IL N’Y A PAS D’AILLEURS

Il n’y a pas d’ailleurs (There is no elsewhere) is a song # 8 from Mylène Farmer’s third studio album, L’autre… released on 9 April 1991

The lyrics to the track Il n’y a pas d’ailleurs were written by Mylène Farmer. Music composed by Laurent Boutonnat.

Apparently, the theme of the song is life and death. Mylene confirmed that for us:

“The title explains I believe the thought of the song. Yes, my gosh, there isn’t any elsewhere. It’s hard to think and accept that. Everything is born and dies and it’s the same everywhere! Everything ends with the same thing … ” (Mylène Farmer – ” Podium “- September 1991)

Perhaps she did mean it as a contrast to the famous expression: “The grass is always greener on the other side”.

Or perhaps, there is another deeper underlining meaning there as well: a reminder that the only way out is through. The only way is to LIVE your life till the very end and not contemplate an early end would it be a volunteer exit with a suicide or by death wish and therefore attracting the fatal circumstances. I can’t help but think again about Bertrand Le Page (Mylene’s first manager) and his premature departure from life…

Its not the first time Mylene touches a topic of suicide/volunteer death. Jardin de Vienne and Au bout de la nuit is also believed to be referring to suicide (perhaps with a touch of excessive romanticizing but nonetheless)

This song to me is a gentle and persistent call for acceptance and being fully present in the current reality without any escape to an imaginary better place.

Nonresistance doesn’t necessarily mean doing nothing. All it means is that any “doing” becomes non-reactive. Remember the deep wisdom underlying the practice of Eastern martial arts: Don’t resist the opponent’s force. Yield to overcome.

It is very wise notion from such a young Mylene. We know how her lyrics touch this idea again and again. How we are to take the bad with a good like in the BleU Noir) or in Point de Suture and many-many other songs.

She has an incredible depth and insight to find enjoyment and beauty even in the most challenging representation of life. Even in the lack, even in the distortion, even in the heartbreak and grief, there is a beauty and a creation of a higher realm – its what spiritual masters call “the path of non-resistance”. Our dearest Mylene knew it all along: what you resist, only persists.

Having said that, “doing nothing” when you are in a state of intense presence is a very powerful transformer and healer of situations and people. In Taoism, there is a term called wu wei, which is usually translated as “action-less activity” or “sitting quietly doing nothing.” In ancient China, this was regarded as one of the highest achievements or virtues. It is radically different from inactivity in the ordinary state of consciousness, or rather unconsciousness, which stems from fear, inertia, or indecision.

The real “doing nothing” implies inner nonresistance and intense alertness.

On the other hand, if action is required, you will no longer react from your conditioned mind, but you will respond to the situation out of your conscious presence. In that state, your mind is free of concepts, including the concept of non-violence. So who can predict what you will do?

The ego believes that in your resistance lies your strength, whereas in truth resistance cuts you off from Being, the only place of true power. Resistance is weakness and fear masquerading as strength. What the ego sees as weakness is your Being in its purity, innocence, and power. What it sees as strength is weakness. So the ego exists in a continuous resistance-mode and plays counterfeit roles to cover up your “weakness,” which in truth is your power.

Until there is surrender, unconscious role-playing constitutes a large part of human interaction. In surrender, you no longer need ego defenses and false masks. You become very simple, very real. “That’s dangerous,” says the ego. “You’ll get hurt. You’ll become vulnerable.”

What the ego doesn’t know, of course, is that only through the letting go of resistance, through becoming “vulnerable,” can you discover your true and essential invulnerability. (Source: Eckhart Tolle)

Mylène also was possibly inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s short story Unparalleled Adventure by a certain Hans Pfaall (1835) in which we can read: “to cut short the puzzles, I solved, without worrying about the rest, to make my way, if I could, a passage to the moon” which recalls the last verse of the song
“Te frayer jusqu’à la lune
Un passage
Il me faut me croire.“
(source: “Au fil des mots” – Editions Gründ).
We can hear on this song an original instrument: a military snare played by Philippe Drai.

The song was sung on all dates of the Mylenium Tour from September, 21 1999 to February 26, 2000 with the exception of the last three concerts of the tour in Russia. Arrangements for the stage: Yvan Cassar.

And what an unforgettable performance was that! Mylene sang the song in the darkened stage standing on the hand of the goddess Isis. It had such a sensitive and deeply melancholic flair – it was profoundly sad. Who knows what this song brought up in Mylene. We can only contemplate. Bertrand Le Page (first manager) comes to mind as only a few month before the Mylenium Tour he decided to chose the “elsewhere” and ended his own life a few days after the album Innamoramento was released.

Katy Perry seems to have been influenced by Mylène shows.

There is a gigantic hand (of Isis) which carries Mylene in the air and we even find a moon in the background for the interpretation of the song Il n’y a pas d’ailleurs in 1999 and 2000. You can find almost identical setup on Katy Perry stage setup. We can also see the eye is used on the back screen just like in Mylene concert 10 years earlier. Everyone will have their own opinion. Some will say: “No doubt”! Others: “Yes but … No”! 😁😁😁

And yes she “kissed the girl and she liked it” 😊 and so did Mylene, it seems…

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lyrics with translation

Tant de jours de nuits trop brèves
Ces soupirs que tu achèves
Sans y croire
Dérisoire
Tu voudrais d'un autre monde
Je te sens, la proie d'une ombre
Illusoire
Il faut me croire
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est ici
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est la mienne aussi
Pour renaître de tes cendres
Il te faudra réapprendre
Aimer vivre
Rester libre
Délaisser tes amertumes
Te frayer jusqu'à la lune
Un passage
Il me faut me croire
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est ici
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est la mienne aussi
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est ici
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est la mienne aussi
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est ici
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Il n'y a pas d'ailleurs
Tu sais que ta vie
C'est la mienne aussi


So many days of too-brief nights
These sighs that you finish
Without believing
Derisory
You would like to be in another world
I feel you, the prey of a shadow
Illusory
You must believe me
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's here
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's mine too
To rise from your ashes
You will have to learn again
To like to live
To remain free
Leave your bitterness behind
To make your way to the moon
A passage
I have to believe me
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's here
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's mine too
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's here
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's mine too
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's here
There is no elsewhere
There is no elsewhere
You know that your life
It's mine too