Showing posts with label Régine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Régine. Show all posts

Friday, 17 July 2026

Queen of the Night aria?


Gratuitous - but obligatory - Coq Galoise

And so we have crawled, tortuously, to the end of another thrilling working week...

...but in all the - ahem - excitement, I quite forgot that on Tuesday, our leetle Froggy chums were enjoying their biggest day of celebration, Le Quatorze Juillet (or, as it is better known here, Bastille Day)!

To make up for it, who better to start the weekend party celebrations than one of our revered, dearly departed, Gallic Patron Saints, Régine?

Vive le disco, c'est vendredi!

Have a great weekend, dear reader!

Monday, 18 July 2022

Because he has a hair in his hand

Another edifying week at work starts again, and as always I am not ready for it.

C'est la vie - at least on this Tacky Music Monday we have the divine (and dearly missed) Régine to help lift the mood...

Mon amour ne fait jamais rien
Mon amour ne dit jamais rien
Car il a un poil dans la main
Mon amour ne boit jamais rien
Mon amour ne peut jamais rien
Car il a un poil dans la main

Il s'endort quand il a des peines
Et dans ses rêves jamais il ne m'emmène
Des heures, des jours et même des semaines
Et moi j'attends, j'attends qu'il me revienne

Which apparently translates as:

My love never does anything
My love never says anything
Because he has a hair in his hand
My love never drinks anything
My love can never do anything
Because he has a hair in his hand

He falls asleep when he is in trouble
And in his dreams he never takes me
Hours, days and even weeks
And I wait, I wait for him to come back to me

Bizarre.

Have a good week, dear reader. Don't get sunstroke!

Monday, 2 May 2022

Her jewellery, her chinchillas

It may be the May Day Bank Holiday, but...

...it's still a Tacky Music Monday! And, with the sad loss yesterday of one of our cherished Patron Saints Regine, who better than she to start the week off in a fitting manner - complete with safety gays, bien sûr?!!

Regine - La Grande Zoa [Mardi Gras Story, 1969]

Quand vient l'mardi, la grande Zoa
Met ses bijoux, ses chinchillas
Et puis à minuit, la grande Zoa
Autour du cou s'met un boa

Y en a qui marmonnent
Que la grande Zoa
Ce serait un homme
On dit ça!

Which translates as:

When Tuesday comes, the Great Zoa
Puts on her jewellery, her chinchillas
And then at midnight, the Great Zoa
Throws a boa around her neck

There are those who whisper
That the Great Zoa
Appears to be a man
People say that!

Have a good week, dear reader...

[I was torn between two video versions of this song - so here's the other (live) version for your delectation, in which the "Queen of the Night"'s safety gays get even camper!]

Saturday, 26 December 2020

Une bourde monumentale


Rika or Régine?

Très embarrassant!

This is what happens when media outlets employ people who get all their information from Tw*tter instead of proper journalists. Earlier this week, French news channel BFMTV reported on the death of the iconic Israeli-French singer Rika Zaraï at the age of 82 - but featured images of (our Patron Saint) the very-much-still-alive Régine instead!

Both ladies are, of course, house favourites here at Dolores Delargo Towers, so by way of a tribute - first up, something from the late, great Rika:

And, on the Grande Dame Régine's 91st birthday, a classic:

RIP Rika Zaraï (19th February 1938 – 23rd December 2020) [More Rika]

Bonne anniversaire, Régine Zylberberg (born 26th December 1929)! [More Régine]

Monday, 11 May 2020

Gigolo or gigolette?


Taking "Bal masqué" to a new level.

And here we are again - all locked up and nowhere to go. Boris's address to the nation yesterday basically left us as unclear as ever whether retail outlets other than "essential" will re-open any time soon, or pubs, or other entertainment venues. I doubt, given that social isolation rules on staying six feet apart are still in place, that we'll be thronging into a Wetherspoons or any West End theatre at any time soon till they work out how we can be kept at a safe distance from each other. Garden centres, however, have been lifted out of the "non-essential business" category, so we'll see if any of our local ones will pluck up the courage to re-open...

In the meantime, another week of cricking my back working from home on a teensy unergonomic laptop beckons - but while there's a Tacky Music Monday, there's hope. Especially when "The Queen of the Night", our beloved Régine hoves into view in her shocking pink boa!

In this typically bizarre clip, at first the great lady appears to be in a casino with some extras from a soft porn film, draping herself over Serge Gainsbourg. Then he stomps off, smoking, she appears to get escorted off the premises by a load of safety gays, and suddenly she she comes over all "Mama Rose". It's exactly what we need at a time like this...


Have a good week, dear reader. In familiar surroundings, inevitably.

More Régine here, here, here and (of course) here [and even more if you click her name in the "small print" at the foot of this post].

Thursday, 26 December 2019

Il parait que mon optimisme est contagieux







Among her fellow birthday celebrants, she's a full ten years older than the disgraced legend Phil Spector, and there's also a mixed bag of luminaries such as Denis Quilley, Jared Leto, Chairman Mao, Richard Widmark, Dermot Murnaghan, Kit Harington and Donald Moffat; but forget all of them. Today we light a candle (or several) for one of our revered Patron Saints - Mademoiselle Régine Zylberberg is 90 years old!!

Many and varied are the Grande Dame's achievements: she and her family escaped the Holocaust by remaining in hiding for much of the war, she emerged as a cabaret singer in Paris, and went on to become an international nightclub impresario - her clubs were patronised by royalty and the showbiz elite in an era when the likes of Studio 54 weren't even embryonic - and purportedly invented the discotheque by introducing DJs instead of a jukebox.

I posted an extensive tribute to the lady over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp in 2012, so without further ado... continuons avec le spectacle!






Camp, moi?!

Que vous puissiez être heureuse encore de nombreuses années, Mlle Régine!!

Wednesday, 26 December 2018

Viens m’faire la bise





The madness of Xmas is over, thankfully. There's still sod all on the telly, but at least the shops are open again (not that in our - largely Turkish - area any of the grocers actually closed; even the bakery was open). Unfortunately that also means that the sales have begun, so the queues will no doubt be horrendous. I am off to brave them anyway. Wish me luck...

...and to get ourselves into a suitably chilled mode, how about something from today's birthday girl, our Patron Saint of Nightclub Hostesses, the remarkable Régine?


Oh, c'est mieux!

Régine (born Regina Zylberberg, 26th December 1929)

Monday, 26 December 2016

C'est très efféminé



It's over now - I have had just about enough of this festering season, and of mourning yet another icon of my youth passing [I only hope Debbie Harry is keeping well...].

A new week opens, and we're hurtling towards the great end-of-year celebrations (at this rate "good riddance" might be appropriate).

It also happens to be the 87th birthday today of a Patron Saint - Mademoiselle Régine Zylberberg! So let's celebrate that fact on this Tacky Music Monday with a welcome revisit to one of her campest moments - in the company of a bevy of "safety gays", here's Les femmes ça fait pédé...


More Regine here, here, here, here and, of course, here.

Régine (born Regina Zylberberg, 26th December 1929)

Thursday, 14 July 2016

J'ai cueilli de bien jolies roses dans mon jardin



We need a diversion from the constant news coverage of Theresa May's current round of sackings, the back-stabbing and the surprise appointments, as she forms her new governing clique.

It is, of course Le quatorze juillet, France's own National Celebration (better known to the rest of us as Bastille Day) today - so who better to lighten the mood than the uncrowned Queen of France, Régine (and her hilarious safety gays, d'accord)?

Here she is with the delightful Jamais tra la la (which sounds as if it should be a sing-a-long, but who knows?):


Ça te changera les idées...

Friday, 26 December 2014

D'abord, j'ai eu peur





It may be Boxing Day, but it is still the end of the week, and - in my mind, anyhow - party time!

As my regular reader may already know, one of our most beloved camp divas (Gallic style) here at Dolores Delargo Towers is the one-time world-conquering club hostess and singer Régine - a woman for whom the epithet Grande Dame could have been invented.

Today is that formidable lady's 85th birthday, and so to celebrate let's dig out a most appropriate song for this prestigious anniversary, her massive club hit - a cover of the Gloria Gaynor standard, Je survivrai...

Merci ce est vendredi Discothèque!*


Régine Zylberberg (born 26th December 1929)

More Régine here, here, and especially here.

*PS that's "Thank Disco it's Friday" in French. According to Google Translate, anyhow.

Thursday, 26 December 2013

Très efféminé



Born today (Boxing Day): Henry Miller, Jane Lapotaire, Mao Tse-Tung, Phil Spector, Richard Widmark, and...

...our very own "Queen of the Night", Régine!

Here she is with a magnificent tribute to all things effeminately gay (I just can't imagine Lulu doing this). It's Les femmes ça fait, and it's wonderful:


Les femmes, ça fait pédé, c'est très efféminé
Tellement efféminé qu'ça fait pédé

Les femmes ça met des jupes
Non mais de quoi j'm'occupe
Les femmes ça met des bas
Nylon ou soie

Les femmes, ça fait pédé, c'est très très efféminé
Tellement efféminé qu'ça fait pédé

Les femmes ça met du rouge
Aux lèvres, et quand ça bouge
Des hanches, ça fait marcher
Les PDG

Les femmes, ça fait pédé, c'est très très très efféminé
Tellement efféminé qu'ça fait pédé

Les femmes ça se parfume
Les femmes ça boit ça fume
Des liqueurs de havanes
Et des bananes

Les femmes ça met du rouge
Aux lèvres, et quand ça bouge
Des hanches, ça fait marcher
Les PDG

Les femmes, ça fait pédé, c'est très très très efféminé
Tellement efféminé qu'ça fait pédé

Les femmes ça fait
Tellement efféminé
Qu'il y a plus d'un pédé
Qui y est resté


Not being fluent, I am not even going to attempt a translation, but I think the meaning is fairly clear...

It's as camp as tits, dear reader!

I have of course featured Régine before - read my tributes here, here and here.

Régine Zylberberg on Wikipedia.

Monday, 7 May 2012

Je Survivrai



Its a Bank Holiday, but it's still Tacky Music Monday pour moi!

And despite being busy today cleaning the inch of nicotine off our windows in preparation for some semblance of Spring sunshine (we live in hope), I have still found time to find a little suitable music to make the day seem better!

Here's one of our favourite entertainers, the Gallic icon (and "Patron saint" here at Dolores Delargo Towers) Régine - society hostess extraordinaire, singer, bon vivant and inventor (in 1957) of the modern discotheque (at 82, she still rules her worldwide nightclub empire with a rod of iron) - with her version of I Will Survive...


A survivor, indeed! Just last year, she appeared on stage in the Broadway revival of Sondheim's Follies - which is something I would love to have seen...

Read my previous blog on Régine

Régine on Wikipedia

Monday, 30 May 2011

Reine de la Nuit



Once again, a Bank Holiday - and once again, a Tacky Music Monday!

One of our favourite French divas here at Dolores Delargo Towers is the lovely Régine. Famous (if not notorious!) for the invention of the modern-day "discothèque" (with DJs replacing the jukebox), she went on to run a multi-million pound nightclub empire unsurprisingly called Régine's - no wonder her nickname is Reine de la Nuit ("Queen of the Night"). We have several albums of hers, and they are fabulous!

I should really dedicate a whole entry to this fabulously camp woman on my other blog - Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp - but let us just revel in some of her music for the moment...




Régine official website (in French, of course)