Born on the 6 October 1968 in Provins, France, Dominique Ané is the only ch… Read Full Bio ↴Born on the 6 October 1968 in Provins, France, Dominique Ané is the only child of a teacher and a homemaker. A loner throughout his teenage years, he was passionate about literature and music from a young age. He was interested in punk but, at the age of 14, at the beginning of the 1980s, he started to appreciate the dark romanticism of the New Wave movement. After completing high school he studied humanities for a year while holding a range of odd jobs, including a spell as a utility man for an FM radio station in Nantes, where his family lived. At around the age of 16 he started up a band, John Merrick, named after the hero of the film, The Elephant Man.

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.

Les Hommes Entre Eux
Dominique A Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Les hommes entre eux
Parlent de travail ;
C'est comme un jeu
Entre eux, comme ils en parlent ;
Et ça va vite, on voit les rails
Et on ne freine pas ; c'est un jeu.

Les hommes entre eux

Mentent à des femmes ;
C'est comme un jeu
Entre eux, comme ils en parlent ;
Tout de vert vêtus, ils détaillent
Les bottes aux pieds, c'est comme un jeu.

Vois
Vois comme leur souffle est rapide
Au-dessus d'eux un soleil vibre
Et leur coeur est emballé ;
Là
Affleure la peau qui les bride ;
L'envie est une bouteille vide
Qu'il faut remplir d'eau glacée
Et comme ils sont assoiffés.

Les hommes entre eux
Comptent les murailles ;
Leurs pioches les lâchent
Alors ils font du feu
Et leurs mots sont
Tout comme la paille ;
Du verre par-dessus :
C'est un jeu.

Les hommes entre eux
Sont fiers de rien ;
Demain fait peur
Si rien ne vaut demain ;
C'est comme hier
Quand c'était bien :
C'est de retomber
Qui fait peur.

Vois
Vois comme leur souffle est rapide
Au-dessus d'eux un soleil vibre
Et leur coeur est embarqué ;
Là
Affleure la peau qui les bride ;
L'envie est une bouteille vide
Qu'il faut remplir d'eau glacée
Et comme ils sont assoiffés.
Et comme ils sont assoiffés.

Et comme ils sont assoiffés.
Et comme ils sont assoiffés.

Overall Meaning

"Les Hommes Entre Eux" by Dominique A is a song that describes the ways in which men interact with each other. The first verse talks about how they talk about work as if it were a game and they don't slow down or stop, but keep going full steam ahead. The second verse talks about how men lie to women and how they are always wearing green clothing and focus on details such as boots. The chorus talks about how these men are thirsty for something, and that they try to fill that thirst with something cold like water. The lyrics suggest that these men are thirsty for something that they can't quite name or define, but they keep trying to quench that thirst in various ways.

The imagery in the song is vivid and surreal, with the sun vibrating and hearts racing. The idea of men being proud of nothing and being afraid of falling again seems to suggest a deep sense of insecurity and fragility. The repetition of the phrase "et comme ils sont assoiffés" (and how they are thirsty) reinforces the idea that these men are searching for something that they can't quite name, but that they are driven to find.

Overall, "Les Hommes Entre Eux" is a powerful and evocative song that uses poetic language and surreal imagery to explore the complex world of male relationships and emotions.

Line by Line Meaning

Les hommes entre eux
When men are around each other

Parlent de travail ;
They talk about work as if it's a game

C'est comme un jeu
It's like a game to them

Entre eux, comme ils en parlent ;
They talk about it amongst themselves

Et ça va vite, on voit les rails
They move quickly, going down the tracks

Et on ne freine pas ; c'est un jeu.
They don't stop, it's all a game.

Mentent à des femmes ;
They lie to women

Tout de vert vêtus, ils détaillent
Dressed all in green, they scrutinize

Les bottes aux pieds, c'est comme un jeu.
It's all just a game to them.

Vois
Observe

Vois comme leur souffle est rapide
See how quickly they breathe