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.
La maison près de la fontaine
Nino Ferrer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Couverte de vignes vierges
Et de toiles d'araignée
Sentait la confiture et le désordre
Et l'obscurité
L'automne
L'enfance
L'éternité
Autour il y avait
Le silence
Les guêpes
Et les nids des oiseaux
On allait à la pêche
Aux écrevisses avec monsieur l'curé
On se baignait tout nus, tout noirs
Avec les petites filles
Et les canards
La maison près des HLM
A fait place à l'usine
Et au supermarché
Les arbres ont disparu, mais ça sent l'hydrogène sulfuré
L'essence
La guerre
La société
C'n'est pas si mal
Et c'est normal
C'est le progrès
In the song "La maison près de la fontaine," Nino Ferrer evokes a sense of nostalgia for a house he remembers from his childhood. The house, covered in virgin vines and spider webs, emanated the scents of homemade jam and disarray, and was dark inside. It was a symbol of the past, of autumn, of childhood, and of eternity. Ferrer then contrasts this idyllic memory with the realities of the present day, as the house has disappeared and been replaced by an industrial factory and supermarket. The trees surrounding the house have disappeared, and the air now smells of sulfuric hydrogen gas and gasoline, a signifier for the war and society. Despite these changes, Ferrer maintains that it is not so bad and is actually normal, as it is a sign of progress.
The lyrics to "La maison près de la fontaine" touch on the theme of the passage of time and growing up. Ferrer seems to be lamenting the loss of the innocent joys of childhood as the house he remembers has been replaced by concrete and steel, and nature has given way to industry. The contrast between the innocence of childhood and the harsh realities of adulthood is palpable; the house was once a symbol of warmth and love, a place where Ferrer and the other children would go fishing and swimming, but now it has been replaced by a cold, faceless building.
The surrounding landscape of the house is also an important part of the song, as it is used to contrast the past with the present. The silence and peacefulness of the natural world surrounding the house stand in stark contrast to the noise and chaos of modern society. The guêpes (wasps) and nids (nests) of birds become symbols of the past, and their disappearance is a sign of the end of innocence and the beginning of a new era.
Overall, "La maison près de la fontaine" is a poignant and melancholic ode to childhood memories and the loss of innocence that comes with growing up. Ferrer's lyrics are full of nostalgia and despair, and they serve to remind us of the fragile nature of time and the things we hold dear.
Line by Line Meaning
La maison près de la fontaine
Describing a house located near a fountain
Couverte de vignes vierges
The house is covered with green vines
Et de toiles d'araignée
It has spider webs hanging from the ceiling
Sentait la confiture et le désordre
There is a sweet smell of jam and an untidy atmosphere
Et l'obscurité
The house is dimly lit
L'automne
It is autumn
L'enfance
The memories of childhood
L'éternité
It feels like it will last forever
Autour il y avait
Around the house there was
Le silence
There was silence
Les guêpes
There were wasps
Et les nids des oiseaux
And bird nests
On allait à la pêche
We used to go fishing
Aux écrevisses avec monsieur l'curé
Fishing for crayfish with the priest
On se baignait tout nus, tout noirs
We used to swim naked, our bodies covered with mud
Avec les petites filles
With the little girls
Et les canards
And with the ducks
La maison près des HLM
The house near the social housing buildings
A fait place à l'usine
Has been replaced by a factory
Et au supermarché
And a supermarket
Les arbres ont disparu, mais ça sent l'hydrogène sulfuré
The trees have disappeared, and there is a smell of hydrogen sulfide
L'essence
The smell of gasoline
La guerre
The memories of war
La société
The changes in society
C'n'est pas si mal
It's not that bad
Et c'est normal
And it's normal
C'est le progrès
It's progress
Lyrics © BEUSCHER ARPEGE
Written by: Nino Ferrer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ztm-el3es
I’ve just discovered this song, I barely understand French, but it recalls so much… I will try to not forget this feeling, but I know deep inside me I will, yet it doesn’t bothers me, I don’t know if it’s acceptance, but I like it.
I might come here every month, even if it’s going to just prolongue the inevitable I’m sure I will enjoy every damn second,
Merci Nino Ferrer, Repose en paix
Ingmal
@alaincubeddu4490
La maison près de la fontaine
Couverte de vigne vierge et de toiles d'araignée
Sentait la confiture et le désordre et l'obscurité
L'automne
L'enfance
L'éternité...
Autour il y avait le silence
Les guêpes et les nids des oiseaux
On allait à la pêche aux écrevisses
Avec Monsieur le curé
On se baignait tout nus, tout noirs
Avec les petites filles et les canards...
La maison près des HLM
A fait place à l'usine et au supermarché
Les arbres ont disparu, mais çá sent l'hydrogène sulfuré
L'essence
La guerre
La société...
C'n'est pas si mal
Et c'est normal
C'est le progrès.
@noabaak
7:30 pm, nyc, 11/18/2020
The old house close to the fountain
The old house next to the fountain,
Overgrown by the vine
And cobweb-ridden,
Used to smell of fruit-jam,
Untidiness
And of darkness,
Autumn,
Childhood,
Eternity.
Around/ it, there were just
Silence
And wasps
And also some bird's nests
We used to go angling
For crayfish together with
Mr the priest
We would swim stark naked ,muddy,
With all the little girls
And the ducklings
The old house, near the council-flats
Has become a factory
And a supermarket
And the trees have vanished
And all smells sulphurised hydrogen
Petrol
and War
Society
it's not so Bad
It's just normal
Progress, It's called.
@user-xb7ys6tj3p
Nino était déjà écolo quel artiste!❤
@superjanembaishappy5512
A chaque fois que j'écoute cette chanson, je reviens en arrière. Je vois la petite ville où j'ai grandi et tout ce qui a changé. Tout ce qui était là et qui ne l'est plus maintenant. Je revois la maison de mes grands-parents à Montauban. Tout les souvenirs que j'y ais. Le grand jardin où je courais tout le temps étant petit. L'énorme télé cathodiques où ont regardait le JT en mangeant. La collec de BD dont j'ai a peine gratté la surface en 20 ans d'existence. La cuisine qu'ils avaient fait refaire. La salle à manger où ont fêtaient tout nos Noëls. Ils l'ont vendu depuis. Un peu de sa décoration subsiste chez moi, comme un totem à l'honneur de cette époque révolue. Je me rend compte que le temps est passé. Mes parents vieillissent. Mes grands-parents aussi. Mon grand-père va pas tarder à casser sa pipe. Je le sens. Déjà 20 ans qu'il se retient pour sa femme, ses enfants, mon frère et moi mais sa santé le rattrape. Il s'en ira en paix, j'en ai aucun doute. Je t'aime grand-père.
Merci Nino Ferrer.
@alainlagrasta4025
Très beau texte, qui me touche, cette description je l'ai vécu, je la vie...
@brasildomreal2448
En un mot (ou presque), JE T'AIME GRAND HOMME ! Car cette chanson (Comme tant d'autres de ton répertoire) n'a jamais été aussi VRAIE qu'aujourd'hui !
@MOTORCELTIC
Toute mon enfance…… il était en avance sur son temps 🤷♂️
Je l’avais croisé au volant de sa voiture 4X4 dans le 26 Drôme .
Une personne simple et sympa.
Comme il en existe plus de nos jours !!!
@jeanpierreplisson8535
une chanson merveilleuse et toujours d'actualité malheureusement. Merci à vous Monsieur
@moulincecile7968
Beaucoup de nostalgie quand j'écoute cette chanson,tu nous manques NINO.
@labbecedaire4243
Un hymne à l'écologie, cette chanson n'a pas pris une ride. Emouvant.
@AnnickDavid-ov8mn
Merci NINO pour cette merveilleuse chanson qui me rappelle tant de souvenirs d'enfance et qui évoque tant de choses aujourd'hui ❤❤❤❤
@vanadour33
Nino, tu nous manques, j'ai eu le privilège de passer près de 48 heures dans le cercle réduit de tes amis qui m' accompagnaient, à La Taillade, et apprécié ce qui était une part de ta vie, à l'époque ! RIP !