Tiersen has been honing his musical aesthetic since he could stand on two legs. He started learning piano at the age of four, taking up violin at the age of six and receiving classical training at musical academies in Rennes, Nantes and Boulogne. Then, at the age of 13, he chose to alter his destiny, breaking his violin into pieces, buying a guitar and forming a rock band.
Yann Tiersen has collaborated with vocal artists like Claire Pichet ("Le phare" and "Rue des cascades"), Elizabeth Fraser ("Les retrouvailles") and Shannon Wright ("Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright"). Other musicians he has worked with include The Divine Comedy, Noir Désir, Dominique A., Francoiz Breut, Les Têtes Raides, The Married Monk and Sage Francis
Tiersen got a musical education from the city of Rennes' annual Transmusicales festival, seeing acts like Nirvana, Einstürzende Neubaten, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Television and Suicide. When his band broke up a few years later, instead of hunting for some new musicians, he bought a cheap mixing desk, an eight-track reel, and started recording music solo with a synth, sampler and drum machine, poring over the grooves of old records on the hunt for loops and orchestral strings to plunder.
As it turned out, though, the key to his new approach lay in his own past. "One day I thought, instead of spending days on research and listening to tons of records to find the nearest sound of what I have in mind, why don't I fix this fucking violin and use it?" Through the summer of 1993, Tiersen stayed in his apartment, recording music alone with guitar, violin and accordion, guided not by the classical canon, but by intuition and his vision of "a musical anarchy".
By the end of the summer of 1993, Tiersen had recorded over 40 tracks, which would form the bulk of his first two albums. 1995's La Valse Des Monstres, inspired by Tod Browning's Freaks and Yukio Mishima's The Damask Drum was the second album to be released on Nancy-based label Ici, d'ailleurs. It would be followed six months later by Rue Des Cascades, a collection of short pieces recorded with toy piano, harpsichord, violin, accordion and mandolin. Six years later, the record would find a much larger audience when several tracks, along with a couple of Tiersen originals, would be used on the soundtrack to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Amelie (2001).
Tiersen's commercial breakthrough would come earlier, though, and off his own back. 1998's Le Phare (The Light House) was recorded in self-imposed seclusion on the isle of Ouessant, where Tiersen spent two months living in a rented house. At night, he watched the Creach'h, the most powerful lighthouse in Europe, as it illuminated the surrounding scenery. "I was amazed how the rays of lights from the lighthouse revealed some hidden details of the land, how we can rediscover something we have everyday, just in front of us, by a light pointing on it," says Tiersen.
Le Phare went on to sell over 160,000 copies, confirming Tiersen's status as one of the most pioneering and original artists of his generation and commencing a run of successful albums like 2001's L'Absente (featuring orchestral group Synaxis, Lisa Germano and the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon) and 2005's Les Retrouvailles (with guests Stuart Staples of Tindersticks, Jane Birkin and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins). In this period, Tiersen also took his music out around the world, playing shows with a full orchestra and an amplified string quartet – a set-up captured on 2002's electrifying live album C'etait ici. And following the box-office success of Amelie, Tiersen's skills as a soundtracker were much in demand, leading to scores for the likes of Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and Tabarly (2008), a documentary about the French sailor Éric Tabarly, who ate his final meal on Ouessant Island before he meeting a watery end in the Irish sea.
Discography:
La valse des monstres (1995)
Rue des cascades (1996)
Le phare (1998)
Tout est calme (1999)
Black session (1999, radio concert)
L'absente (2001)
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001, Soundtrack)
C'était ici (2002, Live and Best Of)
Good Bye Lenin! (2003, Soundtrack)
Yann Tiersen and Shannon Wright (2004)
Les Retrouvailles (2005)
On Tour (2006, Live)
Tabarly (2008)
Dust Lane (2010)
Le Fromveur
Yann Tiersen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
J'avais la phobie des gros mots
Et si je pensais "merde" tout bas
Je ne le disais pas
Mais
Aujourd'hui que mon gagne-pain
C'est de parler comme un turlupin
Je ne pense plus, "Merde", pardi
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Afin d'amuser la galerie
Je crache des gauloiseries
Des pleines bouches de mots crus
Tout à fait incongrus
Mais
En me retrouvant seul sous mon toit
Dans ma psyché je me montre au doigt
Et me crie, "Va te faire, homme incorrecte
Voir par les Grecs"
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Tous les samedis je vais à confesse
M'accuser d'avoir parlé de fesses
Et je promets ferme au marabout
De les mettre tabou
Mais
Craignant, si je n'en parle plus
De finir à l'Armée du Salut
Je remets bientôt sur le tapis
Les fesses impies
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Ma femme est, soit dit en passant
D'un naturel concupiscent
Qui l'incite à se coucher nue
Sous le premier venu
Mais
M'est-il permis, soyons sincère
D'en parler au café-concert
Sans dire qu'elle a, suraigu
Le feu au cul?
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
J'aurais sans doute du bonheur
Et peut-être la Croix d'honneur
A chanter avec décorum
L'amour qui mène à Rome
Mais
Mon ange m'a dit, "Turlututu
Chanter l'amour t'est défendu
S'il n'éclot pas sur le destin
D'une putain"
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Et quand j'entonne, guilleret
A un patron de cabaret
Une adorable bucolique
Il est mélancolique
Et
Me dit, la voix noyée de pleurs
"S'il vous plaît de chanter les fleurs
Qu'elles poussent au moins rue Blondel
Dans un bordel"
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Chaque soir avant le dîner
A mon balcon mettant le nez
Je contemple les bonnes gens
Dans le soleil couchant
Mais
Ne me demandez pas de chanter ça, si
Vous redoutez d'entendre ici
Que j'aime à voir, de mon balcon
Passer les cons
Je suis le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
Les bonnes âmes d'ici bas
Comptent ferme qu'à mon trépas
Satan va venir embrocher
Ce mort mal embouché
Mais
Mais veuille le grand manitou
Pour qui le mot n'est rien du tout
Admettre en sa Jérusalem,
A l'heure blême
Le pornographe
Du phonographe
Le polisson
De la chanson
In Yann Tiersen's song Le Fromveur, the singer reflects on his evolution as a wordsmith. As a child, he feared speaking swear words aloud, but as an adult, he revels in using crude language to entertain audiences as the "pornographer of the phonograph" and the "naughty boy of the song." However, in private, he questions his morality and decency, wondering if he should hold back or continue to speak his mind freely. He also talks about the nuances of discussing sexuality and desires, noting that while his wife may be naturally inclined towards lustful behavior, he cannot sing about it with propriety unless it is linked to a prostitute's story. There is a sense of the singer struggling with the dichotomy of his public persona and private self, and how his words may shape his legacy.
Through the singer's witty wordplay and internal monologue, Tiersen explores the theme of authenticity versus performance. The song's structure and instrumentation are also noteworthy, consisting of a lively accordion solo and shanty-inspired tune that contribute to the whimsical, irreverent tone of the lyrics. In contrast, the French lyrics themselves are complex and poetic, replete with cultural and historical references, such as the mention of the Greeks and the Salvation Army.
Line by Line Meaning
Autrefois, quand j'étais marmot
In the past, when I was a kid
J'avais la phobie des gros mots
I had a fear of swear words
Et si je pensais "merde" tout bas
And if I thought 'shit' in my head
Je ne le disais pas
I wouldn't say it aloud
Aujourd'hui que mon gagne-pain
Today, since my livelihood
C'est de parler comme un turlupin
Is to speak like a clown
Je ne pense plus, "Merde", pardi
I no longer think 'shit', damn it
Mais je le dis
But I say it now
Je suis le pornographe
I am the pornographer
Du phonographe
Of the phonograph
Le polisson
The naughty one
De la chanson
Of the song
Afin d'amuser la galerie
To entertain the crowd
Je crache des gauloiseries
I spit out profanities
Des pleines bouches de mots crus
Full-mouthed, vulgar words
Tout à fait incongrus
Completely inappropriate
En me retrouvant seul sous mon toit
But when I'm alone under my roof
Dans ma psyché je me montre au doigt
In my mind, I point at myself
Et me crie, "Va te faire, homme incorrecte
And I shout at myself, 'Go fuck yourself, you incorrect man'
Voir par les Grecs"
Let the Greeks deal with you'
Tous les samedis je vais à confesse
Every Saturday I go to confession
M'accuser d'avoir parlé de fesses
To accuse myself of speaking about asses
Et je promets ferme au marabout
And I solemnly promise the marabout
De les mettre tabou
To make them taboo
Craignant, si je n'en parle plus
But fearing that if I stop talking about them
De finir à l'Armée du Salut
I'll end up in the Salvation Army
Je remets bientôt sur le tapis
I bring them up again soon
Les fesses impies
The unholy asses
Ma femme est, soit dit en passant
My wife, by the way
D'un naturel concupiscent
Is naturally lustful
Qui l'incite à se coucher nue
Which prompts her to get naked in bed
Sous le premier venu
With the first person who comes along
M'est-il permis, soyons sincère
May I be honest
D'en parler au café-concert
To talk about it at the cabaret
Sans dire qu'elle a, suraigu
Without saying she has a high-pitched
Le feu au cul?
Fire in her ass?
J'aurais sans doute du bonheur
I probably would find happiness
Et peut-être la Croix d'honneur
And perhaps even the Legion of Honour
A chanter avec décorum
Singing with decorum
L'amour qui mène à Rome
The love that leads to Rome
Mon ange m'a dit, "Turlututu
But my angel said to me, 'Turlututu'
Chanter l'amour t'est défendu
'You're forbidden to sing about love'
S'il n'éclot pas sur le destin
If it doesn't sprout from the fate
D'une putain"
Of a whore'
Et quand j'entonne, guilleret
And when I sing, light-hearted
A un patron de cabaret
To a cabaret owner
Une adorable bucolique
A lovely pastoral song
Il est mélancolique
He becomes melancholic
Et Me dit, la voix noyée de pleurs
And says to me, his voice drowned in tears
"S'il vous plaît de chanter les fleurs
'If you must sing about flowers'
Qu'elles poussent au moins rue Blondel
'Let them at least grow on Blondel Street'
Dans un bordel"
'In a brothel'
Chaque soir avant le dîner
Every evening before dinner
A mon balcon mettant le nez
I stick my nose out on my balcony
Je contemple les bonnes gens
I gaze at the good people
Dans le soleil couchant
In the setting sun
Ne me demandez pas de chanter ça, si
Don't ask me to sing about that if
Vous redoutez d'entendre ici
You're afraid of hearing here
Que j'aime à voir, de mon balcon
That I love to see from my balcony
Passer les cons
The idiots passing by
Les bonnes âmes d'ici bas
The good people down here
Comptent ferme qu'à mon trépas
Are convinced that upon my death
Satan va venir embrocher
Satan will come and impale
Ce mort mal embouché
This badly-mouthed dead man
Mais veuille le grand manitou
But may the great creator
Pour qui le mot n'est rien du tout
For whom words mean nothing at all
Admettre en sa Jérusalem,
Admit, in his Jerusalem
A l'heure blême
At the darkest hour
Le pornographe
The pornographer
Du phonographe
Of the phonograph
Le polisson
The naughty one
De la chanson
Of the song
Contributed by Michael H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.