"Time Masters" lyricist Jacques Lanzmann dies

Posted:
Aug 5, 2006

French Jewish author and songwriter Jacques Lanzmann, who wrote the song lyrics for 1982 science-fiction animated feature Les Maitres du Temps(Time Masters), died June 21 at 79.

The brother of documentary film director Claude Lanzmann (Shoah), he died in Paris after months of serious illness, family members told the press.

Directed by Rene Laloux, Time Masters (also known as Masters of Time) was a multinational co-production. Lanzmann teamed with Jean-Pierre Bourtayre, who provided the music for the songs.

He wrote numerous hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s for pop star Jacques Dutronc; in all, he wrote about 150 songs. Lanzmann also wrote over 50 novels (about one a year), along with movie screenplays and dialogue.

"Jacques Lanzmann's songs will stay in French hearts for a long time," French president Jacques Chirac said after his death was announced June 22. "This generous writer led his life as an adventure novel, throughout the roads of the world."

Lanzmann's tunes for Dutronc shook up what was then a conservative country.

"Paris s'éveille" ("Paris is waking up"), his greatest hit, is still considered one of the public's all-time favorite pop songs. Describing the early hours of the day, the single was described as "everyday poetry" and came out just months before the May 1968 student and social uprising.

Other hits included "700,000 Chinese and I and I and I," "The Daughter of Santa Claus," "I Love Girls," "Don't Do This, Don't Do That" and "In Life There Are Cactuses" (covered recently by singer Vanessa Paradis).

Lanzmann, the son of an antique dealer and decorator, was born on May 4, 1927 in Bois-Colombes, north of Paris. Starting at age 12, he worked on a farm.

When the Second World War broke out, Lanzmann's father joined the French Resistance; Jacques Lanzmann was hidden in a house in the countryside. He joined his father in the Resistance in 1943.

After the war ended, Lanzmann painted for several years before traveling around the world and writing. He worked in a Chilean mine in the 1950s, writing his first best-selling novel, A Rat from America.

He was described as a red-headed adventurer who liked long walks. In fact, he wrote about walks across the deserted countryside.

Later, he penned novels about his own identity, as well as one on Jewish history. They included Memories of an Amnesiac (1971), Rue des Mamours, Rue des Rosiers, Don't Forget Who You Are and Imagine the Promised Land.

His final book, Life of a Family, was published last January.

Married four times, Jacques Lanzmann had seven children.