. McKinley Jackson — “Funky Toes” — The Politicians Featuring McKinley Jackson

SECOND SLICE O’SCHEIßE…

Chicha Libre — “Depresión Tropical” — Canibalismo

Roscoe Gordon — “Tummer Tee” — Jook Block Busters Vol. 2

Wallias Band — “Muziqawi Silt” — Ethiopiques 13 Ethiopian Groove: The Golden Seventies

Peter Reno — “Spaghetti Junction” — Tomorrow’s Fashions: Library Electronica 1972-1987

Tappa Zukie &  Prince Philip Smart — “Jah Jah Dub” — Tappa Zukie In Dub aka Tapper Zukie in Dub

Soul Revival — “Do What You Gotta Do” — Beehive Breaks

Moha Jamin — “Raks Raks Raks” — Raks Raks Raks: 27 Golden Garage Psych Nuggets From The Iranian ‘60s Scene

New York Dolls — “Chatterbox” — Too Much Too Soon 

Los Ovnis — “Voy Para Loco” — Los Nuggetz: 60’s Punk, Pop and Psychedelic from Latin America

THIRD SLICE O’SCHEIßE…

The Fabulous Mark III — “Psycho (Parts 1 & 2)” — Texas Funk 1968-1975: Black Gold From The Lone Star State

Coupé Cloué — “Bel Ti Ange” — L’Essentiel Coupé Cloué Et l’Ensemble Select

Voices — “Fall in Love Again” — Basement Beehive: The Girl Group Underground

Charif Megarbane — “Hawalat” — Hawalat = حوالات

Flat Duo Jets — “I Went Rockin’” — Safari

The Boris Gardiner Happening — “Racking Roots” — Ultra Super Dub Vol. 1

Dennis Coffey — “Gimme That Funk (7″ Version)” — Live Wire: The Westbound Years 1975-78

Sum Svistu — “Svetelny Narez” — Best Of Šum Svistu

THE FINAL SLICE O’SCHEIßE…

The Bar-Kays — “Whitehouseorgy” — Too Hot To Stop

Ferry Djimmy and His Dji-Kins — “When I Come In The Road” — Rhythm Revolution

The Four Dreamers — “Percolator” — Complete Sixties Instrumental

Winston Riley — “Old Time Days Version” — Concrete Jungle Dub

The Velvet Underground — “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together” — The Velvet Underground

Kishore Kumar / Lata Mangeshkar — “Disco ’82” — Bombay Disco 1: Disco Hits from Hindi Films 1979-1985

LORD BUCKLEY’S WEEKLY BENEDICTION…

Serge Gainsbourg — “Melody” — Histoire De Melody Nelson

Grab a Lee-Roy branded squeezable skull stress ball HERE.

Get your CHARMING DEVIATIONIST lapel pin (& Purple Bat Lounge membership card) HERE.