French Music – Mylène Farmer Posted by Tim Hildreth on Apr 24, 2018 in Culture, Music, Vocabulary
Last week’s song from Calogero, evoking as it did Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s history of airmail and his novels Vol de nuit and Le petit prince, led me to another song that captures a similar spirit… and is from one of my favorite French singers.
Mylène Farmer was already famous in France when I first went there over 30 years ago. A mix of Madonna and Lady Gaga, like both of them she was ahead of her time in artistry – producing music videos that were mini-movies, pushing cultural hot buttons and boundaries of fashion, music, and art. The song below is from her 5th studio album (1999’s Innamoramento) and like Voler de nuit is evocative both in tone and word of Saint-Exupéry.
| Quelle solitude | What loneliness |
| De mourir sans certitude d’être au moins | To die without the certainty that you’re at least |
| Une particule | A particle |
| De vie un point minuscule utile à quelqu’un | Of life even, a tiny dot useful to someone |
| Quelle solitude | Such solitude |
| D’ignorer ce que les yeux ne peuvent pas voir | To ignore what can’t be seen |
| Le monde adulte | The world of adults |
| Isolé un monde abrupt | Isolated an abrupt world |
| Et là, je broie du noir | And there I go, now I’m blue (everything looks black) |
| Dessine-moi un mouton | Draw me a sheep |
| Le ciel est vide sans imagination | The sky is empty with no imagination |
| C’est ça dessine-moi un mouton | That’s it, draw me a sheep |
| Redevenir l’enfant que nous étions | Let’s return to the child that we were |
| Dessine-moi un mouton | Draw me a sheep |
| Le monde est triste sans imagination | The world is a sad place without imagination |
| C’est ça dessine-moi un mouton | That’s it, draw me a sheep |
| Apprivoiser l’absurdité du Monde | Tame the absurdities of the world |
| Quelle solitude | How lonely |
| De se dire que la morsure du temps n’est rien | To say that the passage (lit. the bite) of time is meaningless |
| Le rêve est bulle de vie un bien majuscule utile au chagrin | Dreams are bubbles of life, of major import, and useful for sorrow |
| Déconfiture | Collapse |
| Des pépins mais je veux croire en l’au-delà | Stones but I want to believe in the beyond |
| Et vivre est dur | And living is hard |
| Toujours un choix mais je jure que le monde est à moi | There is always a choice but I swear the world is mine |
| Refrain | Chorus |
| Il est à moi… x3 | It is mine… x3 |
| Il est à moi…Le Monde x3 | It is mine… The world x3 |
| Refrain | Chorus |
Photo of Mylèle Farmer en scène by Clicsouris (Self-photographed) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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About the Author: Tim Hildreth
Since my first trip to France at 16, I have been a passionate francophile. I love the language, food, music, art, people, and more that make France and la Francophonie in general such an amazing part of our global community. Having lived in France and studied the language and culture for over 35 years, it is my great pleasure to be able to share a little bit of my deep love with you through this blog.