I recently made my first ever musical purchase at Whole Foods — a budget-priced three-disc set entitled, Café Paris:  42 Classic Songs from France.  One track from 1967 tickled my ear – Bridget Bardot’s “Oh, Qu’il Est Vilain” – with its spryly humorous organ, naive recorder lines, and cuckoo chorus:

“Oh, Qu’il Est Vilain”     Brigitte Bardot     1967?

How surprising to discover that this 1967-infused piece of pop was apparently issued first in Mexico on a Bardot 4-song EP (“Harley Davidson” b/w “Contact”) – though only as a B-side – before the song would find release in France the following year on a different EP (“Ce N’est Pas Vrai”) where “Vilain” would again be relegated to a B-side.  What gives?

1967 Mexican EP

1968 also saw the release of long-player, Brigitte Bardot Show, where “Oh, Qu’il Est Vilain” serves as side two’s kick-off track.  Curious to note that in 2009 Mercury France would reissue the 1968 French EP.