«One night I got a tune from Django Novo, called Coco, or, as it has since then been rechristened, Coucou. I couldn't believe how great this song was, as I wrote a review for it that didn't come close to capturing the roiling maelstrom of delights and associative imagery that floated around my mind as a result of a mere four minute experience, for days thereafter: “What a great song! This tune, and the supremely confident, breathy delivery of it, takes me back to the 1920's faded grandeur of Stresa on Lago Maggiore; the swank hotels, palm trees, priests in black hats, and hustlin' aristocrats on the make in the park across the street. I hear overtones of Marlene Dietrich in the melody, the voices of talented but endearing people who have become expatriates from life, all those men and women without a country who will somehow contrive to wangle their way onto the planes out of Casablanca, or wherever they are...”
Django Novo: Who is this guy? First of all, he's more than just a voice, because out of whole cloth he makes these songs that have all the feel and atmosphere of the expatriate bars in Paris, in the 1920's and 1930's. He says he's Dutch, but the English of the lyrics he writes is flawless, quirky, idiomatic, polished, and crafty with slang. His arrangements are filled with eloquent silent moments that speak for all the things better left unsaid.»
Jabez L. Van Cleef is a writer and musician who lives in Madison, NJ, USA.
