Mon Amie Francoise

I was 19 in '65, just out of school and spending a month in Rheims champagne country with my pal Luc Divry.

He said we should go along to a concert by one Francoise Hardy.

She came on stage and I knew the look of my perfect woman.

Not perfect, Venus de Milo, da Vinci classic, the bar falls silent on her entrance look.

Perfect for me.

Fifteen years later, I married that look and she was also perfect in every other way.

Rooting thru Tube today, I came across Hardy's opening song that night, Mon Amie La Rose.

In context, it's an ironic juxtaposition of this French Girl tribute with my neighbouring and laboured German Girl moan.