SANS LOGIQUE

“Sans logique” is a 1988 song recorded by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was released on 20 February 1989 as the fourth and last single from her second studio album Ainsi soit je…. The single became a top ten hit in France.

After the successful songs “Sans contrefaçon” and “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces” and the huge sales of the parent album Ainsi soit je…, Farmer decided to release “Sans logique” as the fourth and last single from the album as she was preparing her first concert tour through France, Belgium and Switzerland.

The B-side of the single, “Dernier Sourire“, is a previously unavailable song about the death of a relative (though a live version of the cover “Je voudrais tant que tu comprennes“, originally sung by Marie Laforêt, was first scheduled as the B-side).

“Sans logique” was actually recorded twice due to technical problems in the studio. The sentence “this is a blank formatted diskette” (sampled from an Ensoniq Mirage), which can be heard in the introduction of the song and later on, refers to this problem and was kept in the finished product. “Sans logique” was widely played on French radio during the year of its release was one of the top ten songs that yielded the most copyright royalties to the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique in 1989.

Shortly after the single’s release, the European Workers Party used a still from the video, where Farmer has white eyes and the horns on her head, with the subtitle “These people promote ugliness and drugs! Say “No” to the media subculture; vote RFL!” Farmer sued the secretary of the party, Jacques Cheminade, accusing him of having used her image without her consent and have made inappropriate and abusive remarks towards her. The Tribunal de grande instance de Paris found in Farmer’s favour.

Love this song! One of the first ones for me and therefore curved deeply into my heart.

Off the bet, it is of course about duality – nothing new to state. It is a “I love you; I’ll kill you” paradox. Remember the Enigma song?

I see love, I can see passion
I feel danger, I feel obsession
Don't play games with the ones who love you
Cause I hear a voice who says
I love you, I'll kill you

Loneliness, I feel loneliness in my room
(Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back...)
Loneliness, I feel loneliness in my room

Look into the mirror of your soul
Love and hate are one in all
Sacrifice turns to revenge and believe me
You will see the face who'll say
I love you, I'll kill you, but I'll love you forever

(Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back...)
Loneliness, I feel loneliness in my room
(Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back....)

Enigma Lyrics
"I Love You, I'll Kill You"

It reminds me of Sans Logique therefore I use it as an epigraph (plus just an insane guitar solo is…ahhh…chills!) for this chapter although chronologically of course Mylene was first.

I strongly disagree with the “schizophrenia” notion introduced by some critics. Total miss in my eyes plus pretty ignorant one too as people who suffer from schizophrenia don’t have an inner disconnect. However, if we are going into the mental illness realm which is at least to say a grey area (or even grey matter – ha!) Sans Logique rather point out to a Jekyll / Hyde split personality syndrome. It was allegedly Edgar Alan Poe “curse”.

As you know Mylene feels a special affinity to his work and most likely anything he personifies. I only recently found out that people who knew him in person were caught completely off guard when normally well-mannered, quiet and gentle Edgar could turn into a monster who could attack people, cause damage to the properties and terrified everyone who seen him in the “Hyde” state of mind. It said to be that alcohol would trigger the switch of his alternate self…No proof if Mylene had it in mind while working on Sans logique but I definitely can’t omit such a valid reference.

My 2 cents:
In terms of duality, the satanique/angelique can be applied to a broader spectrum of being-ness such as our everyday thoughts,  emotions and unfortunately actions. We all are severely polarized by our upbringings, our religious views (so black and white!! Especially if you are Christian), nowadays media of all kinds, politics, and our overall outlook on life. One brilliant mind (Albert Einstein) once noted that the biggest dilemma we have to face is whether we live in friendly or hostile universe. Therefore, an answer minimizes the internal split which then propagates to all the experiences  we create. 🤔

But what if we take it even one step further?
What if it is about about Self Love and Self Hate all at once? What if its our internal critic just waiting for a good reason to bully (yep! from the word “bull”) ourselves to death? Do you recall that ugly voice in your head that keeps telling you to fight, defend yourself and not to stop at the opponent’s’ first blood…(just like in the clip) but what if it’s YOU who bleeding from your guts because of the sharp horns of your own unacceptance?

I’ve been there…the bull within almost completely destroyed me…but luckily, I took it by the horns 🙂

Perhaps, ultimately the bull is the Ego? Something you in a way “wear” as its been forced upon you by this deadly game called life?

Mylène tells the story of the clip:

“I play the role of a bull. It’s a young girl who will participate in a kind of ritual with her friends, who are indeed Spanish gypsies, real gypsies, and who will participate in a bullfighting and so she is playing the role of the bull. It will indeed be an animal injured by her boyfriend, and it will end like all love stories… tragically! ” (Mylène Farmer – RMC – 03/14/1989)

the French photographer Josef Kudelka

“A human bullfight in a clip whose universe is reminiscent of Goya’s paintings. Francisco Goya – El Aquelarre (Le Sabbat des witches) (1798) / Mylène Farmer – Clip Sans Logique

The chief decorator of the clip Jean-Marc Kerdelhué confirmed the influence of two photographers:

with in particular black and white photos of gypsies the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado and photos also in black and white which inspired the characters of the clip

and of course Francisco Goya himself.

It was a Requiem Publishing production, filmed over the course of three days at a studio in Arpajon in the Île-de-France région, France, where the video for “Que mon cœur lâche” was also shot three years later. It cost around 200,000 euros to make, largely due to Boutonnat importing two tons of earth and a large, waxed cloth that was used to represent the sky. The video concept was inspired by Francisco Goya’s painting El Aquelarre

 which portrays a human corrida, and features various people including a torero (played by Lilah Dadi who also appeared in the video for Farmer’s next single, “À quoi je sers...”‘).

Due to its graphic, violent content, the video for “Sans logigue” was edited by some television channels for broadcast. The unedited version was released on Farmer’s various video clips compilations.

According to Instant-Mag, “Sans Logique” is without a doubt “one of the most beautiful videos of the singer: percussive images, multiple references, many interpretation, rich symbolism”. It condenses “the strong themes of the filmmaker Luis Buñuel”, particularly the social struggle. Like Goya’s painting, the video “tackles the fundamental perversion of men; reality is described as obsessive and mixes dreams and nightmares”.

It is “built as an ode to the Spanish forbidden culture, in which mix the themes of childhood and social corruption”. “The old characters that form the audience [in the video] represent affluent people, the guarantors of moral order, the partners of moral conformism”.

According to French magazine Top 50, the video manages to “marry dead, mournful, tragedy with music for discothèques”, “by dint of symbols, sophisticated decors and subtle union of beauty and unhealthy. “Biographer Bernard Violet said this video is “by far the most inventive” ever made by Boutonnat.

Belgian writer and Farmer’s friend Amélie Nothomb, spoke of this video in an excerpt from her 1997 book Attentat, with her character Ethel.

France Soir considered that “Sans logique” had “its weight of synthetic sulfur” and that the words had “a preciousness from another era”.

In France, the single charted for fifteen weeks on the French Top 50, from 18 March to 1 July 1989. It debuted at number 30 and reached its peaked position, number ten, five weeks later, spending a total of eleven weeks in the top twenty. Its sales were somewhat disappointing in comparison with the great success of two of the other three previous singles, “Sans contrefaçon” and “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces“.

Farmer performed “Sans logique” five times in four television shows in 1989, all on TF1: Avis de recherche (24 February and 12 May), La Une est à vous (11 March), Jacky show (18 March), Sacrée Soirée (22 March). Farmer, nominated for the Victoires de la musique, has won the title “Best female performer of the year”, but refused to sing “Sans logique”, which was very criticized by the media. For this song, the singer used for the first time a dynamic choreography that she named “the technical of mirror”, because she has created it only by looking at herself in a mirror.

A single Sang logique was released on the B-side of “Dernier Sourire“

“Sans logique” was performed during the 1989 tour. Farmer then wore black veils, a white collar and small white socks and performed a collective choreography inspired by the 18th century, composed of large gestures and these movements become smaller as if Farmer was bound by twine. When the music began, Farmer curtseyed several times, and the. About the middle of the song, the singer hit the ground with her microphone and got up again immediately.

Very curious find I’d like to share –  Sans Logique En Concert that was digitally remastered into a color by the fans… Coordination of the choreography: Sophie Tellier.

To view the entire remastered En Concert video CLICK HERE

Sans Logique had not been sung on stage for thirty years and the Tour 89 .
Fans were eagerly awaiting his return. Mylène performed it during the nine concerts at Paris La Défense Arena from June 7 to 22, 2019.

The song took second place on the show’s setlist and it was totally rearranged for the stage by Olivier Schultheis.

Unlike Tour 89 , Mylène is alone without dancers and therefore no choreography is performed.
She is wearing a Jean Paul Gaultier outfit.
The backdrop dressing this performance contains winks to the clip of the song directed by Laurent Boutonnat in 1989 with animations evoking bullfighting and an image of Mylène extracted from this clip.
This video can be found on Live 2019 Le Film released on DVD and Blu-Ray on December 06, 2019.

It was uploaded on Youtube in 4K quality on December 06, 2020 following the release of the best-of Histoires de (on CD1 the 2019 live version of Sans Logique ).

Since the song is strongly describes a duality as a basis for human existence – it very hard to not to mention a famous Jekyll /Hyde phenomena.

Do you know what inspired Stevenson to write Jekyll and Hyde? Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was inspired by an 18th century Edinburgh cabinet maker named Deacon Brodie, a respectable town councilor and an extremely successful craftsman. Brodie’s job gave him access to the keys of the rich and famous, which he made copies of in order to rob them at night.

Did you also know that in the Chinese astrology Mylene was born in the year (1961) of a metal /white bull. Subsequently, this year is again (!!) 5 rotations later is a year or a metal/white bull. I sure hope it brings a lot of happiness to Mylene…

I love the sounds of the castanets to make the Spanish-ness of the song even more obvious

In case you wonder what the words in the background: It’s a phrase “This is a blank formatted diskette” was repeated throughout the song

REACTIONS

Dereck reacts 😊 don’t forget to smile …

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lyrics with translation