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.
Sacré Coeur
Mano Solo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
et j'avais le sacré cœur qui palpitait tout bas.
Je savais même pas pourquoi j'ai demandé au passant
s'il avait déjà été heureux un court instant.
Mais les touristes ne sont pas tristes,
ils te font des sourires gentils,
un peu gênés mais très polis...
Mais des fois, va savoir pourquoi,
tu te retrouves collé sur un pavé
avec un sacré cœur gros comme toi...
Et même ces femmes tout autour,
qui viennent du monde entier pour te mater
d'un regard qui fuit dans leurs fantasmes
d'un Pigalle rempli d'apaches
du Belfégor de la pyramide
et la main de leur sœur
dans la culotte du pont de l'Alma,
et même ces femmes de toutes les couleurs
ne t'arrachent pas de cette torpeur,
qui t'est venue tu sais même plus d'où
et qui te colle là partout...
Quand des fois, va savoir pourquoi,
alors que tout Paris t'ouvre les bras,
tu te retrouves collé sur un pavé
avec un sacré cœur gros comme ça...
Et c'est pas pour ça que je vais aller courir
dans le lit de la Seine pour y dormir.
Pas pour ça que je vais aller chialer
dans la cour d'un ancien,
trop ancien amour...
In Sacré Coeur, Mano Solo portrays the profound feeling of loneliness that can strike an individual in the midst of a crowded and welcoming city like Paris. The song starts with the repetition of the line "and I had the sacred heart (sacré coeur) as big as this" followed by "and I had the sacred heart palpitating low", describing the intense emotion that the singer is experiencing. He then recounts asking a passerby if they had ever been happy for a brief moment, showing the search for a sense of connection and understanding.
Despite the friendly and polite smiles of the tourists around him, the singer cannot escape from his feeling of being stuck on the pavement with his "sacred heart" as big as himself. Even the women who he describes as coming from all over the world to watch him cannot lift him from this torpor. He refuses to give in to desperation though, as he sings that he is not going to run to sleep in the Seine river or cry in the courtyard of a too old love. The song leaves an impression of how temporary and fleeting happiness can be, and how sometimes it is the darkest corners of our minds that make us feel the most alive.
Line by Line Meaning
Et j'avais le sacré cœur gros comme ça
I was feeling an overwhelming sadness, like a heavy burden on my heart.
et j'avais le sacré cœur qui palpitait tout bas.
My heart was beating silently in my chest due to this profound sadness.
Je savais même pas pourquoi j'ai demandé au passant
I didn't even know why I asked the passerby
s'il avait déjà été heureux un court instant.
if they had ever experienced true happiness, even for just a brief moment.
Mais les touristes ne sont pas tristes,
But tourists don't feel sadness,
ils te font des sourires gentils,
they smile kindly at you,
un peu gênés mais très polis...
a little embarrassed but very polite...
Mais des fois, va savoir pourquoi,
But sometimes, who knows why,
alors que tout Paris t'ouvre les bras,
Even though Paris is welcoming you with open arms,
tu te retrouves collé sur un pavé
you find yourself glued to the sidewalk
avec un sacré cœur gros comme toi...
and your heavy heart feeling unmanageable.
Et même ces femmes tout autour,
And even all these women around,
qui viennent du monde entier pour te mater
who come from all over the world to check you out
d'un regard qui fuit dans leurs fantasmes
with a gaze that escapes into their fantasies,
d'un Pigalle rempli d'apaches
of a Pigalle filled with outlaws,
du Belfégor de la pyramide
of the Belfégor of the pyramid,
et la main de leur sœur
and the hand of their sister
dans la culotte du pont de l'Alma,
in the pants on the Pont de l'Alma bridge,
et même ces femmes de toutes les couleurs
and even these women of all colors
ne t'arrachent pas de cette torpeur,
can't pull you out of this numbness,
qui t'est venue tu sais même plus d'où
that came to you without you knowing where from
et qui te colle là partout...
and sticks with you everywhere...
Quand des fois, va savoir pourquoi,
When, sometimes, who knows why,
alors que tout Paris t'ouvre les bras,
even though all of Paris is embracing you,
tu te retrouves collé sur un pavé
you find yourself pinned to the ground
avec un sacré cœur gros comme ça...
with your heavy heart feeling unmanageable.
Et c'est pas pour ça que je vais aller courir
And it's not for that reason that I will go running
dans le lit de la Seine pour y dormir.
into the bed of the Seine to sleep.
Pas pour ça que je vais aller chialer
Not for that reason will I go cry
dans la cour d'un ancien,trop ancien amour...
in the courtyard of an old, too old love...
Contributed by Carter I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.