Centrality of text, and discourse strategies in French political songs

This paper starts by establishing briefly the centrality of text and of socio-political discourse in French songs from a historical perspective. It then discusses the usefulness of the concept of 'dialogism', 'voice' and 'intertextuality' in political song analysis drawing from Bakhtin's and Kristeva's theories of discourse. It shows in particular how the songwriters and interpreters of La Marseillaise (three different versions 1792, 1848, 1979) use voice strategies such as parody, appropriation, and adaptation to engage in the political and socio-cultural discourse of their times.