L’amour en solitaire (Solitary Love/Lonely Love/Love Alone),
Album: “Petite amie,” 2017
Album: “Petite amie,” 2017
The title of this song is intriguing since it barely skirts being a contradiction in terms. Love is normally thought to involve more than one person so “love alone” makes one wonder where it’s going. In context, it appears to mean loving in the absence of the loved one. She released the song originally in 2014 as a single and again on her 2017 album Petite amie.
The song expresses the experience of someone who’s trying to make the best of things in the absence of a partner. The scene is a beach that they have previously shared. She refers to him variously as her “alter,” her “mégot,” her “mère,” her “père,” her “rodéo” (in other words, her “everything”). Without him, she’s crossing the desert, alone. It is unclear how long he has been gone and whether it is permanent. She pleads with him to return. The Verses recount her simple pleasures alone on the beach, concluding with her sinking like a wrecked ship, while the Choruses beseech the missing partner in familiar terms to return.
It is good to see that the song adopts a classical “chanson” structure. Three Verses are followed by Choruses (VCVCV) for a total of 11 stanzas, with end-of-line rhymes throughout: ABAB, ABAAB, ABAA, ABABAA, ABAAA, ABAA, ABAB, ABABAA, ABABAA, ABAB, ABAB. Well done.
The vocal interpretation of this song makes it occasionally difficult (for a non-native listener) to discern words. This is partly due to the vocal style and to the omission of certain words and parts of expressions (e.g. “ne” in “ne...plus”) and the many elisions between words that cause them to glide into one another.
The live version below is taken from her performance at the Victoires de la Musique ceremony in 2018.
As usual on this website, French language notes are highlighted in bold/italic in the text and explained in the following notes. This song is particularly note-worthy and requires attentive listening, so it may take a couple of passes to absorb.
|
FRENCH LYRICS Verse 1 Solo dans ma peau Sur la plage J'me la joue mélo je drague les nuages Solo dans ma fête Cest dommage À deux c'est tellement chouette D'fumer des cigarettes Sur la plage Solo dans l'bateau Je mets les voiles Mais solo je prends l'eau Des matelots Chorus Où es-tu mon alter Où es-tu mon mégot Pour moi t'étais ma mère Mon père mon rodéo Je traverse le désert L'amour en solitaire Reviens moi mon alter Reviens moi héros Je veux retrouver ma terre Ma bière et mon tricot Plus traverser le désert L'amour en solitaire Verse 2 Solo sur mon île Sur ma plage J'me tiens plus qu'à un fil J'ramasse mon coquillage fragile Solo dans ma gueule J'peux plus voir Te voir dans toutes ces gueules En miroir Chorus Où es-tu mon alter Où es-tu mon mégot Pour moi t'étais ma mère mon père mon rodéo Je traverse le désert L'amour en solitaire Reviens moi mon alter Reviens moi héros Je veux retrouver ma terre Ma bière et mon tricot Plus traverser le désert L’amour en solitaire Verse 3 Solo j'danse le slow Sur ta plage J'm'enroule dans les flots Solo j'fais naufrage Mais dans l'fond j'm'en fous C'est pas grave Sans toi j'devenais flou Un point c'est tout |
TRANSLATION (PENDERGAST) Verse Alone in my skin On the beach I’m acting melodramatic I'm "hitting on" the clouds Alone in my party It’s too bad As two it's so cool To smoke cigarettes On the beach Alone in the boat I set the sails But alone I’m taking on water Sailors Chorus Where are you my alter Where are you my cigarette butt For me you were my mother My father my rodeo I'm crossing the desert Solitary love Come back to me my alter Come back to me my hero I want to find my land My beer and my shirt For crossing the desert Solitary love Verse Alone on my island On my beach I no longer hold on by more than a thread I gather my fragile shell All by myself I can no longer see you In all these faces Reflected Chorus Where are you my alter Where are you my cigarette butt For me you were my mother My father my rodeo I'm crossing the desert Solitary love Come back to me my alter Come back to me my hero I want to find my land, My beer and my pullover No more crossing the desert Solitary love Verse Alone I slow dance On your beach I wrap myself in swells Alone I sink But basically I don't care No big deal Without you I was becoming blurry Full stop |
NB:
je drague: “draguer” literally means “to dredge” but it commonly means “to hit on” or “flirt with.” Here, she’s “hitting on” the clouds in the absence of other entertainments.
J'me la joue: a contraction of “Je me la joue” which means to be “acting or playing” followed by a descriptive adjective of one’s choice (e.g. “calm,” “indifferent,” etc.). She chooses melodramatic.
ma fête: “fête” literally means “party” as in “birthday party” and commonly refers to a group of people, but she is using it ironically since she is a “party of one.”
mon alter: an “alter” refers to an “alter ego” or alternate self. The nature of that self and its relationship to the ego, however, is often unclear. The “alter” may be a different or hidden side of the self (like Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll or Clark Kent and Superman) or a virtually identical clone or even an imagined more perfect version of the self, including attributes that are missing, that can serve as a confidence-booster. Here she means someone who completes her.
mon mégot: a “mégot” is a cigarette butt or stub. She is referring to him affectionately as a cigarette butt, a true term of endearment.
mon rodéo: the word “rodeo” can have expressive meaning in French, referring not only to the specific English meaning of an equestrian event but more broadly to a range of unaccustomed experiences.
mon tricot: refers to a knitted garment but commonly is a sweater or “top.”
J'me tiens plus qu'à un fil: this delightful but complicated expression drops “e” from “Je,” omits “ne” before “me” and creates an elision between “J” and “me.” The missing “ne” combined with “plus que” mean “no more than” and refers to “un fil” (“a thread”). Literally, it all means: “I no longer hold on by more than a thread.”
Solo dans ma gueule: This slang expression means “all by myself.” In French, “la gueule” literally means “mouth” or “maw” but in common use it is a very elastic word that can mean many things (simply “ta gueule” means “shut up”).
En miroir: this expression means “reflected” or “mirrored.”
Reviens moi: this means literally “come back to me” in a pleading way, but it is also the French expression for “atonement” (as in the name of the movie).
j'fais naufrage: “faire naufrage” literally means to be shipwrecked, but it can also refer to other examples of sinking, foundering or failing.
Un point c'est tout: this common expression means “full stop,” “end of story,” “period” and is used to authoritatively end discussion, as it ends this song.
Back to Juliette Armanet Profile