Gavial refers to a gavial, a type of crocodilian with a long, slender snout. It's an unusual and specific animal reference, making it quite memorable and unique in a song.
In the lyrics, Gainsbourg describes Charlotte "Ă quatre pattes comme un petit gavial" (on all fours like a little gavial), creating a vivid and somewhat quirky image of a child. This unexpected comparison adds a touch of playful eccentricity to the song, characteristic of Gainsbourg's style.
Serge Gainsbourg wrote this one for his own daughter, and you can hear it the moment he calls her a little "Charlotte aux pommes" in "Tu es une petite Charlotte aux pommes" [You're a little apple-tart Charlotte], a pun only a dad allows himself. The whole song is built around one sound he keeps repeating to calm her down: "Shush, shush, shush Charlotte" [Hush, hush, hush Charlotte], said so many times it stops being a lyric and starts feeling like a habit.
What he's hushing gets bigger every verse. First it's a toddler thing, "Quand tu faisais poupou dans ta culotte je te disais" [When you were pooping in your pants I'd tell you]. Then it's a kid running late for school. Then it's a teenager losing her temper at cards and swearing exactly like her father: "Tu dis 'merde', 'chier', 'con', tu râles" [You say 'shit', 'damn it', 'idiot', you gripe]. By the last verse he's not calming down tantrums anymore. He tells her straight, in the gentlest voice he's got, "Sais-tu, ma petite fille, pour la vie il n'est pas d'antidote" [Do you know, my little girl, there's no antidote for life], that one night he won't be around, and he doesn't want her crying about it. Same three words cover all of it.
Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) was one of France's most influential and provocative singer-songwriters, celebrated for his sharp wit, playful wordplay, and fearless approach to taboo subjects. Born Lucien Ginsburg in Paris to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, he first made his name writing songs for other French stars before building his own singing career through the 1960s and 1970s.
He moved fluidly between chanson, pop, reggae, and rock, and became internationally known for the breathy 1969 duet "Je t'aime... moi non plus" with Jane Birkin. Songs like "Premiers SymptĂ´mes" show his gift for turning dark, personal subject matter, heartbreak and self-destruction, into vivid, darkly funny storytelling. He remains one of the most sampled and studied songwriters in French pop history.