Slipping away ( Crier la vie ) is a duet song with Moby released in 2006 and not featured on any studio album by Mylène. It is found on Moby’s best of album, Go then in 2011 on Mylène’s best of album, 2001.2011 .
Here is another great collaboration and an international duet. Mylene is a true pro when it comes to selecting such partnerships and lead them to fruition. She shows herself not only as a talented artist but also a brilliant commercial mind. The more I analyze the variables and the outcomes of her creative unions, the more I gain respect for her! What an incredible package she is!
I personally love this song since the first time I’ve heard it (which happens quite often with Mylene’s songs, I must admit) .
It has it all. I hope you like it as much as I do. Being an American for a quarter of the century now and primarily English-speaking as well as a huge Moby fan (since Porcelain which is just brilliant!), it was a double delight for me to find them singing together! 😊 Moby is also very sentimental and nostalgic with a touch of perpetual deep sadness in him. Even his “happy” melodies are profoundly melancholic. Sounds familiar? Well…perhaps our beloved Mylene found him easy to relate to? Ironically, they are born only a day apart. Maybe it’s a Virgo thing? Any Virgos reading this? Would you please comment?

“Slipping Away” was released by Moby as the sixth and final single from his seventh studio album Hotel on January 23, 2006. It served as the fourth single from Hotel in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart and as the sixth international single from the album. The single version features British singer-songwriter Alison Moyet on backing vocals. And it’s a lovely version IF…! I’d heard it first…But since I’ve heard Moby/Mylene version first, I can’t shake the feeling that something is just missing in the song…It’s Mylene: its her voice, its her not so dominant in this case presence, it’s her elegantly waived French making it sounds so feminine and romantic entwined with English…She made the song so much better (in my humble opinion!)
The English text from the original song Slipping away is by Moby. French lyrics written by Mylène have been added to this text.
Read the lyrics to Slipping way .

Moby has told several times in the media how his first meeting in New York with Mylène took place.
” I had a little restaurant in New York, a little vegetarian cafe, and one day I was in my cafe and there was this very nice French woman who comes up to me and starts talking to me. And, she used to come to this café regularly, very nice to me, and one day I arrived in Paris and saw her face on a poster. I said to myself: “But it’s this woman who comes to my café!”. , this friend I was with said to me: “But do you know that it’s Mylène Farmer, do you know that she’s one of the greatest French artists? And I had no idea. me, it was just this nice woman who came into my cafe, who we sat with. We were both David Lynch fans. “( Moby – Europe 1 – 04/16/2011 )
It was around May 2006 that the idea of a duo between Moby and Mylène seemed to be born. Li’dée would propose a new version of Moby’s song, Slipping Away , more precisely from one of the remixes produced by English DJs and producers, the Manhattan Clique (they were contacted to produce the duo Mylène & Moby in this month of May).
In June 2006 , many rumors on the net announced that Mylène met Moby in New York and recorded one or two unreleased tracks with him. A rumor then considered quite credible, the two artists being friends and the name of Moby having often been mentioned in the past for a possible collaboration with Mylène on an album.
The duo is formalized during the summer.
It is indeed, finally, a cover of the title Slipping Away present (in solo version) on the last album of Moby, Hotel .
Moby recounts the genesis of the duo:
” Simply, thought that this would be a really nice song to do together. it was my favorite song from hotel , and i’m glad that it’s going to get a new life with mylene’s beautiful vocals.”
” We just thought it would be a really cool song to do together. It was my favorite song from the Hotel album and I’m glad it’s given new life thanks to Mylène’s beautiful voice.”” ( Moby – 2006 )
The music of the original song was composed by Moby for his album Hotel in 2005.
For the duet with Mylène, a remixed version is proposed (a remix very close to the one previously produced by Manahattan Clique for the version Moby’s solo, when it was released as a single).

It was Mylène who chose to use the Manhattan Clique remix as the basis for the duo. This also made it possible to offer an “unreleased” to promote Moby’s best of since the original version of Slipping Away had already been released as a single in some countries.
Mylène’s voice is recorded by Jérôme Devoise (A Cappella) then will be “glued” to Moby’s by the Manhattan Clique who produce this duo. The remix was made in London at the end of July 2006.
Mylène was present in the studio (accompanied by Jérôme Devoise) with Manhanttan Clique during the mixing of the vocals. Moby was on his side in America and validated the mix by email.
The Manhattan Clique described the design stages of this duo:
“We first started the mix again (which took at least a day) (from the remix made for Slipping away Moby solo version, editor’s note) then we re-equalized it, before passing it to ProTools format in order to to be able to mix with Mylène’s voice in our London studios. And we did the same thing for the long version. When a new voice is recorded on an already existing song, it changes everything, and inevitably, the mixing stage has to be started again, which was the case here too (…) Jérôme (Devoise) had the vocals on his hard drive when he came to the studio. They were dry (no effect, editor’s note), and we added reverb during the mix. It was not easy to harmonize the two voices together, but it is always the case for the duets .” (Manhattan Click – 2006 )
The Manhattan Clique also produced, at the request of Moby’s management, another remix of the duo: the “MHC Club Remix”. There is also an extended version of the single version and an edit version of the “MHC Club Remix” which is called: “Manahattan Clique Club Remix”.
Other remixers will offer their versions of this star duo.
The “Axwell Remix” produced by the Swedish DJ Axel Hedfors offers a house sound and retains very few of the lyrics of the song unlike the “Zloot Remix” by Toni Toolz which includes the entire title.
Another remix by Enzo Mori and Stephan Clark will particularly appeal to DJs and will also be broadcast on electro-oriented radio stations like Radio FG.
In June 2006, a rumor was launched that Mylène Farmer would record a duet with an international star. Several artists were mentioned, such as Lara Fabian, Benjamin Biolay, Diam’s, or Madonna (really???), but especially Robbie Williams who had apparently declared at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards that he would like to work with her. Then the name of Moby was suggested because a possible collaboration with Mylène Farmer had been mentioned in the past by Moby himself. In late August, the purchase order and Moby’s official website indicated that the name of the song was “Slipping Away (Crier la vie)”.
Moby has told several times in the media how his first meeting in New York with Mylène went.

“I had a little restaurant in New York, a little vegetarian cafe and one day I was in my cafe and there was this very nice French woman coming up to me and starting to talk to me. She came regularly to this cafe, very nice to me, and one day I arrived in Paris and I saw her face on a poster. I said to myself: “But, this is the woman who is coming to my cafe!” The friend with whom I was said to me: “But do you know that it is Mylène Farmer, do you know that it is one of the greatest French artists?”. And, I had no idea. To me, it was just this nice woman that came into my cafe, that we sat with. We were both David Lynch fans.” (Moby – Europe 1 – 04/16/2011)
Produced and remixed by MHC in London, “Slipping Away (Crier la vie)” is a dance version of “Slipping Away” with added French lyrics. Said Moby in his blog on September 9, 2006, then in the December 16, 2006 edition of the French newspaper Le Parisien.
Don’t you just love how determined she is when it comes to what she wants to do – wow! That is what it takes to be a successful performer! For those of you who just don’t believe in yourselves, perhaps there is something here to learn. Go after your dreams! Full force! It takes courage and the character and perhaps a lot of determination and charm! 😊 Mylene indeed got them all!

The song was very regularly aired by all French radio stations, including Fun Radio which aired it several times every day. As the song was very successful, new remixes were made and a second CD maxi and vinyl were released on November 15.
Farmer’s 2008 album Point de Suture contains another duet with Moby called “Looking for My Name“, which was recorded just after “Slipping Away (Crier la vie)”. (which is also an incredible song! click on the link to see the dedicated chapter)
“We just thought it would be a really fun song to do together. It was my favorite song from the Hotel album and I’m happy that it’s having a new lease on life thanks to Mylène’s gorgeous vocals.” (Moby – 2006)
The English text from the original song Slipping away is by Moby. French lyrics written by Mylène (almost exact translation with a bit of Farmerian flavor of course)

The single debuted at number one on the French SNEP Singles Chart on September 30, with 26,019 units. The single remained for 11 weeks in the top ten, 22 weeks in the top 50 and 37 weeks in the top 100. It became Moby’s first number one in France and Farmer’s fourth, after “Pourvu qu’elles soient douces”, “Désenchantée“, and “XXL“. It was also the single with longest chart trajectory in France for both artists. The song also peaked at number one on French Digital Download Chart and performed well on various airplay charts. On the 2006 Annual Charts, the song ranked at number 22 (physical sales) and number 51 (digital download).
The clip was unveiled on September 15, 2006 in preview on the Yahoo site. This is a version almost identical to the initial clip of Slipping Away Moby solo version. A succession of very beautiful photos illustrating scenes of life during the last decades in the States. Only a few images have been modified (including a photo of Mylène baby added in a sequence) and French texts have been embedded. The director is still Hugo Ramirez.
The clip is broadcast for the first time on French music channels from Wednesday, September 20, 2006. M6 announced it as an event clip.
The clip is very quickly scheduled regularly with even a broadcast every hour, the day of the release of the single, on Europe2TV, broadcast announced by an advertisement in the daily Metro.

The duo is nominated at the “NRJ Music Awards 2007” in the category “best French group or duo of the year”. The trophy is won by the musical “Le Roi Soleil” (sponsored by NRJ …). Mylène and Moby are not present at this Cannes evening.

Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be “among the most important dance music figures of the early 1990s, helping bring dance music to a mainstream audience both in the United Kingdom and the United States”.
Mylène had proposed to Moby to participate in stadium concerts of the Tour 2009 but he was forced to refuse because he was himself in concert on the same dates. So that might be a reason she pushed the duet to the next live tour 4 years later- Timeless Tour 2013 instead. However, this time Moby also was unable to be there in person…busy guy, isn’t he?
timeless 2013
Slipping away (Crier la vie) is performed (in a virtual duet with Moby) during all Timeless 2013 concerts from September 7 to December 6, 2013. Moby’s huge face was displayed behind Mylene as she was performing her part. I guess, in a way, he has become her backing vocal 🙂
Arrangements for the stage: Yvan Cassar. The stage images for this song were created by Luc Froehlicher and Eric Delmotte for La Maison. The entire scenery of the song is in the distinct blue lights and even Moby himself as opposed to the orange dominating lights for the previous song Monkey Me.
Stage arrangements: Yvan Cassar.
The stage images for this song were created by Luc Froehlicher and Eric Delmotte for La Maison.
videos with subtitles / translation

“We started with the idea of multiplying it, in fact, on the screen, so that it appears and disappears. We set out on different axes to make a kind of mosaic. We programmed variety of geometry in space, it was totally random, and we launched the calculations like that with different parameters. And then Eric mixed everything in the editing, both the filmed elements and the graphic elements.” (per Moby)
The song is a beautiful dancing tune with easy to remember catchy words. But underneath all this simplicity there is a deeply philosophical reminder of how temporarily everything is in this world. In the end, all we need is the “people who love us and like”. Everything else is “slipping away” and you only got this moment (the Zen) which is also not going to last forever. It is a hymn to life (Crier la vie). Cherish the people in your life as they are your biggest investment – everything else we return to dust and you will leave it all behind when your time is up.

So, lets “Focus on everything better today”, dear friends, shall we?
Let it be the best day ever for you, just like yesterday (a phrase proudly borrowed from my daughter)
remixes
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lyrics with translation
All that we needed was right Les ombres ce soir nous menacent Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Même si tout va si mal Voir le soleil quand la nuit nous accable Oh pour un jour Croire aux Dieux, Croire aux fables Focus on Everything better today Crier la vie Quand tout autour se tait Hold on to people That slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away All that we needed tonight Are people who love us and like Je sais les douleurs et les doutes Partie est ce qu'on redoute Aussi.... Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Même si tout va si mal Voir le soleil quand la nuit nous accable Oh pour un jour Croire aux Dieux, Croire aux fables Focus on Everything better today Crier la vie Quand tout autour se tait Hold on to people They're slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away So long..... Mais l'ombre.... Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Même si tout va si mal Voir le soleil quand la nuit nous accable Oh pour un jour Croire aux Dieux, Croire aux fables Focus on Everything better today Crier la vie Quand tout autour se tait Hold on to people They're slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away
All that we needed was right The shadows tonight threaten us Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Even if everything is going so badly To see the sun when the night is overwhelming Oh for one day To believe in the Gods, Believe in the tales. Focus on Everything better today Crying out for life When all around is silent Hold on to people That slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away All that we needed tonight Are people who love us and like I know the pains and doubts Part is what we fear Also.... Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Even if everything is going so badly To see the sun when the night is overwhelming Oh for one day To believe in the Gods, Believe in the tales. Focus on Everything better today Crying out for life When all around is silent Hold on to people That slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away So long..... But the shadow.... Open to everything happy and sad Seeing the good... Even if everything is going so badly To see the sun when the night is overwhelming Oh for one day To believe in the Gods, Believe in the tales. Focus on Everything better today Crying out for life When all around is silent Hold on to people That slipping away Hold on to this While it's slipping away
