La Javanaise

"La Javanaise"
Philips
Songwriter(s)	Serge Gainsbourg

"La Javanaise" is a song written and composed by

. The song heavily employs unaltered French words that naturally have an ⟨av⟩ sequence; thus the lyrics resemble the argot.

In 1962, Gréco and Gainsbourg spent a summer's evening listening to records and drinking champagne in the huge lounge at 33, rue de Verneuil. The next day, he sent her La Javanaise. Gréco had debuted it in March 1963 by placing it at the beginning of her cabaret tour La Tête de l'art.^[1]

• Gainsbourg recording:
  • Recording date: January 1963 at Studio Fontana (London)
  • Arrangements and conducting: Harry Robinson
  • Producer: Jacques Plait
  • Format:
    Philips
    432-862 (Title: "Vilaine fille mauvais garçon")
  • Duration: 2:29
  • Release date: March 1963^[1]
• Gréco recording:
  • Recording date: 4 April 1963 at Studio Blanqui (Paris)
  • Arrangements and conducting: Jean-Michel Defaye
  • Format:
    Philips
    373-156
  • Duration: 2:30
  • Release date: May 1963^[1]
• Publishers: Warner Chappell Music Publishing, Melody Nelson Publishing

• Bruno Podalydès used this song in the comedy Dieu seul me voit (Versailles-Chantiers) (1998).
• In Ron Howard's Da Vinci Code (2006), this song is played in the car of a French police officer.
• Pascale Ferran used this song in the film Bird People (2014).
• Madeleine Peyroux's 2006 recording was used in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017).
• Emmanuel Mouret uses the song in his 2022 movie Diary of a Fleeting Affair.

• Serge Gainsbourg - La Javanaise (1968), Les archives de la
  RTS at YouTube
  .