Régine, Queen of the Night

Three roots for one birth - for sure Belgium and France

But also Argentina makes the difference.

Papers have one time - and so the golden stars

Those are causes to shelter down into bars

Daddy was a free man - hot-tempered lover

Yet Fréhel an inspiring local singer

To start with it : one brother - easy money

Lack of a mother - tries to dance as monkey

"Les Petits Papiers"("Slight Papers"), written by Serge Gainsbourg (Lucien Ginsburg), into Carrefour, show for the Télévision Suisse Romande, on 9 November 1966

Sadly, first manful pillars had left too soon

Even the fiancee thrown through one wrong noon

Thus the night transforms poor people into knights

Facing their fears under ravishing bright lights

"Gueule de nuit"("Nighty snout"), song written by her close friend Barbara (Monique Andrée Serf), 1967

Her life long, she shared and laughed within groups

Leading buddies on stage or inside her troupes

"Les femmes ça fait pédé"("Wemen seem to look gay"), 1978

The Concorde as a wish - the Disco to shift

All that could give unexpected folks a drift

Even when blue moments come front of the ground

Single paces make them vanish in one sound

"Les Bleus"("Bruises/Blues"), 2006 (written before 1991)

Time is precious and you only live once, son

Know it before doing useless moves, my don

Dolefully, wholly flesh of her flesh kept gone

"Je survivrai", transcriped from the "I will survive" song of Gloria Gaynor (Gloria Fowles), 1979

This story might have continued on its way

If its worker had not left one Labor Day

"Bei Mir Bistu Shein" plus one more song, The Andrews Sisters (LaVerne Sofia Andrews, Maxene Anglyn Andrews & Patricia Marie Andrews), 1955. They had inspired Régine into her career, precisely with this song.

Interview recorded in 1967, Radio Canada

Story n°80 is a poem that summarizes in few points the life of the regretted Americano-French artist known as Régine, (formerly active in New-York City, Los-Angeles, Paris, ...). Surely, it stays incomplete. It was first submitted on 31 May 2022.