Louis Chedid (born January 1, 1948 in Ismailia, Egypt) is an Egyptian-born French Chanson Singer-Songwriter who is part of the artistic Chedid family.
Born to French poet Andrée Chedid, he started his musical career in the seventies with a folk-inspired sound. He got his first hit with the song "T'as beau pas être beau" but it's only in the early eighties that he topped the french charts and got a wider recognition with the album Ainsi Soit-il and its title track.
His lyricism switches between political and mundane but the arrangement always gives them a loose laid-back feeling (complemented with Louis' limited vocal range). He has appeared in Émilie Jolie and co-wrote the musical Le Soldat Rose.
His son Matthieu Chedid is also a successful singer-songwriter in his own right, performing under the Stage Name -M-.
Discography
- 1973 - Balbutiements
- 1974 - Nous Sommes Des Clowns
- 1976 - Ver de Terre
- 1976 - Le Jeu de l'Oie et de Louis
- 1980 - Egomane
- 1981 - Ainsi Soit-il
- 1983 - Panique Organisée
- 1985 - Anne Ma Soeur Anne
- 1988 - Bizar
- 1990 - Zap
- 1992 - Ces Mots Sont Pour Toi
- 1997 - Répondez-Moi
- 2001 - Boucbelair
- 2005 - Un Ange Passe
- 2010 - On Ne Dit Jamais Assez Aux Gens qu'on les Aime
- 2013 - Deux Fois L'infini
- 2015 - CHEDID (with Mathieu, Joseph and Anna Chedid)
- 2019 - Tout ce qu'on veut dans la Vie
His work provides examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The chorus of "Coupe, Coupe, Tonton Macoute" is full of those.
- Celebrity Song: "Anna Ma Soeur Anne" is named after Anne Frank. The lyrics are about the rise of far-right ideology in France and how Anne's legacy hasn't been remembered.
- Everything Is an Instrument: "Le Rock du Rocking-Chair" features the creaking of a rocking-chair as the tempo while "La Machine" features the sound of various tools and enginery.
- Band of Relatives: He is part of the Chedid family (which has many artists among its members) and has founded a quartet with his sons Joseph and Mathieu, and her daughter Anna.
- Christmas Songs: "Ce Soir C'Est Noël".
- Despair Event Horizon: "Le Cha Cha de l'insecurité" talks about anxiety and pessimism related to the rise of warfare and home intrusion. Despite having a smooth laid-back sound.
- Face on the Cover: On all of his albums except his debut and Deux Fois L'infini, on top of being subverted on Egomane where he is seen wearing a mask.
- Genre Roulette: Starting his career with psychedelic folk mixed with Chanson, he switched to a New Wave sound in the early eighties before going back to his roots in the next decades.
- Heavy Meta: "Le Rock du Rocking Chair" and "God Save The Swing".
- Instrumentals: Each of his albums usually have one instrumental piece in the tracklist, either an original track or the instrumental cut of a song which appears on the same album.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Often played in his politically-charged songs. The best example being "Coupe, Coupe, Tonton Macoute" which talks about dictatorships and war torture with a silly-sounding chorus full of alliterations. A differrent example is "Le Cha Cha de l'insécurité", a slow groovy track about the decline of society through a Despair Event Horizon scope.
- Mundane Made Awesome: "Le Rock du Rocking-Chair" is the grooviest tune about sitting on a rocking-chair and being lazy.
- The Musical: He composed his own musical, Le Soldat Rose and previously sang as The Racoon in Émilie Jolie.
- One-Word Title: Balbutiements, Egomane, Bizar, Zap, Boucbelair and CHEDID.
- Pop-Star Composer: He composed the soundtracks of two films: Promotion Canapé and A Quoi tu Penses-tu ?.
- Pun-Based Title: His fourth album Le Jeu de l'Oie et de Louis.
- Self-Backing Vocalist
- Silly Love Songs: "J't'aimerai Toujours".
- Three Chords and the Truth: Despite a laid-back attitude and a simplicity in his songs' insrumentations, he has sung about heavy political subjects such as the rise of far-right ideology in France, dictatorships in South/Central America, or capitalism in a societal anxiety.
- Truck Driver's Gear Change: Progressively done on each verse of "Ainsi Soit-Il" until the last verse which switches back to the song's first key.
- Vocal Range Exceeded: On "Moi et Mon Boeing" from his first album Balbutiements and "Le Gros Blond" from the album Bizar.
