“Le Havre is the Liverpool of France.” – Elliott Murphy
There are two fine cities within the Hexagone (how the French often refer to their country due to its distinctive six-sided shape) that I can say I know both intimately and affectionately. The first, of course, being Paris, the Capital (how French men and women sometimes refer to the home of two world-renowned edifices – the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame) due to its being the geographic hub of nearly everything that matters in this country, politically, economically and culturally (imagine New York, Washington CD and Los Angeles all rolled into one) and where I have lived, loved and prospered these past thirty-seven years. And the second being the old port city of Le Havre, about 180 km (or 120 miles) northwest from Paris at the mouth of the Seine on the English Channel, a city of 170,000 proud Normands (1) and a community with a lot of soulful souls I like to call the Liverpool of France because of its undeniable rock ‘n’ roll heritage as back in the 50’s and 60’s local sailors would bring first rhythm and blues and later rock records back from America when they returned from their ocean voyages ready to dance on solid ground to the latest sounds from the new world.
Le Havre was founded in 1517 by French King Francis I, who was also the patron of supreme multi-tasker Leonardo Da Vinci who in my opinion was the David Bowie of his day (I know this is a stretch). Apparently, Francis thought it wise to expand a sleepy fishing village into a heavily guarded harbor town so that the next wave of those nasty Vikings entering the Seine river on their way to the capital of wine, women and pillaging could be discouraged before reaching Paris.
I know, I know … there were no Viking hordes threatening Paris in 1517 but nonetheless over centuries, Le Havre not only established a formidable fortress but expanded onto land reclaimed from the sea and was proud enough to call itself The Harbor which is what Le Havre literally means in French which is why it’s occupants are called Havrais, which literally means people of the harbor. Before WW II, the port of Le Havre was where the very elegant ocean liner SS Normandie would dock after crossing the Atlantic in record speed and where it dropped off American movie stars on their way to Paris film premieres. When the war broke out, the Normandie escaped the clutches of the occupying Germans and was moored off New York City’s west side, ready to be transformed into a troop carrier when it accidentally caught fire and was destroyed, ignominiously lying mortally wounded on its side in a berth off the Hudson River. To make matters worse, in 1944 Le Havre itself was bombed mercilessly by the English and Allied forces where 80% of the city was destroyed. But you can’t keep a good town down and Le Havre rose from the ashes complete with post-war inner-city architecture by Auguste Perret and is now designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Centre site. Voilà!
Unfortunately, I’ve never crossed the Atlantic by ocean liner (apparently the aforementioned David Bowie did this many times) and I discovered Le Havre when I produced an album of native singer-songwriter Jerome Soligny in the early 1980’s. Jerome had sent a demo cassette to me in New York (that I liked) which included a song called … “Elliott Murphy” (which I really liked) which had a line that went something like: “he wears his hair like how my town wears the sea.” How could I resist? So off I went to Le Havre to produce Heydays are Gone, his debut album. Jerome has gone on to have a glorious career not only as a songwriter and rock journalist but also as David Bowie’s foremost biographer.
Anyway, some years after I moved to France in 1989, I called upon Jerome to recommend a guitarist with whom I might find musical common ground (2) with and who might be a worthy and easy-going road companion. Without hesitation, Jerome recommended fellow Havrais Olivier Durand who had already established himself as the excellent lead guitarist of Little Bob, a local rock ‘n’ roll legend. We met, talked a bit about our roots and influences (we shared a love of Dylan, Tom Waits & Rolling Stones but I was more into the Velvet Underground while Olivier adored AC/DC) and immediately some kind of bond was established and that Franco-American glue has kept us playing and touring together for over thirty years! Yes, you heard that right: over thirty years – longer than Lennon and McCartney and with fewer breakups than Jagger/Richards. Oliver and I have played probably close to two thousand concerts together all over Europe and the U.S. and when we played at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC some years ago the review in the Washinton Post which appeared the next day called Olivier: France’s new secret weapon!
Through the years, I’ve played many shows in Le Havre and the premiere of the film The Second Act of Elliott Murphy was held there as well. But to mark our thirty years of comradeship I wanted to celebrate with a special show and so we approached the Adjointe au Maire du Havre en charge de la culture to see about organizing a concert and magnanimously they proposed a night at Magic Mirrors, a municipally owned venue, beautiful and unique in structure, something like a wooden circus tent lined with mirrors.
The city did a fine job of promoting the show and Magic Mirrors was packed when we began our show there on April 17, 2026, complete with The Murphyland Band which now includes not only Olivier but also fellow havrais percussionist Alan Fatras, who has been part of my musical ensemble for over 20 years, violinist Melissa Cox, originally from Australia and now a Paris ex-pat like myself and a Murphyland veteran of 10 years, and newcomer Aurelien Barbolosi an amazing bassist who already goes back a few years.
The show was recorded by my super-fan Patrick Dupon with the help of great soundman Mickaël Mayeu and is now available as Le Havre Live on a limited CD release and will soon be streaming on Spotify, Apple, Amazon etc. Personally, I think the results definitely manage to capture the excitement, enthusiasm and sheer magic of that evening. Bear in mind, this is audio verité so it’s a soundboard recording with no overdubs and you might notice a few mistakes (mostly by me) but still it’s a historical document I’m very proud of and a testament to Olivier Durand’s virtuosity and maybe my best band ever in my second Hexagone hometown.
Le Havre Live is available now in a limited signed and numbered edition CD.
Now available at the official Elliott Murphy Store.
1. Normandie literally means Land of the Norsemen as Scandinavian Vikings settled there in the early Middle Ages. Thus there’s a lot of blondes to be found but none wearing horned helmets that I’ve seen so far.
2. La Terre Commune (Common Ground) is the album title of a duo project I made with English singer-songwriter Iain Matthews, which was also recorded in … Le Havre.