Que mon cœur lâche

French version

In 1992, the pop singer Étienne Daho contacted several popular French recording artists to request their participation in the recording of a double album whose profits were to be donated to the fight against AIDS. Farmer, who had until then not participated in charitable causes, accepted, and she and her writing partner Laurent Boutonnat composed "Que mon cœur lâche". However the song was rejected as the lyrics were considered to be too ambiguous, seeming to advocate sexual intercourse without condoms. As a result, instead using "Que mon cœur lâche" for the charity album, Farmer re-recorded her 1988 song "Dernier Sourire" (which dealt with the death of a sick person) in an acoustic style. This track was used for the compilation album Urgence - 27 artistes pour la recherche contre le SIDA.

At the same time, Farmer and Boutonnat decided to release their first compilation album composed of remixes, Dance Remixes, in December 1992. To promote the album, the song "Que mon cœur lâche" was released as a single, airing on radio on 5 November 1992, although it aired for the first time four days before on M40, and released on 16 November. The single cover used a Marianne Rosenthiel's photograph originally made for the previous single "Beyond My Control" in which Farmer trains in a gym. Unlike most of Farmer's singles, there was no CD maxi for this single.

English version

Farmer also recorded an English version of the song, entitled "My Soul Is Slashed" (the English title is not a direct translation of the French version, the title of which roughly translates to "My Heart Gives Up"). This was the second time that Farmer had recorded one of her singles in a foreign language (the first one being "My Mum Is Wrong" in 1984, the English version of "Maman a tort"). Mainly edited for Germany and the US, the song was translated by both Farmer and Ira Israel. In an interview, Israel said it was difficult to write the lyrics of "My Soul Is Slashed" as Farmer was insistent that the song had to convey the right wording, rhythm, meaning, and feeling rather than being a direct and literal translation of "Que mon cœur lâche". Farmer disliked the first text he had composed and, as a result, they worked together on the English lyrics.

The cover of "My Soul is Slashed" is similar to that of the French version, but with a black background. The English version of the song has never been performed on television or at Farmer's concerts, and is only available on the European version of the compilation Dance Remixes and on the long-box version of Farmer's 2001 greatest hits package Les Mots. Despite hopes that it would establish Farmer in the UK and the US, the English version was commercially unsuccessful.

Lyrics and music

"Que mon cœur lâche" deals with the themes of AIDS and condoms. The text is very committed and is similar to that in Sid'amour à mort written by Barbara. Contrary to what some people have thought, Farmer does not recommend in the song not to use condoms, but lyrics are simply an observation on this subject. Indeed, in an interview, the singer said: "I tried not to make any commitment. Should we save or not save a condom? It seems to me obviously need to save, but it is not the message I wanted to convey in the song. There is no message elsewhere in the song, simply an observation on love today. Love perverted by the threat of the disease, by the issue of condoms, which arose at the outset that we feel an impetus to another person. Clearly, I say that everyone should take responsibility toward the disease. Everybody is indeed faced with this reality, and I find it sad. Using a condom is not something loose. In the current situation, an appropriate course to guard against the disease seems to go without saying".

Production

For the first time in Farmer's singing career, Laurent Boutonnat did not direct the song's video, as he was busy working on his feature film Giorgino. Thus, with Boutonnat's agreement, French film director, writer and producer Luc Besson shot the video (Farmer had previously been an extra in his 1983 film Le Dernier Combat). The video, which lasts 6:44, was filmed over four days at the studios of Arpajon, France, with a budget of around 100,000 euros. The white garment worn by Farmer was made by Azzedine Alaia and the black one by Jean-Paul Gaultier.

There are three versions of the video : a first version with French subtitles which features on Farmer's VHS and DVD, a second version without subtitles and video's title at the beginning, and a third version for "My Soul Is Slashed", similar to that of "Que mon cœur lâche". Before the song begins in the video, dialogue between Farmer and the two people who respectively portrays God and Jesus, are in English-language. The video also features a Michael Jackson impersonator. The final scene in which Farmer blows a bubble with her chewing gum refers to a similar scene of Besson's film Nikita. The video was broadcast for the first time on M6, on 12 December 1992.

Plot

At the beginning of the video, an old man - God, in Paradise - reads a newspaper with disgust. As he thinks that humans have damaged this wonderful feeling named love, he wants that an angel goes on Earth to hold an inquiry. Farmer, who is the angel chosen, appeared dressed in white as a ballerina. She does not hear what God tells her because she is listening the 'extended dance remix' version of "Que mon cœur lâche" on her walkman. When she is going on Earth, the song begins. Then she hunts a black feather on her wrist and discovers three pairs of lovers : one couple who are quarrelling, the second one very modest and the third one very libertine. She goes near to a nightclub called 'Q' and guarded by a big man. Two men are not allowed to go to this discothèque and the angel offers them to breathe in an oxygen ball. An old man comes and takes the mask and a muscular young man wearing only a slip appears and begins to dance. A second youngest man breathes in turn in the mask and Michael Jackson appears, but this one is crushed by a huge cross fell from the sky. The angel is quite intrigued by this nightclub : so she dresses up as a prostitute with black clothes, hunts a white feather on her wrist and enters into the discothèque. There, she sees people with an ambiguous sexuality who are walking in a corridor made of white curtains and a topless woman makes breathe to her in an oxygen mask, then her heart beats faster and faster and eventually explodes. After that, the angel, very sexy dressed, comes back to Paradise and detonates a bubble of chewing gum in front of God.

Inspiration and interpretation

Instant-Mag said the video was inspired by Federico Fellini and Mel Brooks' works, and especially by David Lynch's movie Blue Velvet. Indeed, as in this film, the video has the characteristic of alternate imaginary elements and real things, as well as the use of an oxygen mask. It symbolizes the fact that "every person is looking for his drunkenness which can lead to extreme erotic games". It is an allegory of what fuels desires. The club named 'Q' in the video may be a reference both to the novel Steppenwolf, written by Hermann Hesse, but also to the bar "One-Eyed Jack" in Twin Peaks, in which the heroine Laura Palmer has lost her innocence being fascinated by this bar where fantasies can be satisfied. The message of this video is that, "behind the appearance of propriety is bursting the world of fantasies and its attractiveness".

This video is also very critical of religions : God is presented as a very austere businessman. Moreover, according to some analyses, the video explains that to give free rein to sexual fantasies, it necessary to transgress social and religious norms (respectively represented by the bouncer and God). As for the white curtains within the nightclub, they would be a symbol of the hymen or condoms. This video is very different from previous ones of Farmer, as it is much more humorous and ironic, especially when Jesus asks God: "Father, why don't you send me on Earth?" and the latter replied: "The last time, it was a disaster". Farmer said that these dialogues were as a "smile", a "fickleness" she had not in her other videos.

Promotion and live performances

Farmer performed the song in two French television shows : in Stars 90 (TF1, 11 January 1993), and in World Music Awards (broadcast on TMC, on 13 May 1993; she then won the prize for the French-speaking artist who has sold more records in 1992). At these occasions, the singer wore a white bathrobe and performed a choreographied dance with two female dancers.

"Que mon cœur lâche" was sung in a rock version during the concerts at Bercy in 1996 and was thus included on the live album and VHS/DVD Live à Bercy. The song was accompanied by a sexy choreography in which Farmer is dancing around a vertical iron bar and was surrounded by muscular male dancers in Plexiglas bubbles who bared their buttocks. The song was also performed during the Mylenium Tour in 2000, but only in the shows in Russia.

Chart performances

In France, the single debuted at number 14 on 5 December 1992 and reached number nine four weeks later. The song stayed for a total of 17 weeks in the top 50, 12 of them in the top 20. In Belgium (Wallonia), the single entered the chart at number 25, peaked at number eight for two consecutive weeks and remained for nine weeks in the top 30.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of single releases of "Que mon cœur lâche" and "My Soul Is Slashed":

Credits and personnel

These are the credits and the personnel as they appear on the back of the single: