Guesch Patti was born on 19 March 1946 as Patricia Porasse, she was nicknamed Guesch (a Basque name) as a child, Patti is a pet name for Patricia. Her father, Jean Porasse, worked as an artistic director for the record company HMV-Pathé-Marconi, taking care of Gilbert Bécaud and later as an impresario for people like Eric Charden, Jean-Jacques Debout and Nino Ferrer. Aged 9 she danced the role of the Little Rat at the Paris Opera. When she was 19 she had a brief flirtation with singing as one half of the duo Yves et Patricia, a venture she was talked into by her father. They released 2 singles on the Philips label.
In the seventies she frequently worked for television as a dancer, for example in shows with Nana Mouskouri and Silvie Vartan. Later she moved into contemporary dance and became first dancer in Carolyn Carson's group, Prima Ballerina at the Scala in Milan and guest performer with Roland Petit and Maurice Béjart. She worked on the choreography for performances set to the music of Silvano Bussoti, Luigi Nono and Karlheinz Stockhausen. She also worked with the German choreographer Pina Bausch, practised Jazz dance with Michael Peter and worked on Robert Hossein's staging of Les Misérables.
In 1984 she teamed up with Lydie Callier and another girl to form the trio DaCapo. Virgin Records released one single, but declined to take it further. 1987 saw her emerge as a solo artist with the release of the single Étienne. It charted in 9 European countries, accompanied by a video that caused some controversy due to its erotic nature. It ended up winning Best Video awards in several countries. The success was remarkable because at that time modern French pop\rock music was rarely successful in non-French speaking territories. The international success of Étienne landed her an album recording contract with EMI, the band Encore was formed around her and together they produced her first album Labyrinthe, released in 1988. A second album Nomades followed in 1990. After an (amicable) split with Encore, a third album Gobe saw the light in 1992. Sales of Gobe were disappointing, Gobe was to be her last album for EMI.
After a period of reflection she met Étienne Daho, this contributed to a renewed interest in creating music. She teamed up with independent French label XIIIBis Records (now defunct) which resulted in the 1995 release of Blonde. Songs from this album were also used for the Peter Greenaway film The Pillow Book. Her most recent album is Dernieres Nouvelles, released in November 2000.
In recent years she has also appeared in film and television productions, most notably a co-starring role in the 1997 movie Elles where she appeared alongside Marthe Keller and Miou - Miou. 2001 saw her re-emerge as a dancer on stage in the production She smiles through tears. , Her latest work is the Dernieres Nouvelles DVD, released in February 2002 it features a video illustration of the music of the CD with the same title.
Impossible Lover
Guesch Patti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Qui a tué grand-maman ?
Impossible lover
Street life
Aujourd’hui comme ailleurs
Hier est mort de peur
Impossible lover
Beau mélo inédit
Seul en solo, seul en solo
Impossible lover c’est la comédie
seul en solo, seul en solo
Street life
Un père fou d’aministie
A mangé des orties
Impossible lover
Beau mélo, inédit
Seul en solo, seul en solo
Impossible lover c’est la comédie
seul en solo, seul en solo
Un simple dénouement qui nous a trahi
Seul en solo, seul en solo
Impossible lover ainsi se finit
la comédie, la comédie
Street life
Le brouillard écrasant
Deux regards indécents
Impossible lover
Street life
Le chemin s’est pendu
Juste au coin de la rue
Impossible lover.
The lyrics of Guesch Patti's song Impossible Lover offer a somewhat cryptic and fragmented narrative, in which various elements of what seems to be a bleak cityscape are juxtaposed with the recurring phrase of the title. The opening lines mention "Street life" and pose a seemingly unrelated question about who killed the grandmother, which is followed by another statement of "Impossible lover". The second verse repeats the same phrase but adds an enigmatic line about "yesterday dying of fear". It is unclear who or what the impossible lover refers to, but the use of the word "comedy" suggests that it may be a figure of mockery or a deception.
The third verse introduces the image of a father "mad with amnesty", who ate nettles for some unspecified reason, and repeats once more the refrain of "Impossible lover". The final lines seem to suggest a culmination or resolution of the story, implying a sort of betrayal or letdown ("a simple denouement that has betrayed us") and a confirmation of the futility or absurdity of the impossible lover ("thus ends the comedy"). The chorus repeats throughout the song with the same melody and rhythm, reinforcing the sense of a circular or spiraling pattern that is common in many forms of modernist art.
Line by Line Meaning
Street life
Living in the rough and often dangerous conditions of the city
Qui a tué grand-maman ?
Who killed grandma?
Impossible lover
A love affair that seems unattainable
Aujourd'hui comme ailleurs
Today as elsewhere, life goes on
Hier est mort de peur
Yesterday died of fear
Beau mélo inédit
Beautiful, unpublished melody
Seul en solo, seul en solo
Alone in solo, alone in solo
Impossible lover c'est la comédie
Impossible lover is a comedy
Un père fou d'aministie
A father crazy for amnesty
A mangé des orties
Ate nettles
Un simple dénouement qui nous a trahi
A simple ending that betrayed us
Le brouillard écrasant
Crushing fog
Deux regards indécents
Two indecent glances
Le chemin s'est pendu
The road has hanged itself
Juste au coin de la rue
Just around the corner
la comédie, la comédie
The comedy, the comedy
Contributed by Jacob G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.