His first album, La Marmaille Nue, was released in 1993 and sold 100,000 copies in the first year. His second album, Les Années Sombres ("The Dark Years"), a somber album that also went gold in its first months was released in 1995. In 1996, he regrouped with part of the Chihuahuas for the album Frères Misère (Brothers in Misery). Its rhythms are closer to punk, and the texts are more topical than his solo albums. With little media attention, the album failed to meet immediate success.
The release of his next album: Je sais pas trop ("I don't really know") was in 1997. Recorded live and featuring, once again, original melodies and sounds, it was a Gold record in France. Two years later, Mano Solo recorded the double album Internationale Shalala, live at the Tourtour, a little theatre where he played regularly since the beginning of his music career. He sings and plays guitar on the album, accompanied only by another guitarist, Jean-Louis Solans. The songs come from earlier Solo albums, except for Shalala, a hymn of "inner revolution" that the artist sang together with his audience at the end of every concert, with a positive and dynamic message.
His second live album, La Marche (The Walk), was released in 2002. It consists mostly of songs from the album Dehors ("Outside"), released earlier (August 2000). With the album comes a DVD featuring photos and videos from concerts, and CG animations from Mano Solo's imagination.
In 2004, Les animals was released. As with other Solo albums the sound was new, the lyrics contained much poetic language, and the songs were performed energetically. Some titles were new recordings of old songs. The song Botzaris, recorded with Les Têtes Raides, was featured on the album. Solo appeared on two tracks on the album Dans le caillou by Karpatt.
Solo had been HIV positive for years secondary to his youthful drug use. He was rushed to hospital after a concert in Paris on 12 November 2009. There he died at the age of 46 on 10 January 2010, due to his illness. He is buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Canal du midi
Mano Solo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
C'est sûr qu'il était pas d'ici
Ce mec-là il était de Paris
Seulement Menilmontant et le Canal Saint-Martin
Ca faisait vraiment longtemps qu'il en était trop loin
Il avait un bateau tout droit planté dans l'eau
Une vieille carcasse pourrie qu'était son paradis
Il répétait sans cesse je retrouverai Barbès
Il en hurlait la nuit attends-moi Paris
Un beau jour avec son pote Robert ils ont fait le plein de gasoil
Et ils ont mis les voiles sur le canal du midi
Ils étaient tout contents putain que c'est beau la vie
Quand on remonte sur Paris
Ils voyaient déjà la scène et le pont de Bercy
Ils en avaient eu de la peine mais bientôt ce sera fini
Seulement dans le premier virage il y eu comme un drôle de bruit
Une voie d'eau fit rage et le bateau fut vite rempli
Adieu Menilmontant et le canal Saint Martin
Adieu Pigalle et l'Opéra
Adieu Barbès et Gambetta
Adieu Répu et Goncourt
Adieu Paris pour toujours
In the song "Canal du midi" by Mano Solo, the singer tells the story of a young man who dreams of leaving the industrial suburbs of Paris and finding his way to the heart of the city. He has a boat that he's planted in the waters of the Canal du Midi, a canal that runs from Toulouse to the Mediterranean Sea, and he dreams of sailing it all the way back to Paris. However, in the end, his dream is shattered when his boat hits a snag and begins to sink, taking all of his dreams with it. The song is not just a story of a man struggling to find his place in the world, but a meditation on the fragility of human desire and the fickleness of fate.
The singer describes the young man's boat as a "rotting carcass" that he has made into his own paradise. This boat represents his own life: dirty, neglected, and forgotten by society, but brimming with potential and longing for something better. The young man dreams of returning to the city of his birth, to the alleys and streets that he knows so well, but as he sails away from his home, he knows that he is leaving something behind. His dreams are bound up in this boat, and as it sinks, so do his hopes and aspirations.
The song has several layers of meaning. It is a commentary on the state of urban life, an elegy for a lost way of life, and a reminder that life is a fleeting thing, full of unexpected twists and turns. It is a moving meditation on the human condition and the search for meaning in a world full of uncertainty.
Line by Line Meaning
Sur le canal du midi il y avait un petit gars
There was a young guy on the Canal du Midi
C'est sûr qu'il était pas d'ici
It was clear he wasn't from there
Ce mec-là il était de Paris
That guy was from Paris
Seulement Menilmontant et le Canal Saint-Martin
Only Menilmontant and the Canal Saint-Martin
Ca faisait vraiment longtemps qu'il en était trop loin
He had been too far away from those places for a long time
Il avait un bateau tout droit planté dans l'eau
He had a boat anchored in the water
Une vieille carcasse pourrie qu'était son paradis
An old wreck that was his paradise
Il répétait sans cesse je retrouverai Barbès
He kept repeating 'I'll find Barbès'
Il en hurlait la nuit attends-moi Paris
He yelled at night 'Wait for me, Paris'
Un beau jour avec son pote Robert ils ont fait le plein de gasoil
One fine day, he and his buddy Robert filled up with gas
Et ils ont mis les voiles sur le canal du midi
And they set sail on the Canal du Midi
Ils étaient tout contents putain que c'est beau la vie
They were so damn happy, life was beautiful
Quand on remonte sur Paris
When we go back up to Paris
Ils voyaient déjà la scène et le pont de Bercy
They could already see the scene and the Bercy bridge
Ils en avaient eu de la peine mais bientôt ce sera fini
They had had difficulties, but soon it would be over
Seulement dans le premier virage il y eu comme un drôle de bruit
But in the first turn there was a strange noise
Une voie d'eau fit rage et le bateau fut vite rempli
Water gushed in, and the boat quickly filled up
Adieu Menilmontant et le canal Saint Martin
Goodbye Menilmontant and the Canal Saint-Martin
Adieu Pigalle et l'Opéra
Goodbye Pigalle and the Opera
Adieu Barbès et Gambetta
Goodbye Barbès and Gambetta
Adieu Répu et Goncourt
Goodbye République and Goncourt
Adieu Paris pour toujours
Goodbye Paris forever
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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