France Gall's “Les Sucettes": A French Teen Oral Sex Song

18-year-old France Gall & Serge Gainsbourg

In 1966, Serge Gainsbourg, the controversial French songwriter, poet, artist, actor and director, wrote “Les Sucettes [English: Lollipops] for 18-year-old blonde songstress France Gall. 

The song is about Anna, a young girl who was in paradise every time that “stick slides down her throat”. 

Gall emphatically claimed, even after shooting the video, that she was mortified because, she didn't know that the song, which on the surface appeared to be a children's song, was about oral sex. 

Per “Les Sucettes'" Wikipedia page:

"Les Sucettes" is, on the surface, a yé-yé-style song about a girl named Annie who likes aniseed-flavoured lollipops; much of the lyrical content plays up the homonyms of "Annie" and "anis" (aniseed).

But Gainsbourg's lyric also contains playful double meanings referring to oral sex, such as a line about barley sugar running down Annie's throat. The very noun for lollypop in French, "sucette", is the substantivised verb "sucer", sucking – so that the title and the refrain ("Annie aime les sucettes", Annie loves lollypops) are far more evocative in French than in the English translation. A possible translation to preserve the innuendo would be "Annie loves suckers". 

The song also features a direct double entendre, stating that Annie has lollipops "pour quelques pennies" (for a few pennies), which can also be heard as "pour quelques pénis" (for a few penises).

I'm shocked that the phallic, approximately twelve-inch long, lollipop that Gall sucked on in the video wasn't a dead giveaway about the salacious nature the song. But unsurprisingly, “Les Sucettes” was teen Gall's biggest hit.

Here are the song's French lyrics with English translations:

The lollipops\Les sucettes

Annie loves lollipops\Annie aime les sucettes

Lollipops with anise\Les sucettes à l'anis

Annie's anise lollipops\Les sucettes à l'anis d'Annie

Give her kisses\Donnent à ses baisers

An anise taste\Un goût anisé

When barley sugar\Lorsque le sucre d'orge

Scented with anise\Parfumé à l'anis

Runs down Annie's throat\Coule dans la gorge d'Annie

She is in paradise\Elle est au paradis

For a few pennies, Annie\Pour quelques penny, Annie

To his anise lollipops\A ses sucettes à l'anis

They have the color of his big eyes\Elles ont la couleur de ses grands yeux

The color of happy days\La couleur des jours heureux

Annie loves lollipops\Annie aime les sucettes

Lollipops with anise\Les sucettes à l'anis

Annie's anise lollipops\Les sucettes à l'anis d'Annie

Give her kisses\Donnent à ses baisers

An anise taste\Un goût anisé

When she has on her tongue\Lorsqu'elle n'a sur sa langue

That the little stick\Que le petit bâton

She takes her legs to her body\Elle prend ses jambes à son corps

And go back to the drugstore\Et retourne au drugstore

For a few pennies, Annie\Pour quelques penny, Annie

To his anise lollipops\A ses sucettes à l'anis

They have the color of his big eyes\Elles ont la couleur de ses grands yeux

The color of happy days\La couleur des jours heureux

When barley sugar\Lorsque le sucre d'orge

Scented with anise\Parfumé à l'anis

Runs down Annie's throat\Coule dans la gorge d'Annie

She's in Heaven\Elle est au paradis.

(Source: Musixmatch)