When Alain Bashung was one year old he was sent to the Strasbourg area, in Wingersheim, to stay with his grandparents. He spent his childhood in the country in a conservative environment. When he was five years old he discovered Music most notably Kurt Weill, as he played harmonica. He was also a Choirboy in the church at Wingersheim and played basket-ball. At School he was regarded serious child.
He returned to Paris in 1959, where he discovered the great names of Chanson Française, the radio, American Rock with Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. Whilst studying to become an accountant, he started a short lived Band with friends “les Dunces” whose style swong between Folk and Rockabilly. He quickly dropped his studies.
Bashung started a band with musicians met in Royan, a new band playing in Restaurants, Hotels and most of all the American bases. his career started with some difficulties with the release of his first single at 19 years of age “Pourquoi rêvez-vous des États-Unis ?” in 1966. He released a dozen singles, one using the pseudonym David Bergen, and two others. In 1971/1972 under the pseudonym "Hendrick Darmen" compositor and singer of the band “Monkey Bizness”. He wrote a number of songs for stars of the time like Noël Deschamps, but doesn't appear to have reached success.
In 1973, he played Robespierre in the Musical “La Révolution française” written by Claude-Michel Schönberg. He met Dick Rivers the singer of Les Chats Sauvages, for whom he composed and produced music.
He met musician Andy Scott and the songwriter Boris Bergman, and in 1977 wrote his first innovative LP “Romans photos”, though it was a Commercial failure in the context of Punk storming music.
In 1979, he released “Roulette russe”, a very dark and more Rock orientated album.
He confirmed his talent with critical acclaim and public success in 1981, with the rock influenced album “pizza”, mainly with one single from the album “Gaby, oh Gaby” that finally got Bashung success in the charts in 1981 followed by the single “Vertige de l'amour”, and started touring the bigger venues Notably “l'Olympia” in Paris.
In 1982, Bashung collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg on the complex album “Play blessures”, that did not achieve commercial success.
In 1983, he confused his fan base with an album deviating from the previous rock style, “Figure imposée”. In 1985, he came back with a number of titles written for “SOS Racisme” (anti-racism organisation).
In 1986, he released “Passé le Rio Grande”, which won him a “Victoire de la Musique”. Two singles achieved some success over the airwaves: “Malédiction” and “L'arrivée du tour”. However the album itself did not sell much.
In 1992, he started a long partnership with writer Jean Fauque, for “Osez Joséphine”, an album which also contains some cover of classic Rock such as “Night in White Satin”. His fan base grew and the album sold 350 000 copies. In 1994, he followed up with “Chatterton,” collaborating with Sonny Landreth, Ally McErlaine, Link Wray, Marc Ribot and Stéphane Belmondo. The key single extracted from this album is “Ma petite entreprise.” He started a two-year tour that results in the 1995 live album, “Confessions publiques.”
After recording a duet with Brigitte Fontaine "City" for her album "Les Palaces", Bashung returned to the musical world following a stint acting and in 1998 with “Fantaisie militaire”. While making this album in collaboration with Rodolphe Burger, Les Valentins and Jean-Marc Lederman. He will receive three Victoires de la Musique for the Album in 1999.
In 2002, he released the “L'imprudence” album to further critical acclaim. During the same year, he recorded with his wife, actress and comedian Chloé Mons “le Cantique des cantiques”. They created this title for their wedding in 2001, on a music written by Rodolphe Burger and on the basis a a new translation of the “Cantique des cantiques” from the Bible by the Author Olivier Cadiot.
In 2004, he released live double album “La tournée des grands espaces."
In 2005, for the twentieth Victoires de la Musique, he received an award for the best album of the last 20 years for “Fantaisie militaire.”
In the beginning of 2007, he participates in the tour “Les Aventuriers d'un autre Monde” with Jean-Louis Aubert (Téléphone), Cali, Daniel Darc, Richard Kolinka (Téléphone) and Raphaeël.
In March 2009, he recieved three Victoires de la Musique for his last album "Bleu Pétrol".
He passed away on March 14th, 2009 of complications of metastatic lung cancer.
Est-Ce Aimer
Alain Bashung Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Comme un voleur à la tire
Rejoindre là-bas
Les troupeaux de regrets
S'il suffisait de s'offrir
Au premier volcan
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce une escale
En mer Egée
Est-ce un essaim d'abeilles
Au réveil
S'il suffisait d'orner la douleur
D'une plage de silence
J'ai pas souffert
J'ai pas suffi
Là où la rouille n'a que faire
De la mélancolie
Toi aussi tu te noieras
Dans ce désert imbuvable
Toi aussi tu te perdras
Dans de beaux draps
S'il suffisait
De se faire une beauté
Pour retrouver grâce à tes yeux
S'il suffisait de se défaire
S'il suffisait de disparaître
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
S'il suffisait
D'abolir les écorchures
La peine qu'on se donne pour tenir
Une à une triomphent les ruines
Est-ce aimer
Toi aussi
Tu trembleras
Sous la canicule
Varans vauriens
N'en savent rien
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce aimer
Est-ce une escale
En mer Egée
Est-ce un essaim d'abeilles
Au réveil
S'il suffisait de croire
Les dessous des balançoires
The song "Est-ce Aimer" by Alain Bashung is a contemplative piece on the nature of love and the lengths people go to attain it. The lyrics open with an expression of longing to escape, to leave behind the mundane and join the "herds of regrets" that exist elsewhere. The following lines express a desire to offer oneself up to the first volcano, recalling the Greek myth of Aegeus, who threw himself into the sea after mistakenly believing his son had died in battle. The chorus repeatedly asks the question "Est-ce aimer?" ("Is this love?"), suggesting that while love may be sought after in these lengths and in these ways, it remains an enigmatic and elusive idea.
The middle part of the song muses on the potential of hiding pain behind a facade of silence and putting on a facade of beauty to win back the affections of a lover. The final lines see the singer remarking on the inevitability of falling in love and getting lost, and that even the most vicious of creatures may one day feel this emotion. The chorus is then repeated a final time, potentially suggesting that there are no clear answers to the question of what love truly is.
Line by Line Meaning
S'il suffisait de partir
If it were enough to just leave
Comme un voleur à la tire
Like a thief in the night
Rejoindre là-bas
To go somewhere else
Les troupeaux de regrets
The herds of regrets
S'il suffisait de s'offrir
If it were enough to offer oneself
Au premier volcan
To the first volcano
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce une escale
Is this a layover
En mer Egée
In the Aegean Sea
Est-ce un essaim d'abeilles
Is this a swarm of bees
Au réveil
Upon waking up
S'il suffisait d'orner la douleur
If it were enough to adorn the pain
D'une plage de silence
With a beach of silence
J'ai pas souffert
I haven't suffered
J'ai pas suffi
I haven't been enough
Là où la rouille n'a que faire
Where the rust doesn't care
De la mélancolie
About the melancholy
Toi aussi tu te noieras
You too will drown
Dans ce désert imbuvable
In this undrinkable desert
Toi aussi tu te perdras
You too will get lost
Dans de beaux draps
In beautiful sheets
S'il suffisait
If it were enough
De se faire une beauté
To make oneself look beautiful
Pour retrouver grâce à tes yeux
To regain grace in your eyes
S'il suffisait de se défaire
If it were enough to let go
S'il suffisait de disparaître
If it were enough to disappear
S'il suffisait
If it were enough
D'abolir les écorchures
To abolish the scratches
La peine qu'on se donne pour tenir
The effort we make to hold on
Une à une triomphent les ruines
One by one, the ruins triumph
Toi aussi
You too
Tu trembleras
You will tremble
Sous la canicule
In the heatwave
Varans vauriens
Scoundrel lizards
N'en savent rien
Don't know anything about it
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce aimer
Is this love
Est-ce une escale
Is this a layover
En mer Egée
In the Aegean Sea
Est-ce un essaim d'abeilles
Is this a swarm of bees
Au réveil
Upon waking up
S'il suffisait de croire
If it were enough to believe
Les dessous des balançoires
The underneath of the swings
Contributed by Landon T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Alain B.
on La fille de la maison des dunes
Elle verra la vie qu’il me faut
Dans du marc de thé chaud
Car elle sait tous les secrets du tarot
Je me noie dans ses cheveux noirs
(je) Suis enfin au pouvoir
Car elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
Elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
Je me vois comme un bout d’étoile
Dans sa boule de cristal
Et je ne vois pas bien ou est le mal
Où est le mal
D’accord elle est un peu sorcière
La fille aux mains de pierre
Mais elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
Elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
Plus je me la mets dans la tête
Plus j’deviens une sorte de mouette
Plus je vole dans son monde de flou
Plus je m’éloigne de vous
Je me brûle à son soleil noir
Terriens, bonsoir…
Oui elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
Elle m’apprend à aimer et à voir
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
La fille de la maison des dunes
La fille des brumes
…