The foursome recorded around 45 sombre and tormented songs while gaving a number of concerts in the area around Nantes. Later, with the singer Katerine, Dominique Ané recorded a number of songs in a more upbeat and livelier style.
Beginning of a career
At the beginning of the 1990s Dominique Ané recorded songs that were both minimalist and rock in style. He wanted to break with the traditional chanson, which he considered to be more literary than musical[1]. His first CD, released by the Nantes label, Lithium, met with critical acclaim by the alternative magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, and by Bernard Lenoir, the 'John Peel' of France. Furthermore, his song, Le Courage des oiseaux, (the Courage of the Birds), was an underground hit.
From 1992 onwards, he started to produce more and more live shows, either with a backing band or solo. His commercial success grew in 1995 with Le twenty-two bar, a single off the album, La Mémoire Neuve, but this success left a bitter taste in Dominique's mouth because he considered the song to be particularly badly written[1].
In 2000, he composed the score for Antoine Desrosières' black comedy film Banqueroute.
Le Détour and beyond (2002-)
Dominique's discovery of Alain Bashung's dark 2002 album, L'Imprudence shocked him to the point that it put his music into question and he decided to explore different ways of working. He decided to compile what he considered to be the first part of a musical time capsule, a longbox entitled Le Détour. He asked his fans to write about their relationship with his music, and some of their letters were published in the booklet accompanying Le Détour.
For his subsequent album, he wanted to experiment and, consequently, for the first time, he gave control over the album to a third party, the team who produced L'Imprudence. The end result would be Tout sera comme avant (Everything will be like it was before), which was released in 2004. Unfortunately, many fans had difficulty obtaining a copy. At the same time, Dominique gave many live performances variously using a big band, minimalistic backing, or all alone (where he would experiment with oversampling).
In March 2006, L'Horizon came out, a new work that he produced alongside Dominique Brusson, with whom he had made the early album, Remué. It was the first time that Dominique A returned to work with a producer. He was backed by his old collaborators, Sacha Toorop and Olivier Mellano, as well as the musicians with whom he produced Tout sera comme avant. Dominique A had recently quit his record label, Labels, due to his desire for more creative freedom; consequently, it is no surprise that he describes L'Horizon as his most experimental work to date.
Collaboration and influence
Dominique A collaborates regularly with other artists and on other projects. He has been one of the shaping forces of Françoiz Breut's career, writing many of her songs since her début in 1997. He has also composed several songs for Jeanne Balibar's second album, Slalom Dale and wrote Où est la ville ? for Jane Birkin's 2006 album, Fictions. He also sang Veruca Salt et Frank Black in trio with Keren Ann and Vincent Delerm on the latter's second album, Kensington Square.
Dominique A has inspired and influenced many artists. Among them were Yann Tiersen and the Norwegian electro band, Oslo Telescopic, who named one of their albums The Dominique O Project. Lyrically, Dominique's movement away from the constraints of chanson moved many other French-speaking artists, including Miossec, Holden and Arman Méliès.
Le Twenty Two Bar
Dominique A Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
C'était plutôt inhabituel
Alors bien sur j'en profitais
De bras en bras les gens passaient
Ça n'était
Qu'un temps court pour se relancer
Et puis se remettre à danser
Parfois j'entendais
Quelqu'un m'appeler
Personne
Quand je me tournais
2. Au twenty-two bar ce soir-là, on dansait
Je ne sais plus pourquoi c'était, non...
Pas plus que les gens qui dansaient
Si par hasard ils s'arrêtaient
Ils sentaient
De vieux décors se balancer
Plusieurs fois manquaient de tomber
Et du coup de bras en bras ils repassaient
Alors on se laissait aller
Au twenty-two bar ce soir-là
{au Refrain}
3. Au twenty-two bar ce soir-là, on dansait
A chaque fois que je le voyais
Je l'appelais puis me cachais
Après tout ce qu'il m'avait fait
J'attendais
Le bon moment pour l'aborder
Et sentir son sang se glacer
Mais comme vraiment rien ne pressait
Ne pressait
Pour l'heure je le laissais filer
Bientôt je le ferai danser...
The song Le Twenty Two Bar by Dominique A speaks of a peculiar night spent in a bar. The first verse describes how people danced from one person to another, and it was a short-lived moment for them to recharge and continue dancing. However, the singer heard someone calling him, but when he turned, no one was there. The second verse is about the same night, where the singer does not recall how they ended up dancing in the bar. If someone stopped, they felt like the old decorations in the bar were about to collapse; hence they continued dancing, switching partners from one person to another. In the third verse, the singer sees someone they know in the bar and decides to call his name and then hide. The person had done something terrible to the singer, and he waited for the right moment to confront him.
The song seems to explore the idea that sometimes people need to let go, dance and have fun, for a brief moment, before going back to reality. It also touches on the idea of not holding onto grudges and letting go of negative emotions to enjoy the present.
Line by Line Meaning
Au twenty-two bar on dansait, on dansait
We were dancing at the twenty-two bar, that night we danced
C'était plutôt inhabituel
It was rather unusual
Alors bien sur j'en profitais
Of course, I took advantage of the situation
De bras en bras les gens passaient
People were passing from one arm to another
Ça n'était
It wasn't
Qu'un temps court pour se relancer
Just a short time to bounce back
Et puis se remettre à danser
And then start dancing again
Parfois j'entendais
Sometimes I would hear
Quelqu'un m'appeler
Someone calling me
Personne
No one
Quand je me tournais
When I turned around
Au twenty-two bar ce soir-là, on dansait
That night at the twenty-two bar, we were dancing
Je ne sais plus pourquoi c'était, non...
I don't remember why it was, no...
Pas plus que les gens qui dansaient
Just like the people who were dancing
Si par hasard ils s'arrêtaient
If they happened to stop
Ils sentaient
They felt
De vieux décors se balancer
The old decorations swaying
Plusieurs fois manquaient de tomber
Several times they almost fell
Et du coup de bras en bras ils repassaient
And so they passed from one arm to another
Alors on se laissait aller
So we let ourselves go
A chaque fois que je le voyais
Every time I saw him
Je l'appelais puis me cachais
I would call him and then hide
Après tout ce qu'il m'avait fait
After all he had done to me
J'attendais
I was waiting
Le bon moment pour l'aborder
The right time to approach him
Et sentir son sang se glacer
And feel his blood run cold
Mais comme vraiment rien ne pressait
But since there was really no rush
Ne pressait
No rush
Pour l'heure je le laissais filer
For now, I let him go
Bientôt je le ferai danser...
Soon, I will make him dance...
Contributed by Thomas O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@LaTesea
Me gusta tanto tu música. Y de repente me vino a la mente. Hace más de 20 años disfrutaba de tu preciosa música. Gracias ❤
@juliejamet1256
Absolument fabuleux ce morceau! Tant dans la rythmique que dans le texte et le jeu des artistes. Un superbe couple assez Burtonien, je trouve! Indémodable!
@lovelyelsadalsace8083
Les belles et bonnes chansons traversent les décennies sans peine et nous arrivent intactes et brillantes.
@michel137
Exactement ! Cela fait plaisir de lire un commentaire à la fois pertinent, joliment rédigé et sans fautes, c'est de plus en plus rare... 👍
@nathaliecoi3250
Cette chanson n'a pas pris une ride. J'ai eu la chance de l'écouter lorsque j'ai emménagé à Paris, c'était en 1995, belle époque 🙂
@tablettetactile7108
Le morceau parfait : paroles et musique, rien à jeter ni à ajouter... Classieux.
@22trognon
C'est vrai que c'était chouette mais ce qu'il fait depuis... c'est la claque. C'est un super parolier et un musicien fabuleux. J'adore ses textes , sa poésie, sa rêverie. Bref, je suis une inconditionnelle de cet artiste.
@ollusende1986
One of the best songs ever ❤
@fatimamekahli628
Je connaissais cette chanson, j'adore. Quel bel artiste. Belle découverte.
@pureheartbianca9526
Oui c'était un des tubes de ete