French singer-songwriter. He was born in Châlons-sur-Marne on 24 April 1963… Read Full Bio ↴French singer-songwriter. He was born in Châlons-sur-Marne on 24 April 1963. He's the son of the French caricaturist Cabu. From age 17, Mano Solo played guitar in a punk rock group, les Chihuahuas. He began singing his own compositions in the early nineties. Mixes ska, jazz, java, punk and chanson française.

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.

Fandango
Mano Solo Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Allons allons toujours plus vite
Rien ne pourra plus nous retenir
Allons allons soyons rapides
Que le meilleur soit à venir

Oh mon amour allons plus vite
Bientôt retentira le chant des sirènes
Oh mon amour prenons la fuite

Que notre échappée ne soit pas vaine

Sitôt la frontière passée
On oubliera, on oubliera ...
Et on dansera un fandango
Et on chantera Flamenco
Et tout sera plus beau

Ne pleure pas mon amour
Même si le coup a foiré
Nous serons ensemble pour toujours
Rien ne pourra nous séparer

Sitôt la frontière passée on oubliera, on oubliera ...

Derrière nous les gyrophares s'affolent
Ça tire ça hurle ça crie ça brûle
Devant nous les musiques résonnent
Avançons dans le noir

Sitôt la frontière passée on oubliera, on oubliera ...

J'ai mal j'me suis pris une balle
Une de celles qui font souffrir
Danse avec moi ce fandango
Car cette fois-ci je me sens partir

Sitôt la frontière passée on oubliera, on oubliera ...

Mon amour viens contre moi
Et serre-moi fort tout contre toi
Unis comme ça nous pourrons glisser
Au travers des barbelés

Sitôt la frontière passée on oubliera, on oubliera ...

Ne pleure pas mon amour
Même si le coup a foiré
Nous serons ensemble pour toujours
Rien ne pourra nous séparer

(Merci à melody625 pour cettes paroles)

Overall Meaning

The Mano Solo song "Fandango" captures the restless, almost desperate spirit of people trying to escape from their circumstances and start anew. The lyrics speak to the longing to leave behind the troubles of the past, cross a border, and embrace a new way of living. The repetition of the phrase "sitôt la frontière passée, on oubliera" (as soon as the border is crossed, we will forget) suggests not only a physical escape but also a mental one, a break from the psychological constraints of the past. The use of "gyrophares" (police sirens) and violent language like "ça tire ça hurle ça crie ça brûle" (it shoots it screams it burns) adds to the urgency of the escape and the fear that they may be caught.

The phrase "On dansera un fandango / Et on chantera Flamenco" speaks to the desire to embrace a new culture, to leave behind the old and adopt the new. The fandango dance has its roots in Spain and Portugal and is often associated with celebration and joy. Flamenco, likewise, is a Spanish art form with roots in various cultures, including Romani and Moorish. The idea of embracing these new cultures through dance and song is both a celebration of the present and a rejection of the past.

Line by Line Meaning

Allons allons toujours plus vite
Let's go, let's go faster and faster

Rien ne pourra plus nous retenir
Nothing can stop us now

Allons allons soyons rapides
Let's go, let's be quick

Que le meilleur soit à venir
May the best be yet to come

Oh mon amour allons plus vite
Oh my love, let's go even faster

Bientôt retentira le chant des sirènes
Soon the sirens will sound

Oh mon amour prenons la fuite
Oh my love, let's run away

Que notre échappée ne soit pas vaine
May our escape be worthwhile

Sitôt la frontière passée
As soon as we pass the border

On oubliera, on oubliera ...
We'll forget, we'll forget

Et on dansera un fandango
And we'll dance a fandango