Chanteuse and songwriter Jessica Fichot is a lot like her hometown of Paris… Read Full Bio ↴Chanteuse and songwriter Jessica Fichot is a lot like her hometown of Paris: French at heart, but with a soul that's truly international. Her multi-ethnic French / Chinese / American upbringing colors the songs on her debut album. It's called Le Chemin, "The Path," and for good reason: Jessica takes the listener on a twisting journey out of the French chanson tradition, into the lands of gypsy jazz, Chinese and Latin American folk music, through the classic American repertoire, and off into the wilderness of her imagination.

For her, the journey has been a natural one. Born in the U.S. to a French father and a Chinese mother, Jessica was raised in France in a multicultural environment. A youth spent playing music in Parisian coffeehouses and concert halls led her first to graduate from the School of Audio Engineering in Paris and then from Berklee College of Music in Boston. School was followed by a stint writing children's music for educational programs - her work includes over a hundred songs published in over a dozen countries - and later, for television. When Jessica moved to California, she began writing the songs that would eventually form the backbone of her new album.

The album's center lies with her sophisticated writing and pure, beautiful vocals - sung mostly in French and English, along with some Chinese and Spanish - as well as her piano and accordion playing. She also enlisted over 20 musicians to give each of her songs just the right mood...sometimes intimate, sometimes epic.

Following the success of her first release, Jessica Fichot has brought her songs to audiences in France, China, Canada and across the U.S, performing on vocals, accordion and toy piano and backed by an amazing quartet of clarinet/sax/flute, upright bass, guitar, and drums.

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Jessica Fichot Lyrics

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Pourquoi pleurer quand une vie sans toi
Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3
L'amour est cruel, mais une vie sans toi
Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3

Et j'evite les peines et les tourmentes
En comptant chaque note dissonante
Composant notre melodie

Que peu a peu tu oublies
Car quand le monde s'effondre
C'est les chiffres qui me guident dans l'ombre
Il ne reste plus qu'une page, un stylo
Pour t'ecrire ces 2 ou 3 mots

Pourquoi pleurer quand une vie sans toi
Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3
L'amour est cruel, mais une vie sans toi
Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3

Je ne reve comme en mathematiques
De choses simples et logiques
Au lieu de passer de rire au larmes
Au rire au larmes aux sourires
Et si un jour tu m'appelles
Les yeux tristes, le visage dans le ciel

Je marcherai methodiquement
Pas a pas, 1, 2, 3, loin de toi

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Jessica Fichot's "1 2 3" describe the simplicity of life without someone who has caused heartbreak. The song begins by questioning why one would cry over a life without the person, as it is as simple as counting from one to three. The chorus repeats this sentiment and acknowledges that while love can be cruel, the absence of a particular person can make life less complicated.

The second verse references the process of composing music and avoiding emotional pain by focusing on the dissonant notes. The singer of the song is guided by numbers when the world around them collapses, and they have only a page and pen to write two or three words to the person they've left behind. The final verse contrasts the straightforwardness of math and logic with the emotional fluctuations of laughing and crying, ultimately concluding that if the person returns with a sad face and gloomy eyes, the singer will move away methodically, step by step, counted out in ones, twos, threes.

Overall, the song presents a nostalgic, bittersweet perspective on heartbreak and moving on from past relationships, emphasizing the simplicity of being alone versus the complexity of navigating emotional highs and lows with someone else.

Line by Line Meaning

Pourquoi pleurer quand une vie sans toi
Why cry when a life without you

Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3
Is as simple as counting 1, 2, 3

L'amour est cruel, mais une vie sans toi
Love is cruel, but a life without you

Est aussi simple que compter 1, 2, 3
Is as simple as counting 1, 2, 3

Et j'évite les peines et les tourmentes
And I avoid the pains and torments

En comptant chaque note dissonante
By counting each dissonant note

Composant notre mélodie
Composing our melody

Que peu à peu tu oublies
That little by little you forget

Car quand le monde s'effondre
Because when the world falls apart

C'est les chiffres qui me guident dans l'ombre
It's the numbers that guide me in the darkness

Il ne reste plus qu'une page, un stylo
There's only a page and a pen left

Pour t'écrire ces 2 ou 3 mots
To write these 2 or 3 words to you

Je ne rêve comme en mathématiques
I don't dream like in mathematics

De choses simples et logiques
Of simple and logical things

Au lieu de passer de rire au larmes
Instead of going from laughter to tears

Au rire au larmes aux sourires
From laughter to tears to smiles

Et si un jour tu m'appelles
And if one day you call me

Les yeux tristes, le visage dans le ciel
With sad eyes, face towards the sky

Je marcherai méthodiquement
I'll walk methodically

Pas à pas, 1, 2, 3, loin de toi
Step by step, 1, 2, 3, far from you

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Leonard Borisoff, David White, John Madara

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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