The golden man of French chanson

Jean-Jacques Goldman is a beaucoup with his name. Il n'a jamais envisage d'en changer, même lorsque ses producers le lui ont suggestéré au début de sa career. Au micro de NRJ, in the years 1980, the declaration with simplicity: « I appeal to Jean-Jacques Goldman. C'est le nom que mes parents m'ont donné, alors je l'ai gardé. » Et plus tard, dans Tribune juive: « Je m'appelle Goldman. Quand on me demande quelles sont mes origines, [...] je dis que je suis fils de Juif polonais et de Juive allesmande. »

What is your life, your memory and your memories? This visceral attachment to a name that belongs to the rocker that «Johnny Hallyday» or «Frankie Jordan» denotes a promise, an ambition of the author's childhood, but also a fidélité in a histoire. Deux des pseudonymes que Goldman a utilisés, « Sam Brewski » et « O. Menor », sont d'ailleurs un clin d'œil à sa judéité, the premier pour sa sonorité ashkénaze, the deuxième pour son homophonie avec « homme en or », traduction littérale de son nom. When Goldman put on a mask, it wasn't for cacher that it was young.

Au fil du temps, l'identification du chanteur avec l'or est devenu un poncif, soit par éloge ("l'homme en or de la chanson française"), soit au contraire par allusion antisémite ("l'homme en or et, par extension, "couilles en or" ", écrit Libération en 1991), the love of the Juifs pour le metal jaune étant un cliché que l'on retrouve sous the plume de Drumont, Bernanos et consorts.

Sur les discs, les cassettes, les affiches, les concert tickets: GOLDMAN. Il est plus simple de s'appeler Martin en France, Schmidt en Allemagne, Da Silva au Portugal et Johnson aux États-Unis, quoique la banalité ait ses souffrances, celles des individus passe-partout, « trop hommes blancs, trop origine provinciale, trop ruralité », dénués en somme de grandeur. Maybe it's an affaire de perspective, car "Goldman" is as banal. The history of Jean-Jacques Raconte tous les Juifs, and d'abord ceux qui portent un nom de métallurgiste ou d'orfèvre, Goldstein, Goldberg, Goldfuss, Goldhagen pour l'or, Zylberman, Zylberberg, Zylberstein, Zylberfarb pour l'argent, Kupferman, Kupferberg, Kupferstein pour le cuivre. The men in leather, the women in silver, the children in or who are liquéfiés in the four years of the siècle.

Bien sûr, en contexte français, « Goldman » sonne étranger, allogène, a little floating, pas-de-chez-nous. D'où la question qui se pose aux parents: faut-il se résigner à changer de nom? À défaut, comment se fondre dans la masse? Eh bien, on peut déjà thunder un prénom français à ses enfants. The result is a dissonance nom-prénom perceptible à toute oreille, a bancalité typique du Franco-Judaïsme qui signifie: « Nous voulons nous intégrer. »

Mireille Hartuch
Renée Lieben
Gérard Tannenbaum
Regina Zylberberg
Jean-Claude Grumberg
Marcel Gottlieb
Marcel Jablonka
Suzanne Jablonka
Évelyne Goldman
Robert Goldman
Jean-Jacques Goldman

In parallel, the French opera and subtle francization of Goldman. In 1982, the presenter of the emission La Nouvelle Affiche Prononce clairement « Golde-mann », mais à part lui, tout le monde élude le D pour obtenir la sonorité « Goll-mann », comme le patronyme de Stéphane Golmann, an artiste de variétés des années 1950.

Ivan Jablonka Goldman (Seuil, 2023).

Jean-Jacques Goldman places great importance on his name. He never considered changing it, even when his producers suggested it early in his career. Speaking to radio station NRJ in the 1980s, he simply stated: “My name is Jean-Jacques Goldman. It’s the name my parents gave me, so I kept it.” And later in Jewish Tribune“My name is Goldman. When people ask me about my origins, […] I say that I am the son of a Polish Jew and a German Jew.”

Forgetting where he comes from, his memory, and his loved ones? This visceral attachment to a name that doesn't rock as much as "Johnny Hallyday" or "Frankie Jordan" testifies to honesty, perhaps to ambition as a writer, but above all to loyalty to a story. Two of the pseudonyms Goldman has used, "Sam Brewski" and "O. Menor," are, incidentally, alludes to his Jewishness: the first because of its Ashkenazi sound, the second because of its homophony with "homme en or," the literal translation of his name. When Goldman puts on a mask, it's not to hide the fact that he is Jewish.

Over time, the identification of the singer with gold became a pontificate, either as praise (“l'homme en or de la chanson française”) or, on the contrary, as an anti-Semitic allusion (“l'homme en or et, par extension, “couilles en or””), writes Libération 1991), whereby the Jews' love for yellow metal is a cliché that can be found in the pens of Drumont, Bernanos and his associates.

On records, cassettes, posters, and concert tickets: GOLDMAN. It's easier to be called Martin in France, Schmidt in Germany, Da Silva in Portugal, and Johnson in the USA, although banality also has its woes, namely those of individuals who are too white, too provincial, too rural, who lack greatness. But it's all a matter of perspective, because "Goldman" is quite banal. Jean-Jacques's story tells of all Jews, first of all those who bear the name of a metalworker or goldsmith: Goldstein, Goldberg, Goldfuss, Goldhagen for gold; Zylberman, Zylberberg, Zylberstein, Zylberfarb for silver; Kupferman, Kupferberg, Kupferstein for copper. Men of copper, women of silver, children of gold, melted down in the furnace of the century.

Of course, "Goldman" sounds foreign, alien, a little ethereal, out of place in a French context. Therefore, the question arises for the parents: Should they accept changing their name? If not, how can they blend in? Well, they can give their children a French first name. The result is a dissonance between the name and the first name that is perceptible to every ear, a wavering typical of Franco-Jewish culture that signifies: "We want to integrate."

Mireille Hartuch
Renée Lieben
Gérard Tannenbaum
Regina Zylberberg
Jean-Claude Grumberg
Marcel Gottlieb
Marcel Jablonka
Suzanne Jablonka
Évelyne Goldman
Robert Goldman
Jean-Jacques Goldman

Simultaneously, a subtle Frenchification of Goldman is taking place in French. In 1982, the show's host spoke La Nouvelle Affiche clearly “Golde-mann”, but apart from him everyone else avoided the D to retain the sound “Goll-mann”, like the surname of Stéphane Golmann, a variety artist from the 1950s. ¹

1. “Jean-Jacques Goldman is not just a big name in chanson. He is also the child of Jewish immigrants who became the most beloved figure in France, a committed artist after the death of utopias, a craftsman at the heart of the culture industry, a man who broke with masculine codes. Success did not diminish his straightforwardness or his humility. To exist, Goldman had to navigate the rules of his time, but he ultimately composed the zeitgeist himself: the songs girls listened to in their bedrooms, the hits all teenagers danced to, the anthems of the generations who thronged to his concerts. And then, at the height of his fame, the hyperstar chose to withdraw. In the madness of social media, his invisibility makes him strangely visible. Through his absence, and because he was never truly present, Goldman has become a myth. This book traces the career of an extraordinary artist and, at the same time, tells the story of our Goldman years.” Translation of the publisher's announcement.>>>