Recently in "eliotE"

• Honeycomb

Pourpre, the side project of Thomas Charlet from eliotE & the ritournelles, has recorded a version of my song Never.

• Never
  

Have A Good Night 4, released today, is a collection of "lullabies" performed by such rising stars of the French indie scene as Mina Tindle (who will be supporting Beirut on their upcoming European tour), MiLK and Fruit Juice, and eliotE & the Ritournelles (who have teamed up with Rivkah on Wheel of Dreams, a charming little ditty for which I wrote the lyrics), together with a few international guests.

The idea for our song came from eliotE herself, who told me about a dream she often had as a child in which she could "choose" what to dream about using a kind of magic roulette wheel. When she came to me with the idea they already had a vocal melody, which she described as being "a bit like the Andrews sisters", and I tried my best to respect that as I came up with the words.

I got a sneak preview of some of the album's contents a couple of weeks ago when I attended a special kids-only concert held at a playgroup in Montmartre, Paris - hardly the most rock n' roll of venues, I admit, but my daughter and her friend loved it!

• Wheel of Dreams

My friends eliotE & the ritournelles began their European tour with a hometown gig in Paris last night.

You can follow their on-the-road antics on le blog du Bye Bye Ritournelles tour (in French).

The last few times I've seen EliotE & the ritournelles in concert, the show has started off on each occasion with their lead singer performing a solo version of a song we recently wrote together, Honeycomb.

For once, we really did write it "together" - she added a few lines to the end of some lyrics I'd already written but didn't know what to do with, and one of those lines even ended up giving the song its name.

• Honeycomb

EliotE & the ritournelles @ La Flèche d'Or, Friday 24 October.

See you there?

Eliote & the Ritournelles
l'Union Bar
8 avenue Jean Aicard
75011 Paris

Thursday, September 18th from 8.00pm

Sometimes, I like to think that a good song can be sung by anyone.

A fine example of this can be found in the Nouvelle Vague project, which saw new bossa nova life being breathed into such new wave classics as I Just Can't Get Enough and Guns of Brixton (and whose leader Marc Collin has recently turned his sights on 80s film music with Hollywood, Mon Amour).

When I'm writing lyrics, however, I often find myself writing with a particular voice, a particular personality, in mind. The thing is, you can never be sure that the song in question will appeal to the person you're writing for - or that he or she will be able to do anything with it, even if it does.

That's why some songs (such as A Dollar You Found In The Street) end up in limbo, waiting, gathering dust.

Still, like any parent, you never give up hope that your song-children will find a place in the world.

Last night, for instance, I got a text message from eliotE telling me that she and her band have finally come up with a melody for Crayon.

So, you see, it's never too late.

• A Dollar You Found In The Street
• Crayon

On Sunday, eliotE & the Ritournelles played a "brunch concert" to a packed-out Bellevilloise... and, much to the delight of the little lady in question, eliotE dedicated a rollicking version of "Pour Les Enfants Qui Ont Peur de l'Orage" to my five-year-old daughter, who spent most of the concert dancing away right in front of the stage.

It was certainly enough to warm the cockles of my little heart.