NEW YORK \u2014 In addition to being a 1960s French sex symbol, actor, singer and animal welfare activist, Brigitte Bardot was a muse to many \u2014 in particular, musicians. <\/p>\n
Her name, with its alliterative cadence, became synonymous with a kind of classic beauty. In songs, Bardot is often not Bardot the woman, but a symbol for desire \u2014 shorthand for a bombshell. Decades removed from the peak of her screen fame, contemporary performers continue to sing her name despite her many controversies, including being convicted five times in French courts of inciting racial hatred and provocative comments about the #MeToo movement.<\/p>\n
It may not be her main legacy, but Bardot, who died Sunday in southern France, will live in on the songs that mention her. Across genre and language, here is a sampling. <\/p>\n
Bob Dylan (1963)<\/h2>\n
The last track of the canonical \u201cThe Freewheelin\u2019 Bob Dylan\u201d exhibits Dylan’s wicked verbosity and elastic folk. \u201cWell, my telephone rang it would not stop \/ It\u2019s President Kennedy callin\u2019 me up \/ He said, My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow? I said my friend, John, Brigitte Bardot,\u201d he sings. \u201cAnita Ekberg \/ Sophia Loren \/ Country\u2019ll grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caetano Veloso (1967)<\/h2>\n
The Brazilian artist Caetano Veloso composed the protest song at the beginning of the tropicalismo movement; it became a hallmark of his career and one of the best-known Brazilian songs of all time. In it, he sings, \u201cEm caras de presidentes \/ Em grandes beijos de amor \/ Em dentes, pernas, bandeiras \/ Bomba e Brigitte Bardot\u201d (\u201cIn faces of presidents \/ In big kisses of love \/ In teeth, legs, flags \/ Bombs and Brigitte Bardot\u201d).<\/p>\n
Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot (1968) <\/h2>\n
A central architect of French pop, singer Serge Gainsbourg wrote this duet for himself and Bardot. It’s styled after a poem the outlaw Bonnie Parker wrote, titled \u201cThe Trail\u2019s End,\u201d shortly before she and partner Clyde Barrow were killed.<\/p>\n
Elton John (1972) <\/h2>\n
Jaunty piano and Elton John’s ascendent vocal melodies, all for a song with a less-than-optimistic title. John sings the words from his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin: \u201cI\u2019d make an exception \/ If you want to save my life \/ Brigitte Bardot gotta come \/ And see me every night.\u201d<\/p>\n A woman touches a poster showing actor Brigitte Bardo near her home in Saint-Tropez, southern France, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 after the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91. Credit: AP\/Philippe Magoni<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The Pretenders know a little something about the social power of Bardot. The English rock band’s principal songwriter and frontperson Chrissie Hynde sings: \u201cWhen love walks in the room \/ Everybody stand up \/ Oh, it\u2019s good, good, good \/ Like Brigitte Bardot.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe it’s a bit unfair to include Billy Joel’s classic here, which name-drops more than most pop hits, but it’s telling that Bardot gets a shoutout alongside \u201cBudapest, Alabama, Khrushchev \/ Princess Grace, Peyton Place, trouble in the Suez,\u201d and just after \u201cEinstein, James Dean, Brooklyn\u2019s got a winning team \/ Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland.\u201d Not an obscure name in sight.<\/p>\n \u201cStratford-On-Guy,\u201d from influential indie rocker Liz Phair’s seminal album \u201cExile in Guyville,\u201d takes aim at the dude-centric music scene. But it also uses Bardot to describe a flight attendant who reminds her that while communities can be insular, they all look the same from 30,000 feet. \u201cThe stewardess came back and checked on my drink \/ In the last strings of sunlight, a Brigitte Bardot,\u201d she sings. \u201c\u2019Cause I had on my headphones along with those eyes \/ That you get when your circumstance is movie-sized.\u201d<\/p>\n In the second verse of \u201cWarlocks,\u201d from the funky California rockers Red Hot Chili Peppers, singer Anthony Kiedis near-scats, \u201cRing side and blow-by-blow \/ Another main event at the old Rainbow \/ We\u2019re comin\u2019 right on top of the tupelo \/ When she looks just like Brigitte Bardot.\u201d It’s a descriptive image of Los Angeles \u2014 even with the inclusion of Bardot.<\/p>\n French film actress Brigitte Bardot appears at the Mount Royal Hotel in London on April 9, 1959. Credit: AP\/Dave Dawson<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Kali Uchis and Jorja Smith’s dreamy collaboration imagines \u201cBardot\u201d as shorthand for a make-out session with a complicated partner. \u201cThe world\u2019s been asking us to lose control,\u201d Uchis swoons. \u201cAll we ever do is French like Brigitte Bardot (Brigitte Bardot).\u201d<\/p>\n Olivia Rodrigo is best known for her spirited punk-pop, but she’s also a power balladeer, lest anyone forget it was \u201cdrivers license\u201d that made her a household name. \u201cLacy,\u201d a cut from \u201cGuts,\u201d is soft and slow, with Rodrigo obsessing over a woman she is not. It’s a jealous song, and ripe for a Bardot mention. \u201cSmart, sexy Lacy, I\u2019m losin\u2019 it lately \/ I feel your compliments lik\u0435 bullets on skin,\u201d she whisper-sings. \u201cDazzling starlet, Bardot reincarnat\u0435 \/ Well, aren\u2019t you the greatest thing to ever exist?\u201d<\/p>\n It arrives right at the top to describe an addictive crush. \u201cShe was a playboy, Brigitte Bardot,\u201d the pop powerhouse Chappell Roan sings over springy synths and cheery guitar riffs. \u201cShe showed me things I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NEW YORK \u2014 In addition to being a 1960s French sex symbol, actor, singer and animal welfare activist, Brigitte Bardot was a muse to many \u2014 in particular, musicians. Her name, with its alliterative cadence, became synonymous with a kind of classic beauty. In songs, Bardot is often not Bardot the woman, but a symbol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2214726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[359676,21741,21800,307696],"class_list":["post-2214725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ap-a-wire","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-wires-bot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/A-muse-for-musicians-11-songs-inspired-by-Brigitte-Bardot.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2214725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2214727,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2214725\/revisions\/2214727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2214726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2214725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2214725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2214725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} The Pretenders (1981)<\/h2>\n
Billy Joel (1989)<\/h2>\n
Liz Phair (1993)<\/h2>\n
Red Hot Chili Peppers (2006)<\/h2>\n
![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.newsday.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AZWU0NWEyNzQtNWJiMC00%3AYjVlNzhjNmItOGI3ZS00%2Fcopy-of-france-obit-bardot.jpeg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D768%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80\"\/)
Kali Uchis featuring Jorja Smith (2017)<\/h2>\n
Olivia Rodrigo (2023)<\/h2>\n
Chappell Roan (2023) <\/h2>\n