Alain Souchon (1944-) is a French pop singer, songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films. Souchon signed his first contract in 1971, but had no success until he began to collaborate with composer/arranger Laurent Voulzy; they would write together, but each released albums under his own name. Souchon’s first hit was “J’ai 10 ans” (1974), from the album of the same name. Souchon’s biggest hit was probably “Foule Sentimentale” from 1993’s million-selling C’est déjà ça. Widely considered the godfather of contemporary French pop, singer/songwriter he captured the precarious masculinity of postmodern man with uncommon tenderness and whimsy. His music explored themes both personal and political with poetic grace, firmly establishing its creator as the spiritual heir to the traditions of Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens.
In “Foule sentimentale”, he criticizes “the superfluity of the materialistic society”. In the lyrics, he cites Paul-Loup Sulitzer and Claudia Schiffer as examples of people highlighted in the media for their success in their respective fields, saying thus all that causes great harm to the TV viewers.
Oh la la la vie en rose
Le rose qu’on nous propose
D’avoir les quantités d’choses
Qui donnent envie d’autre chose
Aïe, on nous fait croire
Que le bonheur c’est d’avoir
De l’avoir plein nos armoires
Dérisions de nous dérisoires car
Oh dear! Life through rose-coloured glasses
The shade of pink we are offered
To have loads of things
That make us want for more
Ouch, they make us believe
That happiness is to have
Our wardrobes full of ‘avoir’ [having stuff]
Making a mockery of us [it’s] pathetic because
Foule sentimentale
On a soif d’idéal
Attirée par les étoiles, les voiles
Que des choses pas commerciales
Foule sentimentale
Il faut voir comme on nous parle
Comme on nous parle
Sentimental crowd that we are
We are pining for ideals
Attracted to the stars, to sails
[To] only non-commercial things
Sentimental crowd that we are
You should see the way they talk to us
The way they talk to us
Il se dégage
De ces cartons d’emballage
Des gens lavés, hors d’usage
Et tristes et sans aucun avantage
On nous inflige
Des désirs qui nous affligent
On nous prend faut pas déconner dès qu’on est né
Pour des cons alors qu’on est
Des
There emerge
From those cardboard boxes
Washed-up people, obsolete
And sad and without any pluses
Desires that distress us
Are imposed on us
From the moment we are born they take us, come off it
For bloody idiots, whereas we are
Foules sentimentales
On a soif d’idéal
Attirées par les étoiles, les voiles
Que des choses pas commerciales
Foule sentimentale
Il faut voir comme on nous parle
Comme on nous parle
Sentimental crowds
We are pining for ideals
Attracted to stars, sails
[To] only non-commercial things
Sentimental crowd that we are
You should see the way they talk to us
The way they talk to us
On nous Claudia Schieffer
On nous Paul-Loup Sulitzer
Oh le mal qu’on peut nous faire
Et qui ravage à la moukère
Du ciel dévale
Un désir qui nous emballe
Pour demain nos enfants pâles
Un mieux, un rêve, un cheval
We are Claudia Schieffer’d
We are Paul-Loup Sulitzer’d
Oh! The harm we’re made to suffer
That once ravaged the mujer*
A desire that thrills us
Hurtling down from the sky
For tomorrow our pale children
An improvement, a dream, a horse
Foule sentimentale
On a soif d’idéal
Attirée par les étoiles, les voiles
Que des choses pas commerciales
Foule sentimentale
Il faut voir comme on nous parle
Comme on nous parle
Sentimental crowd [that we are]
We’re pining for ideals
Attracted to stars, sails
[To] only non-commercial things
Sentimental crowd [that we are]
You should see the way they talk to us
The way they talk to us
* An ill-advised pun on a vulgar song of the sixties popular among ‘Pieds noirs’ in the south of France in particular (for instance: ‘Trabadja la mouquèr’)‘Moukère’ or ‘mouquère’ is pseudo-Arabic for ‘mujer’, Spanish for ‘woman’. I leave ‘mujer’ as a visual pendent to ‘suffer’