I Can Only Give You Everything: Ronnie Bird

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The Ace-Tones (version 1)
The Ace-Tones (version 2)
The Ambertones
The Beatstalkers(instrumental)
Beck
Ronnie Bird
Ronnie Bird (fake live)
Ronnie Bird (live)
Bram Rigg Set
The Broadcasters

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Ronnie Bird

Songwriter credits: (Coulter & Scott/Ronnie Bird). French teen idol (born: Ronald Mehu) who had quite a few great EP's out in the latter half of the sixties, especially the ones on Decca. This EP, his fifth and first on Philips, is also way cool. Also included is a great rendition of The Who's 'A Legal Matter' ('Ne T' En Fais Pas Pour Ronnie') and particularly 'Lies' ('Cheese') by the Knickerbockers sounds very cool Frenchie style. The Lyrics of 'Chante' are not a faithful translation of 'I Can Only Give You Everything' at all, but express Ronnie's thoughts on a subject that had all of France in its grip during 1966. It is actually an answer song to Antoine's 'Les Elucubrations D'Antoine', a protest song released January 1966 in which Antoine ridicules everybody who has problems with long hair, drugs, birth control pills and so on. He also made hilarious fun of the French Yé-Yé scene in general, and Johnny Halliday in particular and that's what started the whole polemics. There's one line where Antoine shouts that Johnny Halliday should be locked in a circus cage ('Et Johnny Halliday en cage à Médrano'). Naturally, the French Yé-Yé artists were furious and several answer songs were the result. Ronnie Bird's 'Chante' was the very first one, and he actually took the whole thing with a smile. At the end of 'Chante' he hopes that one day Antoine will see the irony of it all ('Ce jour la, peut-être tu te moqueras bien de toi'). The rest of the French pseudo rockers had more problems with the whole situation: Johnny Halliday, who was personally attacked by Antoine answered with a song called 'Cheveux Longs, Idées Courtes' (which roughly translates as 'Long Hair, Short Ideas'). France Gall answered with 'La Guerre Des Chansons', which is in fact an answer song to an answer song! Eddy Mitchell released 'Chronique Pour L'An 2000' and Stella expressed her grieves in 'Beatnicks D'Ocassion'. One answer song in particular was very bitter: Noël Deschamps' 'Ah! Si J'Avais Pensé'. Ronnie Bird's 'Chante' is a very witty song as opposed to the silliness of the other answer songs in question. Line-up: Ronnie Bird (vocals) - Pierrot Fanen (lead guitar) - Joël Rive (rhythm guitar) - Alan Bugby (bass) - Carl Dayckins (drums). Bugby and Dayckins came from England and were previously in The Strangers. Produced by Antonio Rubio & Paul Rako.

alternate title	type	title of record	label + catalog #	ctry	year	origin	time
'Chante' (in French)	EP	'Chante'	Philips 437 220	FRA	1966	Boulogne, France	3.13
	7"A	B-side: 'Ne T' En Fais Pas Pour Ronnie'	Philips 373 797 F	FRA	1966
	LP	'N' Ecoute Pas Ton Coeur'	Philips 70452	CAN	1967
	LP	'Le Style Anglais'	Philips 818 986-1	FRA	1984
	LP	'Fais Attention'	Dial 900 048-1	FRA	1989
	CD	'Fais Attention'	Dial 900 048-2	FRA	1989
	CD	V.A.: 'French Cuts'	S.P.E.C.T.R.E. LSD 007	GER	1999
	CD	'Le Pivert'	Polygram 842 055-2	FRA	1990
	2CD	'Twistin' The Rock #7'	Philips 586 495-2	FRA	2002
	2LP	V.A.: 'French Cuts'	Panatomic PALP001	GER	2002
	CD	V.A.: 'French Cuts'	Panatomic PA001	GER	2002
	2LP	V.A.: 'Pop á Paris #2'	Universal 069 110-1	FRA	2003
	CD	V.A.: 'Pop á Paris #2'	Universal 069 110-2	FRA	2003

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