"Faufile" (“Sneak Away”)
This song appeared in 2016 on Charlotte Cardin’s debut EP “Big Boy” that featured 6 tracks, with “Faufile” the last one. In 2017, it helped Cardin earn a nomination for the SOCAN songwriting prize (for innovative, artistic and creative songs) by emerging artists in the French language category.
The title of this song introduces wordplay and some ambiguity that leaves one off-balance. The verb “faufiler” carries a pejorative connotation of sneakiness and boundary-avoidance (“Sneak, thread, slip, squeeze, weave”) and is most commonly used in a reflexive form (“se faufiler”). It is a compound verb that evolved from the words “faux” (false”) and “filer” (“leave, depart, dash off”). Parenthetically, but somewhat related in meaning, the French butchery term “faux filet” refers to a marbled cut of meat (“ribeye”) that adjoins, but is not part of, the “filet” or tenderloin. The song’s title alone, however, is not clearly a conjugated verb form at all and its intended grammatical status is uncertain.
The body of the song uses “homophone” words that are different but sound alike, giving an impression of sliding and slipping while creating a resonant lyrical and melodic flow: “les notes s’enfilent” (“the notes flow together”), “Filent les filles” (“the girls slip away”), “tu te faufiles” (“you slip through”). The lyrics are poetic, somewhat opaque, and many end-lines rhyme with dominant sounds of “iles,” “ant/ent” “oi,” “ises.”
In general, this song presents a monologue in intimate form (“tu”) by the author to an evasive person in her life who dodges commitment and “slipped through” her boundaries both on the way in and on the way out of their relationship, leading to hardship and heartache. This was presumably the “Big Boy” in the title of the host EP. The accompanying official music video shows Charlotte in the aftermath: alone, sad, pensive, wending her way aimlessly through a cityscape, perhaps in search of lost love, which is an apt visual representation of what the word “faufiler” means.
This short song has 2 Verses, 2 recurring Choruses and an Outro that replicates the Chorus. It lasts only two and a half minutes. It is about voice, melody and inflection portraying moments of loneliness and heartbreak. Cardin’s voice grabs and molds words, often transforming one or two of them into a multifaceted line. Each repetition of “faufile,” for example, unravels over 5 vocal notes with an elongated “i” sound. It is followed by similar treatment of “lignes” in the next line, also with 5 vocal notes. “I” words rule, but even “Oh” gets the 5 vocal notes. This piano/voice piece is a fine demonstration of vocal dexterity. The different chord sequences Verses and Choruses repeat for each of them.
The “official” video version, shot by Sébastien Duguay in Paris and London, appears below. As usual, challenging terms are highlighted in the text and explained in the notes.
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FRENCH LYRICS Verse 1 Toutes les notes s'enfilent Filent les filles Et tu ne sais pas Ne commencez pas De dos, fais face aux peines Tu choisis pile, ça tombe sur la reine Chorus Tu te faufiles Tu te faufiles Entre mes lignes, Oh Verse 2 Pars par là loin devant Ton vent m'essouffle Souffle une fois Car mes plaies s'ouvrent Pars par ici maintenant Je veux tes doigts Je les veux tenant Tout c'qui est à moi Chorus Tu te faufiles Entre mes lignes, Oh Verse 3 On peut prendre le temps d'une bise Avant que tous nos verres se vident Et que tu me dises? Tout ce que j'aime Je brise Outro Tu te faufiles Entre mes lignes, Oh Tu te faufiles Entre mes lignes, Oh |
TRANSLATION (PENDERGAST) Verse 1 All the notes follow one another The girls dash away And you don't know Don't start With your back turned, face the sorrows You choose tails, it falls on the queen Chorus You slip through You slip through Between my lines, Oh Verse 2 Go that way, far ahead Your wind leaves me breathless, Blow just once For my wounds are opening Go this way now I want your fingers, I want them holding Everything that is mine Chorus You slip through Between my lines, Oh Verse 3 We can take the time for a kiss Before all our glasses are empty And what do you tell me? “Everything I love, I break” Outro You slip through Between my lines Oh You slip through Between my lines Oh |
NB:
Tu choisis pile, ça tombe sur la reine: in French, the word “pile” as a noun means battery, but as an adverb it means “exactly” or “correctly.” There is also a French coin-tossing phrase “face ou pile” (“heads or tails”) where “pile” means “tails.” This song seems to blend the last two, meaning something like “you scored, it fell on the queen.”
Tu te faufiles Entre mes lignes: This key phrase in the chorus and the song is ambiguous but it is a common expression in French. It may be an adaptation of a military expression “You slipped through my lines” meaning to “bypass defensive obstacles/boundaries.” The “lines,” however, could also refer to any sort of conventional lines of literature or reality. “Reading between the lines” while understanding and exploiting unexpressed meanings and opportunities is often fuel for success.
Tout ce que j'aime Je brise: It is unclear whether the intended subject of this phrase is Cardin or her lost love.