REDONNE-MOI

“Redonne-moi” (English: “Give Me Back”) is a 2005 song recorded by Mylène Farmer. This pop ballad was the third single from her sixth studio album, Avant que l’ombre…, and was released on 2 January 2006. Like all other tracks of the parent album, it was written by Farmer and the music was composed by Laurent Boutonnat. The song has poetic lyrics and a melancholy music, and is about death, memory, and hope. About three months before the release, Farmer exceptionally accepted to perform the song in a television show, which she did not for other singles from Avant que l’ombre….

The accompanying music video, filmed by François Hanss and broadcast from 11 of January 2006, shows Farmer singing in a sculpture workshop. In spite of being a top ten hit in France, “Redonne-moi” became the less-selling single from the album, with rather disappointing sales figures.

And it is really sad as the song is totally beautiful as well as the clip. I guess when there are so many incredible songs on the album, they can’t all be the top sales. Some songs have to give the space to the others to blossom.

I can’t not to link the video to the famous scene from the Angélique, Marquise des Anges with Michele Mercier. Please, tell me there isn’t a connection!

In fact, I only mentioned her just yesterday in my previous chapter…love those little synchronicities following me through this project like little cherubs – you know I have mentioned a hand-full already but they’re just keep coming…I hope it would make Mylene smile, what do you think? There is definitely something celestial leading me through.

This ballad uses very poetic lyrics and a melancholy music and deals with several recurring themes in Farmer’s songs: “death, memory, but also hope”. According to an analysis by journalist Benoît Cachin, “Farmer seems to be split: on the one hand, the past symbolized by a ghost that evokes sadness and death, and on the other hand, the future, in which Farmer put her trust, hoping to live in a better way and rediscover the joy of the existence through love”.

In the refrain, Farmer seems to speak to someone: this may be the ghost, or a person that she loves and whom she requests to help her to forget her past. Psychologist Hugues Royer said that, in this song, Farmer “is paying with the idea of emerging from a black hole. While she sinks in suffering, a friendly voice whispers to her how it could be beneficial to “find a trace of self””, as the singer seems to have forgotten her past. As in “Rêver” and “Ainsi soit je…”, some lyrics are sung in the high notes to express sadness.

Well, perhaps, this very sadness is what creates the ascension and not just musically…I think in order to get to the higher place mentally and emotionally one must first allow themselves to sink into the deep sincere sadness – it is like a narrow birthing tunnel to the light.

It is believed that Mylène was influenced by the poem by Sylvia Plath “Thalidomide”: “Debris of dreams, the glass is cracked ” in the refrain of the song recalling a part of this poem: ” The glass is cracked, The image Avorte and leaks, mercury burst”.

This same poem also seems to have inspired Mylène for the text of another of the songs on the album Avant que l’ombre …Ange, parle-moi.

From August 2005, some rumors went round about the song which could be the third single from the album Avant que l’ombre…:f irst, “L’amour n’est rien…” was announced; then, in September, “Peut-être toi“, “Porno graphique” and “J’attends” were also successively presented as next single. Some pessimistic fan websites said there would not be a third single, as the previous one “Q.I” had been moderately received and the album then continued to drop on the chart.

Finally, “Redonne-moi” was chosen by Farmer, who absolutely wanted this song as a next single. Many of Farmer’s fans were not satisfied with this choice, as “Redonne-moi” is the slowest song of the album and seemed to lack of commercial potential. A promotional CD single was sent to radios on 13 October. The single was proposed for the first time as digital download on 7 December, but the physical release, originally scheduled for 5 December, was eventually cancelled and delayed on 2 January 2006. Moreover, the song was rarely broadcasted on radios, as they considered it too slow. Geez! Is it a kindergarten or something? Why does it always have to be the jumping jacks? ☹

The single was released in a sole format, a digipack CD single without any remixes, and used for the cover of an unpublished photo produced by Ellen Von Unwerth during a photo session in 2005.

By the way the images are stunning. Here are a few:

The music video was initially announced to be released on the 7 of December 2005, and the name of the produced was revealed on the 18 of November. But in October, first photographs of the video circulated on the Internet and quickly disappeared per Farmer’s wishes.

On 6 December, the musical channels received the video but were not allowed to broadcast it immediately. Indeed, a trainee which participated in the video editing, made personal use of images, and was sued and forced to pay fees. Some images of the video were shown at the end of television magazine Sept à Huit in which Farmer was interviewed and broadcasted on the 8 of January 2006 on TF1. Finally, the video was fully broadcast for the first time on the 11 of January 2006 on NRJ 12, two months after the shooting. M6 refused to air the video after a disagreement with Farmer. Go Mylene! She stands her grounds it seems…

Very aesthetic, the music video was shot in the Ateliers du Louvre, Paris, and was produced by François Hanss (he has done famous Je te rends ton amour clip)

It features Farmer in a sculpture workshop. A statue which represents the singer is in the middle of this workshop and leaves a tear escape. Farmer sings in front of it, while a black cat appears and lies down next to the statue.

Obviously, not there by accident…(or is it?) multi-layered omen indeed

One of the statues is a copy of a cadaver tomb by René de Chalon which can be seen in the Saint-Étienne church in Bar-le-Duc, and was reused in the 2009 Mylène Farmer tournée .

Royer believes that this video is a tribute to Paul Albert Gautier, the singer’s paternal grandfather, who devoted himself to sculpture; moreover, Farmer herself admitted having been attracted by this art. The video was the number three choice of voters viewing the TV music program Les 100 Meilleurs clips du XXIè siècle (The best videos of the twenty-first century), aired on MCM on 25 February 2007.

According to journalist Déborah Laurent of La Dernière Minute, “we can sometimes think that, [in this song], the voice of [Farmer] will become inaudible as she plays with the limits of its fragility”. Author Caroline Bee said the song “is not very rhythmic and is hardly memorable”.

In France, as most of the singer’s singles, “Redonne-moi” debuted at its peak position in the top ten, at number seven, selling 10,731 units, on the7 of January 2006. The next weeks, it dropped rather quickly and totaled only five weeks in the top 50 and eleven weeks on the chart. The single remains Farmer’s shortest chart trajectory for one of her singles in the French top 100. In April 2006, when the Syndicat National de l’Édition Phonographique published the best-selling singles during the first quarter of 2006, “Redonne-moi” ranked at number 45.

In Switzerland, the single hit number 27 in its second week, on the chart edition of 15 January, and stayed in the top 100 for a total of eight weeks.

In Belgium (Wallonia), the single debuted at number 25 on the 14 of January and reached a peak of number six two weeks later, making it its highest position in all the countries it was released. It remained for eight weeks in the Ultratop 50.

Mylène Farmer performs “Redonne-moi” in Symphonic Show.

For the first time since “C’est une belle journée” in May 2002, Farmer accepted to perform a song in a television show, which was very rare. She decided to sing “Redonne-moi” on Symphonic Show on France 2, broadcasted on the 12 of November 2005, although Farmer recorded her performance on October 5^th without audience.

Already in October, French television host Daniela Lumbroso announced in the media that Mylène Farmer would be present at the show. She also explained that for this occasion, the set was smoky and decorated with 200 candles, and that the recording of the performance lasted about 30 minutes. Farmer wore black trousers and a black blouse with a big crucifix as pendant. The song was performed in lip-sync and accompanied with a philharmonic orchestra named ‘The Night of the Proms’, composed of 140 musicians and choristers, and Yvan Cassar on piano. According to author Erwan Chuberre, this performance, though moving, was far from being unanimously appreciated.

The song was also performed on the 2006 Avant que l’ombre… à Bercy concert and was thus included the on the live album Avant que l’ombre… à Bercy.

According to a description by author Julien Rigal in his book, Farmer performed it alone (with Yvan Cassar on the piano) in the middle of the cross-shaped stage. As she was overwhelmed by emotion, the audience sang the second refrain and at the end, she thanked it for its help.

François Hanss winks at the clip Je te rends ton amour which he also made in 1999, by including in the video a photo of Claude Gassian from the shooting of this clip.

This photograph will be auctioned on March 16, 2016 at the Drout hotel in Paris with this description and this visual: “Photograph of Mylène Farmer by Claude Gassian reworked and inserted into a glass plate and artificially aged by the artist with acrylics and varnishes to give the appearance of a 19th century photographic plate of the daguerreotype type. This beautiful glass painting is used as a decorative element in the video”

It is a beautiful photograph, isn’t it?

Interview with Anouk Nora, executive producer of the clip (2006)

If you are interested to learn how to play it on the piano:

POETRY BY ME INSPIRED BY THE SONG

take it now,
take it all
take the body, the dreams,
take the thoughts, take the Soul
take what's true and what's seems
no returns will allowed
take it all,
but for keeps
take it all
take it now...

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lyrics with translation