Immensely talented, haunted and gloriously profane, French composer, singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg was a complex and controversial figure, but his genre-defying pop compositions permeated French life from the 1960s on. He gave songs to other artists throughout his life, helping forge the careers of artists like Petula Clark and Jane Birkin, and enlivening others’ oeuvres with his clever wordplay and double entendres.