In 1968 Gainsbourg had written "Je t'aime, moi non plus", anexplicitly erotic song which he had recorded with Brigitte Bardot.After the pair's relationship had ended, Bardot begged Gainsbourg notto release the recording as a single and Gainsbourg, the perfectgentleman, respected her wishes. However, in 1969 Jane recorded thenotorious song as a duet with Gainsbourg and it appeared on the pair'sjoint album "Jane Birkin Serge Gainsbourg".
When "Je t'aime moinon plus" was released as a single later that year it caused anabsolute scandal. Indeed, Gainsbourg's erotic lyrics and Jane'spassionate whispering totally outraged public opinion. Theinternational press attacked the song's "lewd" message, radios bannedit from their playlists and the Vatican went so far as to issue astatement condemning the immoral nature of the song. In short, "Jet'aime moi non plus" benefited from a huge amount of free publicity androcketed straight to the top of the charts, selling around a millioncopies in the space of just a few months. Needless to say, Gainsbourgand Birkin became the most scandalous couple of the year and theirrelationship became the subject of intense media scrutiny.
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