Georges Brassens is an icon in the world of French music, yet he is largely unknown in the States. Brassens, who performed from the nineteen-fifties into the late nineteen-seventies, was revered in France for his complex, witty, and shocking poetry. His songs, which weaved hilarious tales of love, sex, and everyday life while condemning the hypocrisies of society, contained rich poetry and explicit imagery. They were banned on the radio when he first appeared, but Brassens quickly became a best-selling star of the French musical tradition.

Musician and translator Pierre de Gaillande was born in Paris, France, spent his formative years in California, and moved to New York City in 1994, where he played with cow-punk band Morning Glories and C. Gibbs Review. He formed Melomane as singer/guitarist/songwriter in 1999 and continues to tour internationally with that band, as well as with the band The Snow. He also composes music for film, television, and performance. For the last two years de Gaillande has been translating and recording the songs of iconic French singer Georges Brassens, work for which he was granted a residency at Ucross Foundation in 2009. The resulting album, Bad Reputation, was released by Barbes Records in 2010 in conjunction with this special edition box set from UDP.