En Relisant Ta Lettre
Serge Gainsbourg Lyrics

In Serge Gainsbourg's song En relisant ta lettre, the singer is going through a letter from a lover, realizing how careless the lover is with their grammar and spelling. The first line of the chorus, "C'est toi que j'aime, par-dessus tout," is a play on words, as the correct spelling for "par-dessus" would have a hyphen, but the lover misspells it as "pardessus." Gainsbourg then begs the lover to not tell him that they don't care, with the corrected phrase "Ne me dis point que tu t'en fous," emphasizing the "point" on the "i" for proper spelling. He proclaims his submission to the appearance of love, "Je suis l'esclave des apparences," but it becomes a "ridicule" (with a capital C, as it is a proper noun) when things start to fall apart.

Gainsbourg then sings that he will hold onto his resentment (with only one "d" in "rancune") if the lover does not listen to him. He points out that the lover misspells "Gardénal," a sedative, adding an "e," and suggests that they only take one pill, not two. He insists that it will calm them down and "tout r'tombe à l'eau" (everything will fall into place). Finally, the last line "O E dans l'O" is a reference to the French phrase "O temps, ô moeurs" (oh times, oh customs) but misspelled with a play on words to symbolize the lover's carelessness.

Overall, the song is a satirical critique of society's surface-level understanding and emphasis on appearances, and how such an attitude can lead to a relationship's downfall.