Video: Sparks, ‘Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)’

Daiana Feuer on September 1st, 2017

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“Je ne regrette rien.” That’s what French cabaret icon Edith Piaf said, but the phrase “I regret nothing” doesn’t sit right with Sparks brothers Ron and Russell Mael on this song from “Hippopotamus,” the duo’s new album arriving Sept. 8 via BMG. Or does it? The lyrics waver between admiration and antipathy on this melancholic but upbeat tune, culminating in chants of “Live fast and die young / Too late for that” and “I was born to be bad / Not this time.” Animator/puppeteer Joseph Wallace directed the stop motion video, which features animated versions of Ron and Russell tracking down a pretty bird in Paris.

After working on a long-form film musical called “Annette,” touring with Franz Ferdinand as FFS in 2015 motivated the brothers to write a new batch of songs. “Hippopotamus” follows 2009’s “The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman” and touches down as the 23rd studio album they’ve released since 1971.

||| Watch: “Edith Piaf (Said It Better Than Me)”