Cannabis is a film score

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 by French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg

Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg was a French singer-songwriter, actor and director. Gainsbourg's extremely varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorize...

, released in May 1970 through Philips Records

Philips Records

Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...

, accompanying the 1970 film of the same name, directed by Pierre Koralnik

Pierre Koralnik

Pierre Koralnik is a French film director and screenwriter. He directed the 1967 film Anna, which starred Anna Karina.-External links:...

 and starring Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin

Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...

, and Curd Jürgens

Curd Jürgens

Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens.-Early life:...

.

Background

After collaborating together on Anna, a 1967 television movie starring Anna Karina

Anna Karina

Anna Karina is a Danish film actress, director, and screenwriter who has spent most of her working life in France. Karina is known as a muse of the director, Jean-Luc Godard, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave...

, Gainsbourg and French director Pierre Koralnik

Pierre Koralnik

Pierre Koralnik is a French film director and screenwriter. He directed the 1967 film Anna, which starred Anna Karina.-External links:...

 decided to work on another movie which would eventually become Cannabis, when three producers (Roger Duchet, Andrée Debar, and Nat Wachsberger) commissioned one, based on seeing Gainsbourg and his then-lover Jane Birkin

Jane Birkin

Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English-born actress and singer who lives in France. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Burma.- Early life :...

 starring together in the 1969 film, Slogan, directed by Pierre Grimblat. All of the music for Cannabis was composed and written by Gainsbourg after the film had been shot, with help from arranger Jean-Claude Vannier

Jean-Claude Vannier

Jean-Claude Vannier is a French musician, composer and arranger. He was born during a bomb scare in Courbevoie, Hauts-de-Seine. Self-taught, he began playing the piano at age 18, later arranging for Michel Magne and Alice Dona, his first notions of orchestration taken from the books of the "Que...

, with whom Gainsbourg would again collaborate the following year on Histoire de Melody Nelson

Histoire de Melody Nelson

Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent...

.

Recording

Cannabis was recorded at Studio Davout, a recording studio in Paris, France, with producers Roger Duchet and Nat Wachselberger.

Reception

Upon its release, Cannabis was received positively. Thom Jurek of Allmusic wrote that it was "among the most startling [...] in [Gainsbourg's] oeuvre", and also noted that the score was "one of the most sophisticated [...] Gainsbourg ever conceived".

Track listing

All music composed by Serge Gainsbourg and arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier.

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...	May 1970	Philips Records Philips Records Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...	LP Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...	6311 060
Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...	23 August 1970	Disques Bagatelle	LP	BAS 602
France	2008	Philips Records	LP	6311 060

External links

• Cannabis at Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...