Parle-moi (Talk to Me), 2000
Album: “Mieux qu’ici-bas” (Better Than Here Below)
“Parle-moi” (Talk to Me) was the first track on Boulay’s breakout album in 2000 “Mieux qu’ici-bas” (Better Than Here Below) and also appeared as a single.
The song spotlights the communication barriers and anguish that characterize the terminal stages of a moribund relationship, and the twisting emotions that immobilize a party caught between the desperate fear of loss and the deadening recognition of stalemate. The narrator in this song is at a loss for words to resuscitate a relationship. She pleads for some response from her partner—some word, some look or glance even if it is to tell her to go away.
The composer and lyricist of “Parle-moi” (and two other songs on the album) is J. Kapler, which is a pseudonym for Robert Goldman (b. 1953), the younger brother of Jean-Jacques Goldman who appears elsewhere on this website. Robert Goldman is also a songwriter with many impressive songs to his credit. Isabelle Boulay is a singer of great talent but neither a composer nor a lyricist and collaborates with many partners. The more one settles into the investigation of “chanson,” the more complicated and interesting it becomes in tracing the patrimony of songs.
This song spotlights the imperative mood in several verbs: “parle-moi,” “regarde-moi,” and “dis-moi.” The title of the song (“Parle-moi”) is the mood’s present tense (second person singular) of the verb “parler.” French has 4 different personal verb “moods” that reflect whether the speaker’s is expressing: fact (Indicative), possibility (conditional), opinion (subjunctive) or command (imperative). Each “mood” has a conjugation. The imperative is used when giving orders, advice, or wishes. When using the imperative, subject pronouns are dropped. Each of the imperative verbs used in this song is in the present tense, where the imperative is conjugated only in the second person (both singular and plural) or the first-person plural.
The song’s structure is Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Outro, with a rhyming scheme of ABABABAB in each 8-line Verse. The lyrics repeat certain simple phrases in an incantatory way that suggests exhaustion and resignation: “Je ne sais plus comment…,” “je ne sais plus pourquoi…,” not to mention the recurrent pleading: “dis-moi,” “regarde-moi,” and “parle-moi.” The captivating melody conveys an urgency in its tempo but is a simple combination of chords: Em, G, D, C, Bm.
The composer and lyricist of “Parle-moi” (and two other songs on the album) is J. Kapler, which is a pseudonym for Robert Goldman (b. 1953), the younger brother of Jean-Jacques Goldman who appears elsewhere on this website. Robert Goldman is also a songwriter with many impressive songs to his credit. Isabelle Boulay is a singer of great talent but neither a composer nor a lyricist and collaborates with many partners. The more one settles into the investigation of “chanson,” the more complicated and interesting it becomes in tracing the patrimony of songs.
This song spotlights the imperative mood in several verbs: “parle-moi,” “regarde-moi,” and “dis-moi.” The title of the song (“Parle-moi”) is the mood’s present tense (second person singular) of the verb “parler.” French has 4 different personal verb “moods” that reflect whether the speaker’s is expressing: fact (Indicative), possibility (conditional), opinion (subjunctive) or command (imperative). Each “mood” has a conjugation. The imperative is used when giving orders, advice, or wishes. When using the imperative, subject pronouns are dropped. Each of the imperative verbs used in this song is in the present tense, where the imperative is conjugated only in the second person (both singular and plural) or the first-person plural.
The song’s structure is Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Outro, with a rhyming scheme of ABABABAB in each 8-line Verse. The lyrics repeat certain simple phrases in an incantatory way that suggests exhaustion and resignation: “Je ne sais plus comment…,” “je ne sais plus pourquoi…,” not to mention the recurrent pleading: “dis-moi,” “regarde-moi,” and “parle-moi.” The captivating melody conveys an urgency in its tempo but is a simple combination of chords: Em, G, D, C, Bm.
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Verse Je ne sais plus comment te dire Je ne trouve plus les mots Ces mots qui te faisaient rire Et ceux que tu trouvais beaux J'ai tant de fois voulu t'écrire Et tant de fois courbé le dos Pour revivre nos souvenirs J'ai même aussi frôlé ta peau Chorus Oh, dis-moi Regarde-moi Je ne sais plus comment t'aimer Ni comment te garder Parle-moi Parle-moi Je ne sais plus pourquoi t'aimer Ni pourquoi continuer Tu es là Mais tu es si loin De moi Verse Je ne sais plus comment poursuivre Cet amour qui n'en est plus Je ne sais plus que souffrir Souffrir autant que j'y ai cru Mais je sais qu'il me faut survivre Et avancer un pas de plus Pour qu'enfin cesse la dérive Des moments à jamais perdus Chorus Oh, dis-moi Regarde-moi Je ne sais plus comment t'aimer Ni comment te garder Oh, dis-moi Regarde-moi Y a la vie dont on rêvait Celle qui commençait Oh, parle-moi Oh, parle-moi Je ne sais plus pourquoi t'aimer Ni comment continuer Oh, dis-moi Oh, dis-moi Dis-moi, si tout est terminé Si je dois m'en aller Outro Oh, parle-moi Oh, parle-moi Regarde-moi Oh-Oh-oh-oh Oh-Oh-oh-oh Regarde-moi Regarde-moi Regarde-moi |
Verse I no longer know how to tell you I no longer find the words Those words that made you laugh And those you found beautiful So often I wanted to write you And so often bending over To revive our memories I even also stroked your skin Chorus Oh, tell me Look at me I no longer know how to love you Or how to keep you Talk to me Talk to me I no longer know why to love you Or why to continue You are there But you are so far away From me Verse I no longer know how to continue This love that no longer exists I know only how to suffer To suffer as much as I believed in it But I know that I must survive And take one step more So that it finally should end, this drift Of moments forever lost Chorus Oh, tell me Look at me I no longer know how to love you Or how to keep you Oh, tell me Look at me There's a life we were dreaming That was just beginning Oh, talk to me Talk to me I no longer know why to love you Or how to continue Oh, tell me Oh, tell me Tell me, if everything is over If I must go away Outro Oh, talk to me Talk to me Look at me Oh-Oh-oh-oh Oh-Oh-oh-oh Look at me Look at me Look at me |
NB:
1)Courbé le dos: literally means “bent back” but can figuratively mean to “submit,” “lay low,” depending on context.
2)Pour qu'enfin cesse: “pour que” is a phrase that means “so that” and is followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood (“mode”).
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