Johnny Hallyday a-t-he abandoned his son long before his death, as suggested by Sylvie Vartan in April last? Not really, writes Laurent Lavige. In to me Thou hast not left the time , an illustrated book to be published (Editions Hugo Images, the journalist and friend of David and Johnny Hallyday is back on the relationship “bashful but full of love” between the two artists. It also explores the bond that unites a father and his son for over fifty years.
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“This book is the sum of my encounters with David,” says Lavige in the guise of a foreword. Author of several books on Johnny Hallyday, the journalist who scoured the tv shows since the death of the ex-idol of the young, accompanied the rocker on tour and has often “attended a reunion between father and son”. And does he look to both exterior and familiar (or claimed as such) to this relationship as intimate as art.
Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Vartan and… chinese astrology!
The absence of Johnny, the difficulties of growing up in the shadow of a “sacred monster” or the musical collaboration, in the image of the writing on the tube Blood for blood , are all themes that evokes Lavige, helped by the moving testimonies of the eldest of the rocker, in this book illustrated with beautiful pictures (some of which, unfortunately, are not contextualized). Evidenced by the snapshot opening, which appears to be a David all smiles the day of her nine-year-old, Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday at his side.
Jimi Hendrix to Nirvana, to me Thou hast not left the time is also interested in those artists who have musically influenced the one as the other, without much understanding of why Smells Like Teen Spirit or Come As you Are has been able to inspire. Interviews with Elton John, the singer and the guitarist of Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page or the drummer of Pink Floyd, Nick Mason come in and interfere at the heart of this relationship. It smells like a clearance sale of a music journalist.
And it jumps too often at the cock-to-ass in this book. This is where the main problem of this book looks like a catch-all that brings chinese astrology (Johnny Hallyday was goat water and David Hallyday is fire horse!), Freddie Mercury or Steely Dan (which you do not learn the topics in astral) in the middle of chapters on Johnny and his son. All the more pity that no book had explored this fascinating relationship, which probably explains many of the difficulties encountered today by David Hallyday.
