Moi non plus
I just had a chat, half in French, with Roland. And then he says "Moi non plus". And, hey, since I'm learning French, and the web is such an exquisite philosophical time waster, it leads me off on the 1/2 hour wild goose chase of clearing up what that really meant in that song, you know. The steamy "Je t'aime (moi non plus)" with Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin. Which was sort of interesting, so I might as well relate it here.
"Je t'aime
oh, oui je t'aime!
moi non plus
oh, mon amour...
comme la vague irrsolu
je vais je vais et je viens
entre tes reins
et je
me retiens-je t'aime je t'aime
oh, oui je t'aime !
moi non plus
oh mon amour...
tu es la vague, moi l'le nue
tu va et tu viens
entre mes reins
tu vas et tu viens
entre mes reins
et je
te rejoins- je t'aime je t'aime
moi non plus
oh, mon amour..."..and so forth. Oooh, I'm blushing. (Well, not really). A full translation is below, even though it isn't a perfect one. And, indeed, the title is somewhat non-sensical. It means "I love you. Neither do I." or "Nor do I". Which isn't entirely correct. It is poetic license. And we'll have to hear from Serge Gainsbourg what he really meant by that:
"I love women as an object, the beautiful women, the mannequins, the models. This is the inner painter in me. I never tell them I love them. Je t'aime... moi non plus (I love you... me neither) expresses erotism overcoming sentimentalism So many songs about romantic and sentimental love, encounters, discoveries, jealousy, illusions, desillusions, betrayals, remorses, hatred, etc... Then why not devote a song to a sort of love much more current these days: physical love? "Je t'aime" isn't an obscene song, it's very reasonable to me, and fills this gap. Its explanation is that girls say "I love you" during sex, and the man with their ridiculous virility doesn't believe them. They think the girls only say it as a result of enjoyment, of pleasure. I guess I believe the girls, or maybe that's a result of my fear. But that's also an aesthetic step, a search of absoluteness"
Leave it to the French to know how to weave together outrageousness, philosophy, eroticism and poetry. I think I get it. Moi non plus. more >