Ainsi soit je... (song)
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| “Ainsi soit je...” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Mylène Farmer from the album Ainsi soit je... |
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| Released | March, 1988 (single version) August 20, 1997 (live version) |
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| Format | CD single CD maxi 7" single 7" maxi Digital download (since 2005) |
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| Recorded | 1988 (single version) 1997 (live version) |
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| Genre | Pop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:30 (single version) 6:22 (album version) 4:39 (live version) |
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| Label | Universal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Text : Mylène Farmer Music : Laurent Boutonnat |
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| Producer | Laurent Boutonnat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mylène Farmer singles chronology | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"Ainsi soit je..." is a 1988 song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer. The song was released as a single twice : as the second single from her second studio album Ainsi soit je..., in March 1988, and as the second single in a live version from her second live album Live à Bercy, on August 20, 1997.
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[edit] Background and writing
After the huge success of "Sans contrefaçon", Boutonnat and Farmer decided to release as a new single the title "Ainsi soit je...", just one month before the album's release. Not only the title of the single is similar to that of the album, but the cover, which was created by a Farmer's friend, Elsa Trillat, is almost identical (but without the puppet which featured in the video "Sans contrefaçon"). The single has been marketed under the traditional formats (vinyls) but also CD maxi and, for the first time, CD video. The single was also released in Japan.[1]
As for all her songs from "Tristana", Farmer wrote the text. Nevertheless, the first words of the couplets "bulle de chagrin, boule d'incertitude" were written by Marie, a singer unknown to the general public who died not long before. In this way, Farmer pays tribute to her.[2]
The song was performed at three of the four series of Farmer's concerts : at the concert tours of 1989, 1996 and 2006. However, during this last tour, Farmer has sung "Ainsi soit je..." only at certain evenings (she had difficulty in singing in the high notes) and the song "L'Autre" was chosen instead of it to appear on the concert's CD and DVD.
[edit] Lyrics and music
In this song, Farmer "reveals her loneliness, her pain of living and her great lucidity", and deals with the theme of existentialism (also present in "A quoi je sers..."). This suggests that "the singer's single religion is despair, sadness and great lucidity on the future". She speaks to someone to warn him against her own solitude. The same semantic field is used as in "Regrets" : cold, winter, time.[3]
The notes are high, giving thus a "nagging nostalgia" to the song.[4]
The song's title refers to the formula which ends Christian prayers ('Amen' i.e. 'Ainsi soit-il' or 'So be it' in English), but here it is spelled 'Ainsi soit je...' (instead of 'Ainsi sois-je'), showing that the 'Je' (or 'I' in English) is personified.[1]
[edit] Music video
- 1988 version
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The video, whose length was 5:23, was directed by Laurent Boutonnat who also wrote the screenplay. This Requiem Publishing production was shot for two days in studios of Stains (France), and cost about 30,000 euros only (money was saved for the following video, "Pourvu qu'elles soient douces"). It is a small tribute to Walt Disney's animated feature, Bambi.[5]
The video, the Farmer's favourite at the time,[6] was presented for the first time in the TV show Top 50 on Canal + a few weeks after the single's release. The scene of the drowning, shot in the same pond as in "Plus grandir", was very difficult to film because Farmer was then afraid of the water.[7]
At the beginning of the video, the snow falls on a black background. An owl appears on a tree while the full moon illuminates the scene. Farmer has a go on a swing, while a deer looks at her. A drop of water falls into a puddle reflecting the moon. Then dressed in a long black coat, the singer walks in the snow. Lying on the floor next to the deer, she gets up and looks at the animal. When the refrain begins, Farmer, denuded and in profile, falls back several times. Then she goes down again next to the deer and gets up with the face covered with mud. She is then in the water in which she performs a gruesome dance (this dance was also performed in "Pardonne-moi"[8]) and eventually drowns. At the end of the video, the owl flies and the snow starts again to fall.[9]
This is the only Farmer's video in sepia tone. It could evoke the life cycle.[3] The "melancholy tone is accentuated by the cold colours". The "owl could refer to a double meaning : the first is the idea of wisdom and a guiding presence in the black ([i.e.] the melancholy of ideas sung by the artist), but [the second is the idea of] an animal that opens eyes to the harshness of life and the temporary nature of things".[8]
- 1997 version
The video for the 1997 single's release was made with images taken from the 1996 tour.
[edit] Critical reception
According to Compact, "Ainsi soit je..." is a sweet ballad, but that may tire the listener because of it is too repetitive. However, it stated that the song is really a "hit" thanks to its music video which is composed of "sublime images" and made with "extreme delicacy". The song draws its musical influences from France Gall, Jane Birkin and Françoise Hardy and is a "success".[10]
[edit] TV performances
Farmer performed the song in ten TV shows in 1988 : Les Uns les autres (TF1, April 22), Jacky show (TF1, April 24), Fête comme chez vous (Antenne 2, May 5), La Une est à vous (TF1, May 7), Sacrée Soirée (TF1, May 18), Top 50 (Canal +, June 26), Mon Zénith à moi (Canal +, June 18), À la folie pas du tout (TF1, June 19), Les Dicos d'or sous le soleil du Québec (FR3, August 21), Lahaye d'honneur (TF1, August 24). She also performed the song in 1997 to promote the live version : Les Enfants de la lune (TF1, June 6).[11] On this occasion, she wore a dress made of feathers - the same as for the video "Souviens-toi du jour" -, and performed the song in an almost acoustic live version with a music of piano.[1]
In most of her performances, Farmer wore a large white wedding dress. In the show Sacrée Soirée, she sang "Ainsi soit je..." surrounded by stuffed animals and she cried in the heat of emotion.[1]
[edit] Chart performances
In France, the single in its original version was listed for 14 weeks, from April 30 to July 30. Since no videoclip was directed in the first weeks, the show Top 50, which presented the singles chart every Saturday, broadcast Farmer's performance in Sacrée Soirée to promote the song. The single debuted at number 31 and reached its peak position, #12, in its sixth week.[12] The single also peaked at #8 on Ultratop, the Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart, and at #23 in Switzerland.
The live version released in 1997 didn't meet the same success and charted in low positions : it peaked at number 27 in French SNEP Singles Chart, in its second week, on August 30, and remained on the chart for only five weeks[13] ; in Belgium, the song went to #22, its highest position, on September 6, before dropping the three weeks after.[14]
[edit] Cover versions
In 2003, the song was covered by Michal Kwiatkowski, a contestant of the French show Star Academy 3, and his version features on the album Les Meilleurs Moments du Prime.[15] The French singer Marie Laforêt had planned to cover the song at her concerts at the Bouffes Parisiens in 2005 (as a tribute to Farmer who had performed Laforêt's song "Je voudrais tant que tu comprennes" at the time of the 1989 tour), but eventually cancelled this project.[3]
[edit] Formats and track listings
A-side :
B-side :
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[edit] Versions
- Official versions
| Version | Length | Album | Remixed by | Year | Comment[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single version | 4:30 | 1988 | See the previous sections | ||
| Album version | 6:18 | Ainsi soit je... | Laurent Boutonnat | 1988 | The song was shorter than the single version, with more musical bridges and refrains. |
| Maxi remix | 7:00 | Dance Remixes | Thierry Rogen | 1988 | This version is so slow and melancholy as the original one, with more music and refrains. There are also more percussion that punctuated the title throughout the song. Farmer sings "soit je" several times at the beginning of this remix. |
| Classic bonus beat | 6:22 | Thierry Rogen | 1988 | This version brings to the fore the Farmer's voice at the expense of strings, especially the cello. | |
| Lamentations | 4:45 | Thierry Rogen | 1988 | This version is an instrumental remix; all the words are removed, but Farmer performs vocals during the refrains. At the beginning of the song, we can hear a crying wolf. | |
| Live version (recorded in 1989) | 7:42 | En concert | 1989 | This very moving version has a long musical introduction composed of strings and guitars which lasts about two minutes. Farmer cries from the second chorus. See Mylène Farmer en concert | |
| Live version (recorded in 1996) | 5:00 | Live à Bercy | 1996 | See 1996 Bercy | |
| Album version | 4:45 | Les Mots | Laurent Boutonnat | 2001 | This is a remasterised version. |
| Live version (recorded in 2006) | 5:00 | Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy | 2006 | See Avant que l'ombre... à Bercy (tour) |
[edit] Charts, certifications, sales
[edit] References
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