j'entends rugir les plaisirs de la vie (negresses vertes)

self-portrait at ekwata, gabon 1992

While I couldn’t find my iconic negresses vertes album, for whatever reason I still remember the moment I bought it in a record store in Kenmore Square in the middle of winter in another life a zillion years ago.

My favorite track on that album, of course, is their glorious gypsy-punk-rai hymn to summer, which perfectly describes the way that I’m feeling right here right now. It goes like:

Voilà l'été, j'aperçois le soleil

Les nuages filent et le ciel s'éclaircit

J'entends rugir les plaisirs de la vie

Les filles sont belles et les dieux sont ravis