Comme un boomerang (with Dani), 2001
(Album: Daho Live 2001)
Live album recorded at "Halles de Schaerbeek" Schaerbeek (Brussels), Belgium in May 2001
Early Eurovision
This song sports a patrimony that spans Serge Gainsbourg, the Eurovision Song Contest, Étienne Daho, and French singer Dani.
The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s largest live music event, organized annually since 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and participating national broadcasters. In 2024, it reached 163 million TV viewers and millions more online. In the early days, Eurovision was a serious song contest where people attended in formal wear and until 1998 there was live orchestral accompaniment for all performing groups.
By 1975, France was a dominant power in the competition. It had won first-place awards 5 times. In fact, Eurovision was a pillar of French dominance Europewide in language and “chanson.” Even when France did not win, the leading songs were often from other French-speaking countries (e.g. Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland) and the French “chanson”-style ballad was the dominant genre. The English language and US/British music did not sweep the world until many years later. Language, song and culture was such a foundation of French self-concept and even foreign policy that by 1969, the author/publisher of this website devoted a doctoral dissertation at Columbia University to the subject.
France Gall
In 1965, Serge Gainsbourg wrote the song "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" for 17-year old France Gall to perform at “Eurovision.” For their own reasons, French officials declined sponsorship for the pair, so Gainsbourg and Gall turned to Luxembourg instead and won the competition. This episode incorporated several incongruities with deep resonance. First, both Gainsbourg and Gall were criticized for adopting Luxembourg sponsorship. Second and somewhat paradoxically, the song borrowed a fast-paced classic melody from the 4th movement of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1, while at the same time it solidified the foothold at “Eurovision” of “yé-yé” music in contrast with traditional French “chanson” ballads. Third, the lyrics of “Poupée…” in combination with Gainsbourg’s other risqué piece in 1966 also sung by Gall, “Les Sucettes,” led to raised eyebrows. Those eyebrows reflected questions whether Gainsbourg’s barely disguised lyrical ambiguities constituted exploitation of a naive teenage singer.
In 1974, French officials selected actress/model/singer Dani (Danièle Graule, 1944-2022) to represent France in the Eurovision competition in Brighton, England. At that time, Dani was 30 years old and in the early stages of her career so it represented a significant opportunity. She was scheduled to interpret a song written by Christine Fontane, “La vie à vingt-cinque ans.” However, French President Georges Pompidou died shortly before that event so France cancelled its participation. Sweden won the award that year with ABBA’s song “Waterloo.”
Gainsbourg & Dani
Having missed the 1974 opportunity, Dani proposed the following year (1975) that Serge Gainsbourg write a song for the competition. Gainsbourg agreed and wrote “Comme un boomerang.” He and Dani informally recorded a duet and two solos as demos that remained unpublished. However, French broadcaster Antenne 2 rejected their song because, Dani later claimed: “à l'Eurovision, on ne doit pas parler de dingue, de flingue, etc.” For its part, Antenne 2 claimed that some lyrics were provocative (images of whips and guns). Eventually, Nicole Rieu represented France that year with Pierre Delanoe’s song “Bonjour à toi l’artiste” which finished fourth. Dani, therefore, had the misfortune of two consecutive forfeited shots at the Eurovision competition.
Fast-forward 25 years to 2001. After sitting unpublished for 25 years since the Eurovision episode, “Boomerang…” came blazing back like a boomerang with all its “booms” and “bangs.” Étienne Daho convinced Dani to resuscitate it and celebrate its anniversary in a duet at one of his live concerts. This is the version shown below. It remains a standard of French “chanson.” Gainsbourg’s original solo was finally released in 2011 in observance of his death 20 years before, but the original Dani solo and duet recordings remain lost or at least unpublished.
The song’s throbbing, percussive melody and lyrics are vintage Gainsbourg while Daho and Dani’s vocal combination contributes a solid, interactive interpretation that invokes Gainsbourg’s rich baritone. The song recounts the vicissitudes of a tenuous love relationship. It takes the form of a narrative addressed to a former lover, with the narrator hovering on the threat of self-harm in the last verse. The “boomerang” metaphor depicts the cyclical nature of such a relationship, while the “boums” and “bangs” in the Chorus express its volatility.
The song’s structure is rock-solid in its uniformity. There are 9 stanzas, all of them 6 lines. Rather unusually, a Chorus both opens and closes the song while Choruses and Verses alternate throughout. In a twist, each Chorus also shows differences in the final two lines except the first and last Choruses which are identical. All stanzas share an ABABCB rhyme scheme, often drawing on “ang” and “ing” sounds. All stanzas also employ the same chords and chord progression with a limited set of chords Em, G, A, C, and B7. That is unusual since most songs show melodic differentiation between Verses and Chords.
The song’s structure is rock-solid in its uniformity. There are 9 stanzas, all of them 6 lines. Rather unusually, a Chorus both opens and closes the song while Choruses and Verses alternate throughout. In a twist, each Chorus also shows differences in the final two lines except the first and last Choruses which are identical. All stanzas share an ABABCB rhyme scheme, often drawing on “ang” and “ing” sounds. All stanzas also employ the same chords and chord progression with a limited set of chords Em, G, A, C, and B7. That is unusual since most songs show melodic differentiation between Verses and Chords.
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Chorus Je sens des boums et des bangs agiter mon coeur blessé. l'amour comme un boomerang me revient des jours passés à pleurer les larmes dingues d'un corps que je t'avais donné Verse J'ai sur le bout de la langue ton prénom presque effacé tordu comme un boomerang mon esprit l'a rejeté de ma mémoire car la bringue et ton amour m'ont épuisé Chorus Je sens des boums et des bangs agiter mon coeur blessé. l'amour comme un boomerang me revient des jours passés à s'aimer comme des dingues comme deux fous à lier Verse Sache que ce coeur exsangue pourrait un jour s'arrêter si, comme un boomerang, tu ne reviens pas me chercher. Peu à peu je me déglingue, victime de ta cruauté Chorus Je sens des boums et des bangs agiter mon coeur blessé. l'amour comme un boomerang me revient des jours passés à t'aimer comme une dingue prête pour toi à me damner. Verse Toi qui fais partie du gang de mes séducteurs passés prends garde à ce boomerang qui pourrait te faire payer toutes ces tortures de cinglé que tu m'as fait endurer. Chorus Je sens des boums et des bangs agiter mon coeur blessé. l'amour comme un boomerang me revient des jours passés. C'est une histoire de dingue une histoire bête à pleurer. Verse Ma raison vacille et tangue, elle est prête à chavirer sous les coups de boomerang, de flashbacks enchainés. Et si un jour je me flingue c'est à toi que je le devrai. Instrumental Chorus Je sens des boums et des bangs agiter mon coeur blessé l'amour comme un boomerang me revient des jours passés à pleurer les larmes dingues d'un corps que je t'avais donné. |
Chorus I feel booms and bangs Agitating my wounded heart Love, like a boomerang, Returns to me from past days Crying the crazy tears Of a body that I gave you. Verse I have on the tip of my tongue Your name, almost erased Bent like a boomerang My mind rejected it From my memory, because the binge And your love exhausted me. Chorus I feel booms and bangs Agitating my wounded heart Love, like a boomerang, Returns to me from past days Loving each other like crazy Like two madmen. Verse Know that this bloodless heart Could someday stop If, like a boomerang, You don't come back to get me Little by little, I falter, Victim of your cruelty. Chorus I feel booms and bangs Agitating my wounded heart Love, like a boomerang, Returns to me from past days Loving you like a madman Ready for you to condemn me. Verse You, who belong to the gang Of my past lovers Beware that boomerang Which could make you pay For all the lashings You've put me through. Chorus I feel booms and bangs Agitating my wounded heart Love, like a boomerang, Returns to me from past days It's a crazy story A story stupid enough to cry Verse My reason wobbles and sways It is ready to capsize Under the boomerang blows Of chained flashbacks. And if one day I shoot myself It's to you that I'll owe it. Instrumental Chorus I feel booms and bangs Agitating my wounded heart Love, like a boomerang, Returns to me from past days Crying the crazy tears Of a body that I gave you. |
NB:
1.La bringue: means “bash” as in “have a bash” (“faire la bringue”) or binge.
2.Deux fous à lier: this expression (“fou à lier”) literally means “two nuts to tie up” and means colloquially “stark, raving mad.”
3.Exsangue: means “bloodless,” “drained,” “pale.”
4.Je me déglingue: means “fall apart.”
5.Ces tortures de cinglé: “cingler” means to “beat,” “lash,” and the phrase evokes an image of whipping with a “fouet.”
6.Flingue: “flinguer” is slang for “shoot down” and “se flinguer” means “shoot oneself.”
1.La bringue: means “bash” as in “have a bash” (“faire la bringue”) or binge.
2.Deux fous à lier: this expression (“fou à lier”) literally means “two nuts to tie up” and means colloquially “stark, raving mad.”
3.Exsangue: means “bloodless,” “drained,” “pale.”
4.Je me déglingue: means “fall apart.”
5.Ces tortures de cinglé: “cingler” means to “beat,” “lash,” and the phrase evokes an image of whipping with a “fouet.”
6.Flingue: “flinguer” is slang for “shoot down” and “se flinguer” means “shoot oneself.”
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