From prehistory to jazz
The son of bourgeois parents, an Italian father and a French mother, Nino declared having had a pleasant childhood in a cultivated art-loving family. He spent the first five years of his life in New Caledonia where his father, an engineer, worked in a nickel mine. On holiday in France in 1939, Nino and his mother were unable to leave Europe because of the WWII. While his father carried on working in New Caledonia, they spent difficult years stuck and penniless in Italy, where Nino’s mother was considered the wife of an enemy.
In 1947, the family, re-united and moved to France. Nino was sent to the best colleges in Paris and earned a degree in ethnology and prehistoric archaeology. As a student, much of his free time was spent on archaeological digs and his first job was at the Musée de l'Homme with André Leroi-Gourhan.
Alongside his passion for history, he developed numerous other interests. He became a keen painter, and remained so until his death. Above all, he learned to play several instruments (piano, guitar, clarinet, trombone and trumpet) and composed, wrote lyrics and became a fervent jazz lover.
When he finished his studies, his grandmother offered him a trip to New Caledonia, a gift he took advantage of by going round the world on a cargo ship and taking part in archaeological work on the Isle des Pins in Melanesia. On his return to Paris, he tried several jobs, but everything was uninteresting and poorly paid. Already thinking about a career in music, he finally took the plunge and began accompanying jazz musicians, first of all Richard Bennett and the Dixiecats, then Bill Coleman.
From jazz to rhythm ’n’ blues
At the beginning of the 60s, he worked for several years with American singer Nancy Holloway as her guitarist, continuing at the same time to write gospel-inspired songs which received only refusals from most of the record companies. Hearing Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Sam and Dave for the first time was a musical revelation and transformed his writing style.
Although already spotted by the Barclay record label, he had to wait until 1963 to record his first release, "Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé". He was 29, whereas most of the young stars of the time were hardly 20. It was a four-track EP, written in a fairly classical vein, and did not sell well in France. However, one of the tracks, "l’Irréparable, was a hit in some European countries, in Japan and even in the Middle East, where he did a week of concerts in Beyrouth.
Having left Barclay for a small label, Bel Air, Nino was still unknown in France. In 1964, he started a gospel group, Reverend Nino and the Jubilees, but it broke up before recording anything worth being released. Nino went on to bring out several solo singles without success.
From "Mirza" to "Je veux être noir"
After so many lean years, the big break came unexpectedly in 1965 when Nino returned to Barclay, who gave him the chance to record his new material. After a few unsuccessful trials, a new artistic director, Richard Bennett, gave Nino free rein to record his compositions as he wanted.
And so Nino Ferrer recorded "Mirza", an effective cocktail of rhythm ‘n’ blues and caustic lyrics. The song was immediately a huge hit. His record company called for more songs in the same vein. His records sold very well and from one day to another, the young singer became an idol. Now the zany singer in vogue, he followed "Mirza" up with "Les Cornichons" and "Oh! Hé! Hein! Bon". Although he was now very popular, his success was founded on material with which he never felt really comfortable. Nevertheless, hit followed hit and he lived his new life as a star at breakneck rhythm. In 1966, he gave 195 live performances and made nearly thirty TV appearances. He soon grew tired of his deliberately blasé and provocative seducer image of which people compared to Jacques Dutronc.
In 1966 he released "le Téléfon", another hit which people are still dancing to thirty years later. However, despite his success, Ferrer, a straightforward, uncomplicated person, grew disenchanted with show business. Little disposed to compromise, he left Paris for Italy where, at the same time, his song "Je veux être noir", was a success of an entirely different kind.
A change of direction
Smothered by his own success, Nino stayed about three years in Italy, from 1967 to 1970. In France, his releases continued to sell well. His lyrics became increasingly iconoclastic, even politicised, while remaining just as sarcastic or even cynical. In 1967, he brought out "Mao et Moa" and "Mon copain Bismarck" and in 1968, "le Roi d’Angleterre", with biting lyrics echoing his irritation with show business and society in general. Around this time, Nino hired a young organist from Cameroon, Manu Dibango, later to become famous as a saxophonist.
In Italy, Nino became notorious in 1969 as the presenter of the satirical TV variety show, "Io, Agata e tu" with Raffaella Carrà. Then, after a brief love affair with Brigitte Bardot, he decided to return to France in 1970.
Determined now to conduct his career as he alone saw fit, he took up residence in the Quercy region in the South West of France and began breeding horses. But music remained his first love and his meeting with Englishman Mickey Finn, a guitarist who had played with T. Rex, Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, changed his attitude towards his work. With Finn, Nino launched into rock music and began to write darker, more personal lyrics.
Albums and hits
1972 saw the release of the "Métronomie" album, considered by Ferrer to be his first ‘real’ album. Very much in the style of the time, the album was conceived as an ‘experience’, with the music accompanied by sound effects, but included a new version of his very first release, "Pour oublier qu’on s’est aimé". However, it was not the album which sold but one of its tracks, "la Maison près de la fontaine". Very different from the rest of the album, the single sold more than 500,000 copies. Yet again, the red carpet was unrolled for Nino which only redoubled his contempt for show business.
Ferrer continued to bring out almost an album per year. One hit track was enough to enable him to carry on doing more or less what he wanted, even if commercially the albums were seldom successful. In 1973, Nino started a part-time group with Mickey Finn and other musicians. Together, they recorded "Nino and Leggs", an entirely rock and roll album. The disc did not sell and Nino left the Barclay label for CBS. The following year, he released an album entirely in English, "Nino and Radiah". Radiah Frye is the young American singer on the album sleeve. Only one track was in French: "le Sud", one of Ferrer’s biggest hits. Now a standard of the French repertoire, "le Sud" is in fact only one version of a song originally written in English. When it was released, it was a huge hit, selling over a million copies. But Nino was not satisfied. Once again, the success of one track had overshadowed all the hard work on the rest of the album.
The following year, Nino Ferrer brought out a new album, "Suite en œuf", a commercial flop. The same was true of "Véritables vérités verdâtres, released in 1977 and which marked his departure from CBS.
Return and retirement
The success of "le Sud" nevertheless enabled Ferrer to buy a house in the Quercy region. In 1976, he moved into a 15th century fortress at Lataillade, where he installed a recording studio and continued raising horses and painting. In 1978, he married Jacqueline Monestier, known as Kinou.
Now without a record company, Ferrer released each new album on a different label. In 1979, he brought out "Blanat" on a small independent label, Free Bird. A very gospel inspired, even jazz orientated, the album had both English and French lyrics, as often before. The same year, Ferrer met Jacques Higelin, and went on tour with him. The rock singer’s crazy imagination and powerful personality seduced Ferrer and encouraged him to perform live again, a practice he had abandoned a long time before. Following this tour, he played in Paris at the Bataclan with Paul Personne’s backing group.
The 1981 album, on the WEA label, "la Carmencita", was mostly made up of old material. In contrast, the following release, "Ex-Libris", was entirely new and written as a tribute to his father. 1981 was a year both of return and departure. Ferrer brought out another rock and roll album in the Leggs vein, "Rock ‘n’ roll cowboy", and sang at l’Olympia, the most prestigious of the Paris music venues. Yet, that same year, Ferrer slammed the door on show business definitively.
Nevertheless, he appeared the following year in a stage musical for children, "L’Arche de Noé", at the Théâtre de l’Unité in Paris. Composer of the music, he also played God in this moderately successful show. From the end of 1984 until 1986, Ferrer totally disappeared from the music scene. He retired to his castle where he painted, had several exhibitions and brought up his two sons, Pierre and Arthur. Nevertheless, he recorded an album in 1986, soberly entitled, "13ème album", and whose release went almost unnoticed.
Final chapter
It was on the new FNAC label that Ferrer made his come-back in 1993. That year, he released an album of entirely original material, recorded for the most part at Lataillade and mixed in Toulouse. The sleeve and the lyrics were illustrated by the singer’s own paintings. Co-written with Mickey Finn, the album, as its title "La Désabusion" (a play on the words désabuser and illusion) suggests, marked only a half-hearted, morose return.
For around two years after "La Désabusion", Ferrer popped up in the news here and there. In 1994, he had an exhibition in Paris, published a collection of his writings and continued to promote the album. Then, from April to June 1995, he went on tour for the first time in years, with his faithful group, the Leggs. He was a guest at the Francofolies festival in la Rochelle in July. Also that year, he released a small ten-track album of original material recorded at home. A genuine family effort, recorded between 1987 and 1992, it includes versions of old hits such as "Mirza" and "le Sud", traditional folk songs ("Il pleut bergère", "Besame Mucho"), all of them sung by his wife Kinou, his son Arthur, Mickey Finn and numerous other musicians.
But after this media interlude, Ferrer was glad to return to his house, his animals, his family and his mother, Mounette, who had moved in with them. There followed another period of silence spent in the company of family and friends and helping Arthur, now a student like his brother, to prepare a début album. In July 1998, Mounette’s death left a vacuum in his life. A month later, on August 13th, Ferrer shot himself in the heart in the middle of a cornfield a few kilometres from his home, two days before his 64th birthday.
An unpredictable, moody character, Ferrer refused artistic compromise. But this unwillingness to compromise produced songs as different as "les Cornichons" and "le Sud." He left behind several indelible traces in French musical heritage, not forgetting numerous songs now hardly known.
Je veux être noir
Nino Ferrer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hey hey hey, toi Monsieur James Brown
S'il vous plaît dites-moi comment vous faites
Monsieur Charles, Monsieur King, Monsieur Brown
Moi je fais de mon mieux pour chanter comme vous
Mais je ne peux pas grand-chose, je ne peux rien du tout
Je crois que c'est la couleur, la couleur de ma peau
Qui n'va pas
Et c'est pourquoi je voudrais
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Hey hey hey, dis-moi Monsieur Faubus
Hey hey hey, dis-moi comment les blancs
Font pour vendre les nègres à l'Argus
Et pour en brûler de temps en temps
Et moi je fais de mon mieux pour ne pas y penser
Et je me sens très souvent très, très embarrassé
Par la couleur de ma peau qui me démoralise
Un p'tit peu
Et c'est pourquoi je voudrais
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Hey hey hey, vous les Saints, les Élus
Hey hey hey, vous les simples d'esprit
Vous qui chantez tout de blanc vêtus
Dans les verts pâturages près de Lui
Dites-moi s'il vaut mieux pour entrer dans ce royaume
Avoir plutôt la peau noire ou plutôt la peau jaune
Et si le blanc n'est pas une couleur déconseillée
Parmi vous
Quoi qu'il en soit je voudrais
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Je voudrais être noir
Noir, noir, noir, oui, tout noir
Avec une belle couleur d'ébène et des cheveux crépus
Et puis je voudrais habiter là-bas
Pour pouvoir chanter tous les soirs
À la Nouvelle Orléans
Voir le Mississipi couler, pouvoir souffler dans une trompette
Pouvoir taper sur un tambour entouré de mes amis noirs
Et faire la nouba tous les soirs et je pourrais crier:
Yeah, yeah! Yeah!
Yeah, yeah! Yeah!
The lyrics of Nino Ferrer's song "Je voudrais être noir" ("I want to be black") address the oppression and social exclusion that people of color face in predominantly white societies. The singer expresses his admiration and envy for black cultural icons, such as Wilson Picket, James Brown, Charles King, and Mr. Brown, who are regarded as masters of music and dance, and whose artistry is inseparable from their racial identity. The singer acknowledges that he himself strives to sing like them, but he feels unable to, since he believes that his skin color holds him back. He desires to change his race so that he can escape the constraints of his whiteness and embrace a culture that he reveres.
The song also raises the issue of racism and institutionalized violence against black people. Ferrer mentions Orval Faubus, who was the governor of Arkansas in the 1950s and was known for his segregationist policies, and questions why white people are able to treat black people as commodities to be sold and killed. The singer wants to distance himself from the oppressors and align himself with the oppressed, whom he sees as a proud and resilient community. He believes that being black would allow him to escape the guilt and shame that he feels as a white person who benefits from systemic racism.
The final stanza of the song imagines a utopian world where race does not matter and where people of color are free to express themselves and create art without fear of persecution. The singer asks whether being black or yellow or white would make any difference in this imagined heaven, and emphasizes his desire to be a part of a culture that he perceives as authentic and vibrant. The song ends with the singer daydreaming about playing music in New Orleans, surrounded by his black friends, and celebrating the joy of life.
Line by Line Meaning
Hey hey hey, Monsieur Wilson Picket
The singer greets the famous musician Wilson Picket
Hey hey hey, toi Monsieur James Brown
The singer greets the legendary musician James Brown
S'il vous plaît dites-moi comment vous faites
The singer asks Picket and Brown how they achieve their greatness
Monsieur Charles, Monsieur King, Monsieur Brown
The artist refers to other famous musicians such as Ray Charles, BB King, and James Brown
Moi je fais de mon mieux pour chanter comme vous
The artist admits to trying his best to emulate the musical talents of those he admires
Mais je ne peux pas grand-chose, je ne peux rien du tout
The singer acknowledges his limitations and feels he cannot compare to the talents of those he admires
Je crois que c'est la couleur, la couleur de ma peau, Qui n'va pas
The singer believes his skin color is the reason why he feels incapable of achieving the same level of success as the musicians he admires
Et c'est pourquoi je voudrais, Je voudrais être noir, Je voudrais être noir
The artist expresses a desire to be black in order to have the same privilege and success he sees in black musicians he admires
Hey hey hey, dis-moi Monsieur Faubus
The artist addresses Governor Faubus, who was known for his segregationist policies in Arkansas
Hey hey hey, dis-moi comment les blancs, Font pour vendre les nègres à l'Argus
The artist questions how white people can sell black people like objects
Et pour en brûler de temps en temps
The singer refers to the act of lynching black people which happened during this time period
Et moi je fais de mon mieux pour ne pas y penser, Et je me sens très souvent très, très embarrassé, Par la couleur de ma peau qui me démoralise, Un p'tit peu
The artist admits to feeling embarrassed and demoralized by his skin color and tries not to think about racial violence in order to cope
Hey hey hey, vous les Saints, les Élus
The singer addresses religious figures
Hey hey hey, vous les simples d'esprit, Vous qui chantez tout de blanc vêtus, Dans les verts pâturages près de Lui
The singer criticizes religious people who claim to be holy yet still perpetuate racism and white supremacy
Dites-moi s'il vaut mieux pour entrer dans ce royaume, Avoir plutôt la peau noire ou plutôt la peau jaune
The singer questions which skin color is viewed as more desirable in the religious context
Et si le blanc n'est pas une couleur déconseillée, Parmi vous
The artist wonders if white people are considered negative or undesirable in the religious community
Quoi qu'il en soit je voudrais, Je voudrais être noir, Je voudrais être noir
The artist reiterates his desire to be black despite the contradictions he sees in society and religion
Noir, noir, noir, oui, tout noir, Avec une belle couleur d'ébène et des cheveux crépus
The singer idealizes blackness and desires to have dark skin, kinky hair, and the associated cultural aesthetic
Et puis je voudrais habiter là-bas, Pour pouvoir chanter tous les soirs, À la Nouvelle Orléans
The singer wishes to be in New Orleans to sing and perform music every night
Voir le Mississipi couler, pouvoir souffler dans une trompette, Pouvoir taper sur un tambour entouré de mes amis noirs, Et faire la nouba tous les soirs et je pourrais crier
The artist dreams of being part of the musical community in New Orleans and participating in cultural practices such as playing a trumpet and drumming with black friends
Yeah, yeah! Yeah!, Yeah, yeah! Yeah!
The artist expresses his enthusiasm and excitement for the musical and cultural experiences he desires
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BEUSCHER ARPEGE
Written by: Nino Ferrer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@marienoelleleguen154
Artiste génial, le plus grand crooner et chanteur de rythm blues franco italien, méprisé par les médias comme Dick Divers au profit de chanteurs plus commerciaux comme Halliday ou Sardou qui ne sont pourtant que des interprètes et pas auteurs compositeurs
@eglaiosdeminecraft9259
Maintenant, Google sait que j'ai cherché "Je voudrais être noir" sur Youtube, je suis probablement dans une blacklist au FBI lol.
Enfin je voulais juste retrouver la version avec ce fameux solo de sax qui déchire au début.
@stanfordwillis4841
En même temps si vous voulez être noir c'est normal d'être sur une liste noire
@pierre75
Un artiste a redécouvrir !
@Lylynesp
Moi je l'apprend juste pour l'école
@pepito2648
Quel talent
@MicheHersant
Moi aussi ,je veux être Noir de peau ,et la voix de Jazzy,
Mais comme vous Nino et Nougaro je suis blanche de Peau🎉🎉
🎉🎉
@pablonavea1430
Merci!😊😊
@danielkobis147
La chanson que devrait écouter Mr Zemmour.
@elementsworc7979
Zemmour se fiche de la couleur de peau des individus, tu devrais réécouter ses idees, il n'a jamais critiqué aucun individu pour sa couleur de peau. Ces un truc de gauche que de tout ramener à la couleur de peau.