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Bidonville (feat. Jenny Banks)

from Artless by Dave Banks

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about

In the late 1960s, Joan Littlewood (Jeanne Petitbois) went to Tunisia, to run a theatre workshop near the beach at Hammamet. The topic for their play was a refugee, leaving north Africa to find a better life in the shantytowns of Paris and Nanterre. The "Bidonvilles" got their name from the use of gasoline cans and oil drums (bidons) as construction materials.

lyrics

1. My name is Zazza and I come from Al-Kairouan
I left my home and family for Nanterre; Rue de la Garenne
I left for Bidonville
I left for Bidonville
They promised flushing cisterns and bathrooms bright and clean
But we just share a faucet and a cold outdoor latrine.
And the colours of the rainbow were just leaking gasoline
In Bidonville

2. Zazza dreamed a Zazza dream of Parisian haut cuisine
Of fine ragout de Mouton, instead of lamb tagine
Vive la Bidonville
Yeah, Bidonville
They promised us good wages and the glamour of the silver screen
A dream of golden paving stones, and electric washing machines
But the dream of the colours of the rainbow, was just leaking gasoline
Down in Bidonville
In Bidonville

3. My mum was in the theatre, my father I’d never met
Born by a bonfire on a tourist beach just outside Hammamet
Allons à Bidonville
Allons à Bidonville
They promised us salvation by the Grace of St Augustine
But we were damned to a bit part in a tragedy by Racine
And the promise of the colours of the rainbow was just leaking gasoline
In Bidonville
Bidonville

4. A product of the workshop of Jeanne Petitbois
Rich girls playing Bidonville. The art of the petit bourgeois.
Jouons à Bidonville
Jouons à Bidonville
The promised us a starship ride to a universe unseen
But all we got was a film set in the deserts of Tataouine / Tatooine
And the promise of the colours of the rainbow was just leaking gasoline
In Bidonville
Bidonville

Lyrics and melody © Dave Banks 2021

credits

from Artless, released May 14, 2022
Guitar and vocals: Dave Banks
Piano: Jenny Banks
Recorded by Dave Banks at home in Chesterfield
Mixed and mastered by Tom Nash

ISRC: UK-DVB-22-00005

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Dave Banks Chesterfield, UK

Dave Banks is a songwriter and musician from Chesterfield, UK. He has also played in "The Sedatives". "Me and Mr Jones" and "Poke O'Swedgers"

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