NOBODY KNOWS

Noboby knows is a song from Mylène Farmer’s sixth studio album, Avant que l’ombre… (Before the Shadow …) (2005). Last title of the album in the hidden track.

Very cheeky and humorous of her once again – she just throws it out there playfully and provocatively. Let your imagination dictate you what do you think you (nobody) don’t know…Well, frankly I’d say there a lot that we don’t know. There is a lot of her under the deep waters of the emotional ocean of hers, we only see the tip and even the tip is unrevealing. The less she gives out the more we want it, no? She seems to be so much more comfortable exposing herself physically than emotionally. She is with you during concerts, crying from the bottom of her heart like a little girl who you just want to rock to sleep on your lap, stroking her hair and telling her that everything is going to be all right.

She is all with you telling you how much she loves you – and by YOU – you believe deep down she really means You! She is so much out there with her infectious joys and her very human insecurities. She is all yours but only for a brief time of the concerts which feels like a blink of the eye. It’s just flies by!..and you wish so much it would last forever and a half 😊

Its so nice to know that she enjoys her time performing live just as much. She reassured us in her L’Ultime Creation that sometimes she wished to have a superpower to stop the time, just to feel that closeness a little bit longer.

But nobody knows how it really feels out there for her being backstage, putting her costume on, having makeup done. What is she feeling? Is the beating of her heart in the anxiety and fear that all it is there? How does she master those nerves, the breathing, the remembering the lyrics…How does she train herself to be out there in her full capacity and present for us all? Does she meditate, does she pray, does she feel empowered or otherwise an instrument of something higher and bigger than her?

No stomach cramps, no headaches, no sore throat is ever an excuse to not deliver. The only time to my knowledge she ever canceled the concerts it is when she broke her wrist and needed surgeries. It is an incredible strength – to be out there for us giving all of herself away without reservations.

Nobody knows how and when the muses visit her. How do they whisper those great lines into her ears, into her mind…Nobody knows but her what a joy it is to give birth to the great song, to feel fulfilled and stunned by the creation that was brought to this world through her.

Nobody knows what it is like to live in the “glass prison” for almost 40 years and protecting herself by the silent bastions. What its like to be constantly hunted and cornered by media, critics and frankly mentally unstable or hostile “fans”. Nobody knows what kind of toll it takes on her.

Nobody knows what its like being Mylene Farmer…we can only look at her life like at the store windows trying to fit yourself into her outfits, her videos, her life. But in reality, never will we walk in her shoes, fill in her image, feel her pain and her joy, her love and her grief.

Nobody knows but one can only stay loving, caring and loyal to another fellow human for the short duration called “life”, show them compassion and understating, let them be free on their journey, hold their hand through it all and Mylene shouldn’t be any exception. At least not for me. She is my counterpart, my L’Autre, my friend, my mentor, my Earthy Soul Mate I have never met in person but been intimate all my life.

“It is to continue very selfishly to talk about me, my shadows, my lights… ” (Mylène Farmer – Press conference – 12/17/2004) She said it about the album Avant que l’ombre. All the lyrics of the album are again written by Mylène.

Literary influences are numerous: Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Etty Hillesum, Pierre Reverdy, Sylvia Plath, Emil Cioran, Victor Hugo, Paul Verlaine, Oscar Wilde, Montaigne, Rodin. What can I say –  she loves to read 😊

On December 16, 2004, for the first time since the start of her career, Mylène, surrounded by Laurent Boutonnat and Thierry Suc gathered journalists for a press conference to announce her residence in Bercy in January 2006 as well as the release of the album Avant que l’ombre… She seems to be somewhat comfortable. I am sure a presence of Laurent helped: https://www.mylene.net/modules/index.php?r=247

Then, Mylène chooses the zero promotion for the release of the album. No televised service. No media interview. No poster campaigns.

Mylène nonetheless made the front page of many magazines for her return and the photoshoots carried out with the prestigious photographers made it possible to illustrate these articles.

Well, good for her: the less you talk, they more they want to hear…With Nobody knows, this is the very first time that Mylène offers a track title hidden on an album. Nice hint!

Music composed, produced, programmed, arranged and keyboards are by Laurent Boutonnat .
Guitars: Philippe Paradis
Basses: Philippe Chayeb
Drums: Loïc Pontieux
Percussions and xylophone: Pol Ramirez del Piu (guess how? Mr Boutonnat the Funny himself!)
String arrangements: Jean-Jacques Charles and Graham Preskett
Sound recording and mixing: Jérôme Devoise

Reviews

“The swing between songs to dream or cry hooks hymn-style so that the body moves are an art that Farmer and Boutonnat have perfected from album to album. The sequence of the fifteen compositions – the last” hidden ” “after a minute’s silence at the end of the fourteenth track – is still a little more mastered. Like the singer’s voice, which goes through an extended palette – to the point of being almost unrecognizable on Ange, parle-moi or Nobody knows, strangeness in the final hidden – an assurance that the mixing reinforces.” (The world – xx April 2005)

Nobody knows was sung on all the dates of the show Before the shadow … at Bercy from January 13 to 29, 2006. Stage arrangements: Laurent Boutonnat.

Nobody knows almost didn’t get sung at Bercy in 2006. During some rehearsals, Mylène instead performed Je te rende ton amour, which will ultimately not be included in the final setlist of the show.

Nobody knows (extract from the video Before the shadow … in Bercy directed by François Hanss)

Setlist of the Avant que l’ombre… concert:
Peut-être toi
XXL
Dans les rues de Londres
California
Porno graphique
Sans contrefaçon
Q.I
C’est une belle journée
Ange, parle-moi
Redonne-moi
Rêver
L’autre (2 days with Ainsi Soit Je…)
Désenchantée
Nobody Knows
Je t’aime mélancolie
L’amour n’est rien…
Déshabillez-moi
Les mots
Fuck Them All

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lyrics with translation

L'aube a bu sa transparence
Nobody knows
"Ghost" elle est infiniment
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
L'aube a su la lune entendre
Nobody knows
Nulle vie, nul ressentiment
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows

The dawn has drunk its transparency
Nobody knows
"Ghost" she is infinitely
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
The dawn knew the moon heard
Nobody knows
No life, no resentment
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
Nobody knows