Morning Aural: April March
April March first caught our ear during Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof.
Tarantino’s soundtracks always strike a chord, so naturally we set out on a quest to find a video for March’s track, “Chick Habit”. We were unsuccessful on that front, but we did find the song set over Blue Murder at St. Trinian’s, the second in the The Belles of St. Trinian’s movie series.
Based on the cartoons of Robert Searle, the first of those flicks starred Alastair Sim as Clarence Fritton and his sister, Miss Fritton. Pretty scandalous for 1954. Now, in 2007, Rupert Everett will take over the role in Oliver Parker‘s silver screen adaptation of the hit movies.
We also learned that April March didn’t originate “Chick Habit”. French songster Serge Gainsbourg wrote the song – “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” – and a woman named France Gall provided the vocals. We included that brieg video, after the jump. Since that video’s so short, however, we’ve also included Gall’s 1977 single, “Musique”. We’re, like, totally international!
The St Trinian’s films were a bit risque at the time but the thing of having the headmistress played by a man in drag fits with a long tradition of popular drag entertainment in Britain. Arthur Lucan’s Old Mother Riley act was incredibly popular from the 1930s onwards, as was Danny LaRue on TV in the 1970s. Children’s pantomime shows here always feature someone in drag. Ironic considering how homophobic Britain was for most of the past century. Somehow music hall and TV performers managed to get away with it.