Dumas (born Steve Dumas, 1979) is a Québécois singer and a native of Victor… Read Full Bio ↴Dumas (born Steve Dumas, 1979) is a Québécois singer and a native of Victoriaville, Quebec.
He came out with his first album Dumas en 2001, when he was 21. His second album, Le cours des jours made him more well-known. One song on the Le cours des jours album was sung by Marie-Annick Lépine, from the group Les Cowboys Fringants. In 2004, Carl Bastien and Dumas released the soundtrack to the film Les Aimants by Yves P. Pelletier.

J'erre
Dumas Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Je marche souvent dans la ville
Montréal en hiver ça rend solitaire
Pas un sous en poche, que des cigarettes
Les refrains s'empilent dans ma tête

C'est le bonheur quand
J'erre en silence
Tout est clair quand j'y pense

J'en oublie mes romances, mes amours
Mes humeurs, mes absences
Je croise des passantes anonymes
J'aimerais bien les toucher
Mais je ne saurais quoi leur dire
Je préfère les fuir

C'est le bonheur quand
J'erre en silence
Tout est clair quand j'y pense

Dis-moi comment c'est
Comment c'est aujourd'hui en Angleterre
Ici à Montréal il neige, il neige
C'est d'une beauté à geler toute douleur
Rappelle-moi le jour de tes 25 ans
Si j'ai l'argent
Je te rejoins au printemps

C'est le bonheur quand
J'erre en silence
Tout est clair quand j'y pense

J'erre en silence

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Dumas's song J'erre depict the idea of wandering aimlessly in the city of Montreal during the winter season. The singer describes that walking around with no money in his pockets, smoking cigarettes and listening to his thoughts makes him feel lonely yet content. The chorus of the song emphasizes the pleasure he gets from wandering aimlessly and how it helps him to gain clarity and forget about his personal issues, including his past loves, moods and absences. The singer encounters anonymous strangers, specifically women, but he finds it hard to approach them, thus decides to avoid them altogether.

The tone of the song is melancholic, yet the singer finds happiness in being alone and lost in his thoughts. The lyrics depict the notion of escapism and how we tend to escape our problems by getting lost in busy city life. The wandering symbolizes the internal struggle of the singer and how he is looking for answers to his existential questions.

Line by Line Meaning

Je marche souvent dans la ville
I often walk around the city

Montréal en hiver ça rend solitaire
Montreal in the winter makes you feel lonely

Pas un sous en poche, que des cigarettes
No money in my pocket, just cigarettes

Les refrains s'empilent dans ma tête
Melodies keep piling up in my head

C'est le bonheur quand
Happiness is when

J'erre en silence
I wander in silence

Tout est clair quand j'y pense
Everything becomes clear when I think

J'en oublie mes romances, mes amours
I forget about my romances and my loves

Mes humeurs, mes absences
My moods, my absences

Je croise des passantes anonymes
I cross paths with anonymous pedestrians

J'aimerais bien les toucher
I would like to touch them