Mon mec à moi
​Patricia Kaas

Mon mec à moi (My guy, mine all mine), 1988
The title of this song doubles down on the sense of ownership when it appends “à moi” (mine, all mine) to the beginning words “Mon mec” (slang for “My guy/dude”). The song portrays a woman’s relationship with a charming but likely untrustworthy man. It is a relationship built on shaky foundations where hope outpaces reality, a classic case of one-sided love driven by wishful thinking and self-delusion.

Didier Barbelivien wrote the lyrics and François Bernheim composed the music. It appeared on Kaas’s debut album in 1988 “Mademoiselle chante le bleus” and was issued as a single. The song peaked in 1989 at #5 on the French Singles Chart SNEP. The title is reminiscent of the 1964 hit single “My Guy” by American singer Mary Wells and written by Smokey Robinson that topped the US Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. ‘Mon mec à moi” won an award in 1989 as “la chanson de l’année” by listeners of French language radio in Canada, France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Each 2-stanza verse is followed by a Pre-Refrain and then the Refrain. The verses have stanzas of 4 lines each, with rhyming schemes of ABAB. The Chorus/Refrains are 10 lines.
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Recently (since 2025 and Patricia’s return to the public scene on TV as a coach for The Voice), the song “Mon mec `a moi” became something of a meme-theme for Patricia’s occasional appearances with a mysterious companion known initially only as Laurent….

The live version of the song that appears below comes from a 1988 performance, the year of the song’s release, on the TV talk show “Du Coté de chez Fred” that ran on FR2 between 1988-1991.
​
FRENCH LYRICS
Verse
Il joue avec mon cœur
Il triche avec ma vie
Il dit des mots menteurs
Mais moi je crois tout c'qu'il dit

Les chansons qu'il me chante
Les rêves qu'il fait pour deux
C'est comme les bonbons menthe
Ça fait du bien quand il pleut
 
Pre-Refrain
J'me raconte des histoires
En écoutant sa voix
C'est pas vrai ces histoires
Mais moi j'y crois
 
Refrain
Mon mec à moi il me parle d'aventures
Et quand elles brillent dans ses yeux
J'pourrais y passer la nuit
Il parle d'amour
Comme il parle des voitures
Et moi je le suis où il veut
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Oh oui
Mon mec à moi
 
Verse
Sa façon d'être à moi
Sans jamais dire je t'aime
C'est rien qu'du cinéma
Mais c'est du pareil au même

Ce film en noir et blanc
Qu'il m'a joué deux cents fois
C'est Gabin et Morgan
Enfin ça r'ssemble à tout ça
 
Pre-refrain
J'me raconte des histoires
Des scénarios Chinois
C'est pas vrai ces histoires
Mais moi j'y crois
 
Refrain
Mon mec à moi il me parle d'aventures
Et quand elles brillent dans ses yeux
J'pourrais y passer la nuit
Il parle d'amour
Comme il parle des voitures
Et moi je le suis où il veut
Tell'ment je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Tell'ment je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Oh oui
Mon mec à moi
 
Instrumental
 
Refrain
Mon mec à moi il me parle d'aventures
Et quand elles brillent dans ses yeux
J'pourrais y passer la nuit
Il parle d'amour
Comme il parle des voitures
Et moi je le suis où il veut
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Oh oui

Mon mec à moi il me parle d'aventures
Et quand elles brillent dans ses yeux
J'pourrais y passer la nuit
Il parle d'amour
Comme il parle des voitures
Et moi je le suis où il veut
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit
Oh oui
TRANSLATION (PENDERGAST)
​Verse
He plays with my heart
He cheats with my life
He says lying words
But I believe everything he says

The songs he sings to me
The dreams he makes for two
It's like mints
It feels good when it rains
 
Pre-Refrain
I tell myself stories
Listening to his voice
It's not true these stories
But I believe it

Refrain
My guy, he talks to me about adventures
And when they shine in his eyes
I could spend the night
He talks about love
As he talks about cars
And I'm where he wants
So I believe everything that I'm told
So I believe everything that I'm told
Oh yes
My man, mine

Verse
His way of being mine
Without ever saying I love you
It's nothing but cinema
But it's all the same

This film in black and white
That he played me two hundred times
It's Gabin and Morgan
Finally, it's all about that

Pre-refrain
I tell stories
About Chinese scenarios
It's not true these stories
But me, I believe it

Refrain
My guy, he talks to me about adventures
And when they shine in his eyes
I could spend the night
He talks about love
As he talks about cars
And I'm where he wants
So much do I believe everything he tells me
So much do I believe everything he tells me
Oh yes
My man, mine

Instrumental
 
Refrain
My guy, he talks to me about adventures
And when they shine in his eyes
I could spend the night
He talks about love
As he talks about cars
And I'm where he wants
So much do I believe everything he tells me
So much do I believe everything he tells me
Oh yes

My guy, he talks to me about adventures
And when they shine in his eyes
I could spend the night
He talks about love
As he talks about cars
And I'm where he wants
So much do I believe everything he tells me
So much do I believe everything he tells me
Oh yes

​NB:
-Tellement je crois tout c'qu'y' m'dit: “Tellement” is an emphatic adverb that means “so much” or “so many.” “c’qu’y’m’dit” is a contraction of “ce qu’il me dit” so the entire phrase means “So much do I believe everything he tells me.”
-c'est du pareil au même: this expression means that two options are basically equivalent without any real difference between them.
-Gabin et Morgan: these two famous French actors Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan worked together and shared a real-life romance. They starred in a famous 1938 movie Le Quai des brumes (“Dock of Mists/Port of Shadows”) directed by Marcel Carné and written by Jacques Prévert that was an exemplar of “poetic realism” and a precursor of American “film noir.” 

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