After growing up in a small town on the coast of Brittany, in 1955 Barrière enrolled in the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers in Angers. As a student he bought a guitar and started to write songs. On graduating in engineering in 1960, he moved to Paris to take up employment, and started to perform in the evenings at small clubs around the capital. He won a song contest in 1961 with the self-penned song "Cathy"; his style was chanson-based with no concession to the burgeoning yé-yé scene, but nonetheless he was soon signed to a recording contract and started to release singles regularly, enabling him to give up his job and make at least a modest living from music.
In 1963, Barrière was chosen to represent France at the eighth Eurovision Song Contest in London. His song Elle était si jolie came 5th out of the 13 entries.
Elle était si jolie turned out to be by far the biggest seller of Barrière's career to that point. He released his first album, Ma vie, in 1964 and the title-track, Ma Vie became a huge hit. In 1965 he was offered, and accepted, a leading role in a heist thriller, "Pas de panique", alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing career reached its peak in the latter part of the decade with a string of hits making him one of France's biggest stars and a sell-out live attraction.
Barrière had gained a reputation for being uncompromising and at times difficult to work with. In the early 1970s he left his record company to set up his own label. He kept his fanbase, which ensured his records and concerts continued to provide a good living, despite his being overlooked by sections of the French broadcast media. "Tu t'en vas", a 1975 duet with fellow Eurovision veteran Noëlle Cordier, topped the French chart, and was the third biggest-selling single of the year in Switzerland.
Barrière married in 1975 and he and his wife opened a nightclub-restaurant in a converted castle in Brittany. Although it proved a successful and popular venue, Barrière soon found himself facing severe tax problems, a result of dubious advice. In 1977 he took his family to the USA, where they remained for four years.
After spending four years living in the USA, Barrière returned to france in 1981 and made several comeback attempts, to little avail. After another period spent overseas, this time in Quebec, the family were back in Brittany when Barrière's career was unexpectedly rejuvenated by the 1997 release of a CD containing remastered versions of his old hits, which proved to be a money-spinner. Shortly afterwards, Barrière released an album of new material, which also sold well.
He published an autobiography in 2006 and continues to release both retrospective and newly-recorded albums.
http://www.alainbarriere.com/
Lamento
Alain Barrière Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
De voir ce qu'il reste de mes rêves d'enfants
Je crois qu'à tout prendre il me vient un regret
Ce droit ce pouvoir que personne n'eut jamais
Oui cette vie-là qu'un jour on m'a concédée
À deux êtres au moins j'aurais voulu la donner
Oh oh oh oh .......
Passant par l'Espagne j'aurais voulu dire encore
Mais celui que j'aimais ne jouait pas de l'épée
Il chantait l'Espagne et les nuits chaudes et l'été
Que par les montagnes se répercute l'écho
L'Andalousie pleure entend-là Federico
Oh oh oh oh .......
J'avais un ami de l'autre côté des mers
L'un des derniers justes il allait droit le front fier
Mais dans ce monde fou dès qu'une étoile paraît
Cela suffit bien pour qu'on l'éteigne à jamais
Quand le berger tombe piétiné par les brebis
Vois que nos mains tremblent à ton nom John Kennedy
Oh oh oh oh .......
Tout cela n'est rien si déjà je pouvais croire
En nos lendemains sans me raconter d'histoire
Mais, mais s'il fut des hommes donc la sagesse étonnait
Notre pauvre monde s'en éloigne à jamais
Et la guerre dure à tout ce que l'on m'a dit
Depuis tant de siècles mais on a donc rien compris
Oh oh oh oh .......
The lyrics of Alain Barrière's Lamento speak of the regret that the singer feels when reflecting on his life and the unfulfilled dreams and aspirations of his childhood. He wishes that he had the power and the right to give his life to at least two people, but alas, he is only one. In the lyrics, the singer goes on to express his desire to say a final goodbye to a mythical matador in Spain, who his lover, someone who sang of Spain's warm nights and summers, wanted to see. He mourns the passing of a friend, one of the last just men, who was taken by this "mad" world after a brief flicker of fame. In the last part of the lyrics, the singer reflects that there have been wise men in the world, but humanity continues to move away from their teachings, with the wars and conflicts that continue for centuries.
Overall, the song's lyrics are a lament for lost opportunities, for people taken too soon, and for the failure of humanity to learn from its wise ones. The song is deeply emotional and honours the struggles of the human heart.
Line by Line Meaning
S'il revenait de faire en moi le bilan
If he were to assess me and see what remains of my childhood dreams
De voir ce qu'il reste de mes rêves d'enfants
To see what is left of my childhood dreams
Je crois qu'à tout prendre il me vient un regret
I believe that, all things considered, there is one regret that haunts me
Ce droit ce pouvoir que personne n'eut jamais
The right and power that no one has ever possessed
Oui cette vie-là qu'un jour on m'a concédée
Yes, the life that was granted to me one day
À deux êtres au moins j'aurais voulu la donner
I would have wanted to give it to at least two people
Passant par l'Espagne j'aurais voulu dire encore
Passing through Spain, I would have liked to say once more
Un dernier adieu au merveilleux matador
A final farewell to the marvelous matador
Mais celui que j'aimais ne jouait pas de l'épée
But the one I loved did not wield the sword
Il chantait l'Espagne et les nuits chaudes et l'été
He sang of Spain, the warm nights, and the summer
Que par les montagnes se répercute l'écho
Let the echo reverberate through the mountains
L'Andalousie pleure entend-là Federico
Andalusia weeps - hear it, Federico
J'avais un ami de l'autre côté des mers
I had a friend on the other side of the seas
L'un des derniers justes il allait droit le front fier
One of the last righteous, he walked with a proud head
Mais dans ce monde fou dès qu'une étoile paraît
But in this crazy world, as soon as a star appears
Cela suffit bien pour qu'on l'éteigne à jamais
That is enough to extinguish it forever
Quand le berger tombe piétiné par les brebis
When the shepherd falls, trampled by the sheep
Vois que nos mains tremblent à ton nom John Kennedy
See how our hands tremble at your name, John Kennedy
Tout cela n'est rien si déjà je pouvais croire
All of this is nothing if I could already believe
En nos lendemains sans me raconter d'histoire
In our tomorrows without telling myself stories
Mais, mais s'il fut des hommes donc la sagesse étonnait
But, but if there were men whose wisdom surprised
Notre pauvre monde s'en éloigne à jamais
Our poor world is moving farther away from them forever
Et la guerre dure à tout ce que l'on m'a dit
And war continues, as I have been told
Depuis tant de siècles mais on a donc rien compris
For so many centuries, yet we have understood nothing
Contributed by Colin N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.