À quoi je sers...
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| “À quoi je sers...” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Mylène Farmer from the album En concert |
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| Released | July 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Format | CD maxi 7" single 7" maxi Digital download (since 2005) |
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| Recorded | 1989, France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:35 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Polydor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Text : Mylène Farmer Music : Laurent Boutonnat |
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| Producer | Laurent Boutonnat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mylène Farmer singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"À quoi je sers..." is a 1989 song recorded by the French artist Mylène Farmer. The single was a new song when it was released in July 1989, because it was not available on Farmer's studio albums, but only in a live version on En concert.
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[edit] Background and writing
In May 1989, Farmer began her first tour throughout France, which was a great success. However, the singer and her partner Laurent Boutonnat decided to record a new single, "À quoi je sers..." with another unpublished song on the B-side, "La Veuve noire" (whose music is very similar to that of "À quoi je sers..."). Both songs were recorded fairly quickly. However, due to the success of the previous single "Sans logique", "À quoi je sers..." was not released before July 1989. Little broadcast on radio, the song appeared as a synthesis of the singer's work and marked the end of the first period of Farmer's career.[1]
The song was sung during the 1989 tour. It was included in the track listing of Mylenium Tour (Farmer performed the song at the time of the rehearsal in Marseille), but was finally replaced by "Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs".
[edit] Lyrics and music
The song, whose lyrics are very pessimistic, is "about madness, the desire of suicide and the impression of the futility of the life".[2] The beginning of each verse is inspired by the French writer Luc Dietrich, whose books are known to have a morbid tone.[3]
According to some observers, this song could summed up by itself, the entire universe, atmosphere and themes evoked in Farmer's work. The name of the song ends with three suspension points - not a question mark - suggesting "the singer had doubts about her usefulness on Earth".[4] The black and white cover's photograph shows Farmer in her dressing room after one of her concerts at the Palais des Sports (Paris) drying a tear with a handkerchief. As a result, the song could refer to the "loneliness that invades an artist after his exit from the stage".[5]
[edit] Music video
.jpg/225px-A_quoi_je_sers..._(video).jpg)
For the first and only time in Farmer's career, Laurent Boutonnat directed the video and wrote its screenplay (usually, it's Farmer who composes the latter). It's a Requiem Publishing production which was shot for two days in Cherbourg (France), the same location as for "Sans contrefaçon", with a budget of about 30,000 euros. Moreover, it is the first Farmer's video to be in black and white. All characters from previous singer's video appear in "À quoi je sers...", however, as the actors who first performed the roles were not all free for the shooting, the characters are in fact body doubles in this video, except the toreador from "Sans logique".[6] According to some sources, Farmer would have been seasick during the shooting.[7] The actor who plays the boatman is Slim Pezin, the Farmer's guitarist.
At the beginning of the video, Farmer stands at the side of a pond, with a suitcase in her hand. A man on a boat appears through the fog and Farmer climbs aboard. Using a long paddle, the man rows to move the boat. After a while, five silhouettes appear, walking on the water (these characters are Rasoukine ["Tristana"], the rival ["Libertine"], the puppeteer ["Sans contrefaçon"], the English captain ["Pourvu qu'elles soient douces"] and the torero ["Sans logique"]).[8] Farmer joined them, while the boat goes away.[9]
According to some analyses, the video is based on the text La Maison des morts, composed by the French poet Guillaume Apollinaire. In this case, the pond would represent the death[10] ; it also may be an allegory of the Styx, one of the rivers of Hell in Greek mythology, referring to the Farmer's passage from world of the living to that of the dead.[11] As for the walk of the characters in the pond at the end of the video, it would evoke the idea that everyone is forced to continue his own life with his memories and his anxieties without asking too many questions.[5]
[edit] Critical reception
France Soir considered this single as a "miserable response to "On est tous des imbéciles" and "Sans logique"".[12] In contrast, Spot Light qualified this song as "the more beautiful slow song of the year".[13] Graffiti described "À quoi je sers" as "a fluid, slight and fast unforgettable song (...) which will arouse the interest of the crowds".[14] For Jeune et Jolie, it was "one of the most beautiful texts that [Farmer] had never sang".[15]
[edit] TV and chart performances
In 1989, Farmer participated in three TV shows in which she performed "À quoi je sers..." : J'y crois dur comme terre (September 2, TF1), Sacrée Soirée (September 6, TF1), Avis de recherche (September 15, TF1).[16]
The single, which was released only in France, was unable to reach the Top 10. It started in the Top 50 on August 12 at #29 and reached its peak position (#16) six weeks later, and here stayed for two weeks. After this, it fell almost continuously and left the chart after 14 weeks of attendance, on November 18.[17]
[edit] Formats and track listings
A-side :
B-side :
A-side :
B-side :
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A-side :
B-side :
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[edit] Versions
- Official versions
| Version | Length | Album | Remixed by | Year | Comment[5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single version | 4:35 | Les Mots | 1989 | ||
| Club remix | 7:50 | Dance Remixes | Laurent Boutonnat | 1989 | There are more musical bridges. At the end, a male voice saying "Quoi" can be heard. |
| Orchestral version | 4:39 | Laurent Boutonnat | 1989 | In this instrumental version, Farmer only participates in the chorus, but without following the original melody. | |
| Live version (recorded in 1989) | 5:05 | En concert | 1989 | This live version is similar to the original version. The introduction is slightly modified with a few guitar riffs, then the keyboard and the orchestra begin the song. See also Mylène Farmer en concert |
[edit] B-side : "La Veuve noire"
The vinyl's B-side and the third track of the CD maxi contain a new song, "La Veuve noire", which was unpublished at the time.
The song's title refers to a very small venomous spider that lives in the Mediterranean regions. In the text, Farmer personifies her experience of the stage in May 1989 - her first tour - under the traits of this insect and lists some of its characteristics.
In terms of music, many noises are added to the melody that actually samples the music of "À quoi je sers..."[18]
This song was never performed on stage. It appears, however, on the compilation Les Mots.
[edit] Credits and personnel
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[edit] Charts, certifications, sales
[edit] References
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